RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization that studies policy problems of the United States, especially those involving national defense. The U.S. Air Force began Project RAND (Research ANd Development) in 1946 to conduct long-range studies of intercontinental warfare by forces other than armies. RAND became an independent corporation in 1948, but the Department of Defense still finances most of its work.
The RAND Corporation’s early work included investigating such subjects as the military and economic strength of Russia and China, and the air defenses of the United States. The organization has also studied international terrorism, nuclear arms control, defense resource management, weapon design, uses of earth satellites, and military and political conditions throughout the world. Since 1967, the corporation has increased its research on such nonmilitary issues as children and families, education and the arts, energy and the environment, health and health care, infrastructure and transportation, law and business, population and aging, public safety, and science and technology. Since 1970, it has published the RAND Journal of Economics, a peer-reviewed journal.
Most of the RAND Corporation’s reports on military matters are secret and are given directly to the Air Force or the Department of Defense. The corporation also operates an Army research center and a graduate program that grants doctor’s degrees in policy analysis. Its headquarters are in Santa Monica, California, but it also has offices in Arlington, Virginia; Boston; and Pittsburgh. The RAND Gulf States Policy Institute was established in 2005 to support hurricane recovery and long-term economic development in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It has offices in New Orleans and in Jackson, Mississippi. RAND Europe, the European arm of the RAND Corporation, was established in 1992. It has offices in Cambridge, United Kingdom; and in Brussels, Belgium.
