A review of the scientific evidence on suicide postvention (organizational responses to prevent additional suicides and help loss survivors cope), guidance for other types of organizations, and the perspectives of the family and friends of service members who have died by suicide provide insights that may help the U.S. Department of Defense formulate its own policies and programs in a practical and efficient way.

The National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) provides specialized services for troops suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI). RAND evaluated interactions between the NICoE and providers referring patients and implementing treatment plans.

Concerns about access to behavioral health care for military service members and their dependents living in geographically remote locations prompted research into how many in this population are remote and the effects of this distance on their use of behavioral health care. The authors conducted geospatial and longitudinal analyses to answer these questions and reviewed current policies and programs to determine barriers and possible solutions.

Strategy, at its best, knits together ends and means, no matter how various and disparate, into a cohesive pattern. In the case of a U.S. information strategy, this requires balancing the need to guard and secure access to many informational capabilities and resources, with the opportunity to achieve national aims by fostering as much openness as practicable. The authors' term to represent such strategic balancing is guarded openness. They go on to describe noopolitik (nu-oh-poh-li-teek)--an emerging form of statecraft that emphasizes the importance of sharing ideas and values globally, principally through the exercise of persuasive soft power rather than traditional military hard power. This study discusses the opportunities that may be raised by the emergence of noopolitik--ranging from construction of a noosphere (a globe-spanning realm of the mind) to recommendations that, for example, the U.S. military should begin to develop its own noosphere (among and between the services, as well as with U.S. allies). In the area of international cooperation, the authors offer strategic approaches for improving the capacity of state and nonstate actors to work together to address transnational problems. In addition, the authors recommend specific doctrinal developments, implied by the emergence of information strategy--including the pressing need to deal with such ethical concerns as the first use of information weapons, concepts of proportional response, and the need to maintain the immunity of noncombatants. Ultimately, the authors call for an innovative turn of mind as policymakers and strategists rethink how best to adapt to the epochal transformations being wrought by the information revolution.

Key technology needs to improve safety in U.S. schools include two-way communication between teachers and emergency responders and “all-in-one” applications to integrate school safety policies, procedures, training, and alerts for staff and parents. This brief describes work done in RAND Justice, Infrastructure, and Environment and documented in RAND Justice, Infrastructure, and Environment and documented in" Role of Technology in Improving K–12 School Safety", by Heather L. Schwartz, Rajeev Ramchand, Dionne Barnes-Proby, Sean Grant, Brian A. Jackson, Kristin J. Leuschner, Mauri Matsuda, and Jessica Saunders, RR-1488-NIJ.

The authors developed a new methodological framework for assessing military personnel and military family needs. This monograph describes the development and testing of a survey based on that framework that the Department of Defense and local military commanders can use to gauge the problems and problem-related needs of service members and their families, how well those needs are being met, and the barriers and bridges to accessing services.

In this report, the authors examine how fragmentation within and misalignment between the education and child welfare systems influence opportunities for the cross-system collaboration needed to support students in foster care.

"This research brief presents findings from evaluations of community-based interventions to reduce violence's harmful effects on children"--Publisher's description.