National Critical Functions (NCFs) are government and private-sector functions so vital that their disruption would debilitate security, the economy, public health, or safety. Researchers developed a risk management framework to assess and manage the risk that climate change poses to the NCFs and use the framework to assess 27 priority NCFs. This report details the risk assessment portions of the framework.

Over the past decade, more than 10 billion dollars has been invested in Pittsburgh tech companies, with more than 3.5 billion invested in 2021 alone. With the context of such strong sectoral growth in mind, RAND researchers set out to characterize the science- and technology-focused (STF) workforce ecosystem in the Pittsburgh region and suggest policy changes and investment opportunities to help propel the region's STF sectors in the future.

This report examines climate adaptation strategies for National Critical Functions at risk of disruption from climate change, focusing on strategies that owner-operators of critical functions might implement.

In January 2021, President Biden issued an executive order directing the Secretary of Homeland Security to "consider the implications of climate change in the Arctic, along our Nation's borders, and to National Critical Functions." National Critical Functions (NCFs) represent "the functions of government and the private sector so vital to the United States that their disruption, corruption, or dysfunction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof." The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) asked the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC), a federally funded research and development center operated by the RAND Corporation, to develop a risk management framework and to assess the risk of climate change to higher-vulnerability NCFs. This tool presents a set of climate adaptation strategies that were identified to mitigate the risks posed by climate change from a prior risk assessment. Climate adaptation strategies were categorized according to the climate driver (drought, extreme cold, extreme heat, flooding, sea-level rise, severe storm systems, tropical cyclones and hurricanes, and wildfire) and impact mechanism they address. Impact mechanisms characterize how climate change causes a risk of disruption to an NCF and include: (i) physical damage or disruption, (ii) input or resource constraint, (iii) workforce shortage; and (iv) demand change. For each climate adaptation strategy, we also include an assessment of its effectiveness and feasibility.

This report assesses methods to compare the damage costs from climate change-related extreme weather events against the costs of investing in U.S. Department of Defense installation resilience.

Remote work creates opportunities for organizations to engage in cross-border trade in services and offshoring. Digital offshoring-moving jobs overseas to cheaper locations using digital technologies-could be one of the long-run impacts of the recent remote work boom. In other words, services may be about to go through a period of globalization, like what the manufacturing sector experienced in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This Perspective looks at the history of offshoring to gain insights into the potential impact digital offshoring may have on U.S. workers. Like previous waves of offshoring, digital offshoring will create winners and losers. However, the scope and scale of digital offshoring could be more extensive than earlier waves of service-sector offshoring. Given the relatively poor track record of policies designed to compensate workers harmed by earlier waves of globalization, digital offshoring in a world changed by the coronavirus disease 2019 may directly or indirectly affect many workers.

This report discusses methods of evaluating the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's impact on forced labor globally, presents findings on the department's efforts, and provides recommendations for strengthening enforcement.

Residents of the Pittsburgh area have many local options for pursuing education and training to prepare for science- and technology-focused (STF) jobs. These options include colleges and universities, technical schools, coding boot camps, and workforce development centers. In this online tool, RAND researchers compiled a list of STF providers and programs in the Pittsburgh area. The tool includes information on costs; whether remote, part-time, or evening programs are available; and whether funding may be available. Potential students can filter the list by county, credential type, and occupational group (e.g., engineering, health, computing and math) to find out which types of degrees or certificates can be earned in which STF fields.

The authors evaluate claims about the potential economic benefits of U.S. military engagement and find evidence that U.S. alliances increase bilateral trade in manufactured goods, which has a modest but positive effect on overall U.S. economic welfare.

U.S.-China competition, including economic competition, has come to define U.S. foreign policy since 2017. This report, the first of a four-part series, includes economic and institutional analyses of U.S.-China economic competition.