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| RAND (company) | |
|---|---|
| Name | RAND Corporation |
| Type | Nonprofit global policy think tank |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Founder | Douglas Aircraft Company, Project RAND |
| Headquarters | Santa Monica, California, United States |
| Key people | Jason Matheny (President and CEO) |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Revenue | (varies annually) |
| Num employees | (varies) |
RAND (company) is a nonprofit institution providing research and analysis to public and private clients. Founded after World War II, RAND has produced studies on defense, health, education, science, technology, and public policy for a range of stakeholders. The organization operates research programs, publishes reports and books, and maintains databases and tools used by policymakers worldwide.
RAND originated from efforts by the Douglas Aircraft Company, Project RAND, and personnel associated with the United States Army Air Forces and United States Department of Defense to apply systems analysis and operations research following World War II. Early influences included figures linked to Project Whirlwind, Arthur Raymond, Vannevar Bush, and the Manhattan Project community. During the Cold War, RAND scholars contributed work related to Strategic Air Command, mutual assured destruction, and studies cited by participants in the Truman administration and Eisenhower administration. RAND expanded through the late 20th century into policy areas intersecting with institutions such as the National Institutes of Health, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, United Nations, and Department of State. The institution established offices and collaborations connected to Santa Monica, Pittsburgh, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Doha. RAND’s publication record grew to include monographs, journals, and databases used by entities like the Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Council on Foreign Relations, and Congressional Research Service.
RAND describes its mission in terms resonant with organizations such as the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Carnegie Corporation: to improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. Its governance structure reflects models used by nonprofits like the Kaiser Family Foundation and Heritage Foundation with a board of trustees, executive leadership, and research divisions. RAND’s organizational units include policy research groups comparable to those at the Hoover Institution, Urban Institute, and American Enterprise Institute, and institute-like centers resembling the Pew Research Center and National Bureau of Economic Research. The leadership team interacts with advisory boards containing academics from institutions such as Harvard University, Stanford University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
RAND’s portfolio spans domains often addressed by entities like the World Health Organization, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank, adapted to policy research: defense and security programs associated with North Atlantic Treaty Organization needs, health services research linked to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention priorities, education studies comparable to work from the Institute of Education Sciences, and technology analysis paralleling Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers concerns. Specific programs examine topics related to cybersecurity challenges similar to those faced by National Security Agency stakeholders, energy policy questions addressed by the Department of Energy, and criminal justice research akin to projects by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. RAND also runs initiatives on labor and population trends echoing studies from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and United Nations Population Fund.
RAND produced influential outputs comparable in impact to classic works from Thomas Schelling and reports used by the United States Congress and NATO: studies on strategic deterrence, cost-effectiveness analyses used by the Veterans Health Administration, and health services research referenced by the World Health Organization. RAND-authored publications include monographs and policy papers cited alongside works from Samuel P. Huntington and Paul Nitze. Projects with high visibility involved modeling scenarios reminiscent of analyses used in the Cuban Missile Crisis, assessments informing Arms Control and Disarmament Agency deliberations, and reports that shaped debates in forums such as the United Nations Security Council and European Union policy committees. RAND’s databases and simulation tools have been used similarly to resources produced by RAND Europe collaborators and comparative institutions like Cato Institute for performance benchmarking.
RAND’s influence on policymakers and institutions mirrors the role played historically by Alfred Thayer Mahan’s strategic writings and think tanks such as the Council on Foreign Relations; its methods of quantitative analysis and scenario planning have been praised by scholars at Princeton University and Yale University. Critics from think tanks like the Cato Institute, historians at Oxford University, and journalists at outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post have questioned RAND’s ties to defense contractors and the Department of Defense, the potential for bias similar to critiques leveled at Booz Allen Hamilton, and methodological assumptions compared with norms at the American Statistical Association. Debates have involved ethics discussions resonant with controversies around projects at MIT and institutional independence seen in assessments of CNAS.
RAND’s funding model includes contracts and grants analogous to streams used by the National Science Foundation, Gates Foundation, and Rockefeller Foundation: federal research contracts, philanthropic grants, and client-sponsored studies. Its board of trustees and audit functions mirror governance practices at institutions like the Brookings Institution and Kaiser Family Foundation, and RAND has engaged with oversight mechanisms similar to those used by the Government Accountability Office when government funding is involved. Discussions about transparency and donor influence echo debates concerning other nonprofits such as the Heritage Foundation and Aspen Institute.
RAND’s roster of researchers and alumni includes figures whose careers intersected with institutions like Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Yale University, Columbia University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, Cornell University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, London School of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, Oxford University, Cambridge University, National Defense University, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, NATO, and the United Nations. Prominent alumni have included scholars and policymakers who later held posts in the White House, United States Senate, U.S. Department of State, and senior roles at multinational organizations such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.