Russia has long used political, military, economic, informational, and clandestine tools against countries in the Black Sea region. In this report, the authors present elements of a Western strategy to counter Russian malign influence and aggression.

Researchers conducted a thematic analysis of data collected on the U.S. Air Force's Task Force True North (TFTN) initiatives and identified key findings related to each initiative and to TFTN as a whole.

This report explores where the United States, China, and Russia may be competing for influence in secondary theaters; where and why competition might turn to conflict; what form that conflict might take; and implications for the United States.

The United States has considerable interests in the Arctic and is one of just eight countries with territory in the region. It also has a responsibility to prepare and protect its armed forces that could be called upon to secure its Arctic interests as the region becomes an increasingly active security environment. Russia continues to maintain and upgrade large-scale, credible Arctic military capabilities. Moreover, China's growing economic and scientific activities in the region could enable it to expand its influence and capabilities there. Beyond strategic competition and growing concerns over the possibility of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-Russia clash, the armed forces of the United States--particularly the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)--continually contend with safety, law enforcement, legal, other national security, and environmental issues in the region. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 requires a report on the Arctic capabilities of the armed forces. This report summarizes the findings of this research and is intended to, at a minimum, address the congressional request and could also contribute related, independent findings about needs and issues.

The authors develop a definition of and model for measuring civilian workforce readiness to inform Army policies and practices using qualitative methods, with which they identify potential data sources for readiness metrics.

With the U.S. Space Force rapidly standing up as a separate military service within the Department of the Air Force, as established by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, it was imperative to determine the appropriate workforce alignment and training for the space cadre. This report documents several sets of analyses conducted in support of the Space Force. These analyses assess the number of general officers (GOs) that the Space Force could internally generate compared with the Space Force-proposed GO structure and associated selectivity (or promotion) ratios; career field sustainability for officers in the five primary career fields within the Space Force (Space Operations, Intelligence, Cyberspace Operations, Developmental Engineering, and Acquisition Management); the training pipelines of both officers and enlisted personnel in these five career fields; and key considerations regarding the civilian workforce transitioning to the Space Force. Based on a mix of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, the analyses yielded several major findings. In this report, the authors discuss the implications of these findings, provide recommendations specific to each career field and the transitioning civilian workforce to address identified challenges and gaps, and conclude with a synthesized list of 20 recommendations. The options considered in this report to enhance the Space Force's structure and configuration are designed to support an entirely new type of warfighting and national security organization, the U.S. Space Force.

The U.S. Army revised operations within its Caisson Detachment following two horse deaths in 2022. In this report, the authors evaluate these changes and offer guidance for improving caisson operations.

This report explores the potential for competition and conflict among the United States, China, and Russia in Latin America; where competition might turn into conflict; what form that conflict might take; and the implications for the United States.

This report explores the potential for competition among the United States, China, and Russia in the Middle East; where and why competition might turn into conflict; what form that conflict might take; and the implications for the United States.

The U.S. Air Force's ability to accomplish national security goals relies heavily on research advances in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The current shortage of STEM professionals has a direct impact on how the Air Force carries out its mission. Addressing the gap in the Air Force's civilian STEM workforce and optimizing the productivity of its existing civilian STEM employees falls squarely within the Air Force's responsibility. Because of concerns over the shortage of civilian STEM professionals, especially those with advanced degrees, Air Force leadership asked RAND Project AIR FORCE (PAF) to explore the existing academic and professional literature on STEM workforce to gain insights into how organizations such as the Air Force should manage, support, and organize their current civilian STEM workers to best leverage their talents and thereby maximize performance. PAF engaged in an extensive survey of the relevant literature for the study. First, the authors provided a brief overview of the differences between modern knowledge organizations, in contrast to traditional manufacturing or industrial organizations. Second, they described the characteristics of work that most appeal to STEM workers and drive their productivity. Third, the authors discussed human-capital functions that relate to the performance of STEM workers. Fourth, they discussed the changes in organizational structure most likely to foster STEM employees' productivity and innovation. Finally, the last section of this report summarizes the researchers' findings and recommendations.