Global capacity to sequence a new pathogen or deliver a vaccine is greater than ever. But mounting a coordinated response to future biosecurity threats will require a framework designed with geopolitics in mind.
What happens if we off-load our ability to make decisions, to shape the future, to machines? In this Q&A, policy researcher Benjamin Boudreaux discusses how AI could erode human agency over time—and what humans can do to stay in control.
The high cost of U.S. health care has become a very big problem. In this Q&A, RAND's Christine Eibner explains how many Americans have health insurance, ways to cut costs, and the trade-offs involved.
With social media, product adoption raced ahead while Congress debated causation and passed no meaningful national protections for children. With AI chatbots, we still have a chance to build something sturdier.
Scott Savitz is a senior engineer at RAND, a specialist in naval operations and technologies, and an expert in mine warfare. In this interview he discusses the threat of naval mines and the challenge of clearing the Strait of Hormuz.
The sea is home to an increasingly complex and vulnerable assemblage of data cables, energy pipelines, and electricity interconnectors. How might NATO deter attacks on this critical underwater infrastructure?
China faces slowing growth, an aging population, and financial strain. How Beijing perceives these challenges may matter just as much as the challenges themselves.
The fact of Israel's profound isolation is showing up in polls, social media, and widening boycotts. Parliamentary elections expected in the fall offer the clearest opportunity for change.
Four years ago, outreach workers in Hollywood knew where to find their unsheltered clients. Most lived in clusters of tents that workers could visit weekly, delivering services and building trust to help ultimately move people inside. But now, more people are living in vehicles and sleeping rough.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan might constitute a threat to Japan's survival. It was not a war pledge. But a Japanese commitment regarding Taiwan should be welcomed by Washington.
Jason Ward directs the RAND Housing Center. He discusses findings from his recent research, why housing has become so unaffordable, and ways to address the housing crisis.
Kim will not engage in discussions designed to take away nuclear capabilities that he believes ensure his country's survival. Shifting the diplomatic focus to political and economic measures, as well as steps to reduce the risk of inadvertent nuclear war, might get him back to the negotiating table.
Trump's Iran war is not the catastrophe that some make it out to be, nor is the United States stuck in a quagmire. The war has already succeeded in setting the Iranian threat back, and the United States retains multiple pathways forward.
A simulation of a blockade of the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea and the recent blockade of the Strait of Hormuz underscored that diversifying energy supply routes, maritime logistics, and data systems is no longer optional for Korea—it is a strategic necessity.
A prolonged Israeli presence in Lebanon will generate friction, cost lives, and feed the very narrative of resistance that Hezbollah exploits. This moment offers a rare chance to target a militia without making war on the Lebanese people or state.
Military ground robotics are rapidly transforming battlefield tasks. But for the immediate future, robots are more likely to support the fight, rather than lead it.
Beau Kilmer oversees RAND's research on psychedelic use and policy which informs conversations on the topic and helps decisionmakers think through all the different policy options and to understand the potential trade-offs.
Pivotal parliamentary elections are coming in June, and Armenia's young democracy faces a stirring test between the ghosts of its history and a hopeful bet on a stable future.
AI will become an indispensable tool for case officers, agents, fabricators, counterintelligence services, and the rest of the intelligence world. But this will have the paradoxical effect of increasing the importance of old-fashioned human intelligence.
The U.S. biosecurity system is poorly prepared for new threats. Naturally occurring crop diseases not yet present could cause billions of dollars in losses if introduced here. Engineered pathogens delivered deliberately could be far worse.
Nancy Staudt is leading the RAND School of Public Policy at a moment when higher education is being pushed to evolve in a world defined by constant change.
Recognition and rapid mastery of cognitive warfare tactics such as gamified narrative language will become increasingly important for the United States in the years ahead. The next conflict may open with a fierce exchange of deprecating narratives and gamer slang instead of bullets and missiles.
Russian private military companies, now more aligned with the Kremlin's agenda and less focused on profit and equipped with a full suite of subversive capabilities, could help steer their African hosts away from the U.S. and impede African progress toward economic prosperity.
Federal policymakers are rethinking education technical assistance to states—and even taking steps to dismantle parts of it. We asked state agency leaders about their experience with federal technical assistance: What works? What doesn't? What can they not afford to lose?