"Sexual assault continues to be a pervasive problem, both for society in general and within the military community. To assist the Air Force in its continued efforts to combat sexual assault within its ranks, we reviewed the existing empirical literature on the characteristics and behaviors of adult perpetrators who commit sexual assault against other adults. Our search was not limited to studies of military populations. While a vast majority of the existing literature has focused on sole male perpetrators who assault female victims, we identified some research on other types of perpetrators, including female sexual assault perpetrators, men who perpetrate assault against other men, and perpetrators who participate in group sexual assault. This body of research indicates that adult perpetrators are diverse in terms of their demographics, background characteristics, and motivations. Moreover, research indicates that sexual assault perpetration is likely influenced by a combination of factors, including an individual's developmental and family history; his or her personality, including attitudes/cognitions; and environmental factors, including peer attitudes and alcohol consumption. The complexity of factors that influence sexual assault perpetration and the multiple pathways that lead to an attack make it difficult to predict whether an individual is prone to commit sexual assault. While predicting sexual assault perpetration is problematic, we identified a number of factors related to perpetration that may be relevant for intervention efforts and offer recommendations for the Air Force"--Publisher's web site.

"This tool provides a short overview of hazing for military commanders and was derived from research documented in Hazing in the U.S. Armed Forces: Recommendations for Hazing Prevention Policy and Practice, by Kirsten M. Keller, Miriam Matthews, Kimberly Curry Hall, William Marcellino, Jacqueline A. Mauro, and Nelson Lim, RR-941-OSD, RAND Corporation, 2015"--Publisher's description.

In February 2024, the Secretary of the Air Force announced proposals for changes to the Department of the Air Force to reoptimize the organization in preparation for potential future conflicts. The changes include structuring U.S. Air Force (USAF) operational wings as mission-ready units of action and developing Mission-Ready Airmen whose training focuses on the mix of skills needed for wartime operational mission readiness. This initiative will require the development of new training programs for airmen. Thus, USAF leadership wants to understand which skill gaps must be filled as the USAF transitions from its current organization to the new one. In this project, the authors aimed to identify gaps between the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes (KSAOs) currently available among USAF active-duty personnel and the KSAOs needed to meet the demands of conflicts with peer competitors. The authors used a mixed-methods approach, which included interviews, a modified-Delphi process, and analyses of USAF-developed training tables and plans, to address this objective. The authors discuss the capability areas identified as critical for the USAF to effectively address future conflicts and the skill gaps that exist for these capability areas, as well as the potential impact of addressing each skill gap. The data suggest that the USAF should consider making training adjustments in some career fields to address apparent skill gaps.

The U.S. Department of Defense has struggled to assess the progress and effectiveness of its information operations. Best practices across sectors can guide the assessment of these activities and ensure that they help meet national security goals.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is committed to eliminating harassment and unlawful discrimination within the U.S. armed forces. This includes harassment and discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity, which persists across the United States, including in the U.S. military. To help military leaders and policymakers better understand the nature of racial/ethnic harassment and discrimination within the armed services, RAND researchers created a survey instrument to assess the prevalence of racial/ethnic harassment and discrimination within DoD. To do so, we (1) reviewed published surveys that assess racial/ethnic harassment, discrimination, microaggressions (i.e., stereotypes about specific races or ethnicities, passive poor treatment by others, and expressions of opinions regarding racism), and related content and (2) consulted with experts in the occurrence and measurement of harassment and discrimination on the basis of race/ethnicity.

he Department of Defense should process formal discrimination complaints within 180 days of filing. However, many of these complaints are not processed within this time frame. This report provides information to help address this lag.

The U.S. Coast Guard seeks to attract, recruit, and retain a workforce that represents all segments of U.S. society. However, in the current active-duty Coast Guard, representation of women and of members of racial and ethnic minority groups declines as rank increases, ultimately resulting in a less diverse senior leadership. These demographics are largely the cumulative effect of the service's personnel system in which the pool of potential senior leaders narrows at each stage of the career life cycle, along with the number of candidates from underrepresented groups. To identify the root causes of the underrepresentation of women and of members of racial and ethnic minority groups in the Coast Guard, researchers used a mixed-method approach involving literature reviews, analysis of personnel data, interviews with subject-matter experts, focus groups, and a survey of active-duty personnel. The team examined the factors that shape representation at each phase of the military career life cycle-recruiting, career development, promotion and advancement, and retention-and identified facilitators of and barriers to improving diversity in the Coast Guard. The report includes recommendations to help the Coast Guard achieve its ultimate goal of a workforce that looks like the nation it serves.

To support the Department of the Air Force's (DAF's) goal of building a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce, researchers reviewed the academic literature and conducted interviews with representatives from private-sector organizations that were ranked as top employers for diversity. The authors detail promising practices regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion in talent management that might be relevant to DAF efforts.

The Department of the Air Force (DAF) is committed to helping its members thrive by enhancing well-being and eliminating harmful behaviors, particularly those affecting interpersonal interactions and relationships. Among these behaviors are sexual harassment and sexual assault, racial/ethnic harassment and discrimination, hazing, bullying, and domestic abuse. This Perspective briefly describes the scope of this collection of harmful interpersonal behaviors and current DAF prevention strategies. The authors then describe and apply a conceptual model of prevention to harmful interpersonal behaviors in the DAF. Because of the association between these behaviors and alcohol misuse, the authors also briefly review that behavior. Finally, the authors consider current issues with and options for improvement of current prevention efforts and reporting avenues for victims.