This professional memoir describes RAND's contributions to the evolution of computer science, particularly during the first decades following World War II, when digital computers succeeded slide rules, mechanical desk calculators, electric accounting machines, and analog computers. The memoir includes photographs and vignettes that reveal the collegial, creative, and often playful spirit in which the groundbreaking research was conducted at RAND.
Officers from the U.S. Embassy, Scotland Yard, and MI5 broke into the bedroom of suave young American code clerk Tyler Kent. They found him standing beside his unmade bed, wearing a pair of striped pajama bottoms. His mistress, Irene Danischewsky, was wearing the matching top—and nothing else. Along with keys to the Embassy code room, the men also found almost 2,000 documents that Kent had smuggled out, including top-secret cables that he had encoded and transmitted from Churchill to Roosevelt seeking American help for besieged Britain. Kent planned to give those cables to Roosevelt’s isolationist enemies in Congress. Also among the documents lay an incriminating volume, the infamous Red Book, containing the names of high profile Nazi sympathizers that Churchill wanted behind barbed wire. American ambassador Joseph Kennedy waived Kent’s diplomatic immunity and turned him over to the British, who imprisoned him until his secret trial. It was a long way for Kent to fall. A Princeton dropout, he had used his brilliant language skills and privileged position to get ahead. Looking down his nose at all around him, he made a very bad impression on everyone he met. But his father’s friends—anti-Roosevelt, anti–New Deal, and anti-Semitic—helped maintain his career. His good looks didn’t hurt, either. Through his father’s connections, he had gone to Moscow with the first American ambassador to the Soviet Union. Suspecting him of spying for the Russians, officials transferred him to London, where he met Danischewsky, the Russian wife of a British merchant. A black sheep with diplomatic privilege, Tyler Kent stood at the crossroads of history: Stalin’s purges, the rise of Hitler, and the Phony War. Peter Rand arrestingly weaves together Kent’s star-crossed love affair, imprisonment, and trial into a rich tapestry that conveys a fresh vision of the tumultuous era. For more about the book and the author, please visit ConspiracyOfOne.net.
Six historic counterinsurgency (COIN) operations are examined to determine which tactics, techniques, and procedures led to success and which to failure. The Philippines, Algeria, Vietnam, El Salvador, Jammu and Kashmir, and Colombia were chosen for their varied characteristics relating to geography, historical era, outcome, type of insurgency faced, and level of U.S. involvement. Future U.S. COIN operations can learn from these past lessons.
American Muslims have played an important role in helping to counter violent extremism (CVE) and support for al-Qa'ida, and are increasingly using the Internet and social media to these ends. Discussions with a number of Muslim leaders active in social media suggest that it is possible to expand such efforts even further, and doing so is a major objective of the August 2011 White House strategy to counter violent extremism. RAND researchers reviewed literature and interviewed American Muslims experienced in social media to understand and explain key challenges facing Muslim activists against extremism, and to identify ways in which the public and private sector can help empower CVE voices online. Their recommendations include reducing the national security focus of CVE where possible: addressing sources of mistrust within the Muslim community, focusing engagement and education on those influential in social media, and enhancing both government and private-sector funding and engagement
Technology systems play a key role within a larger, integrated strategy to target groups' efforts and protect the public from the threat of terrorist violence. This study draws on relevant data from the history of a variety of terrorist conflicts to understand terrorists' counter-technology efforts. Fully exploring adversaries' counter-technology behaviors can help make the best choices to protect from the nation from the threat of terrorism.
In March 2009, the RAND Corporation convened a small group of experts from the U.S. government, allied partner nations, the maritime industry, and academic organizations to discuss piracy in the modern era. Participants concluded that mitigating the complex nature of maritime crime requires the input of all stakeholders--state, national, private, and nongovernmental--and must embrace measures beyond the reactive deployment of naval assets.
Individuals may have to rely on themselves to protect their own health and safety--perhaps even their own lives--in the event of a terrorist attack. Even those who know how to take care of themselves in the event of a fire, tornado, or earthquake might not know what to do in case of a chemical, radiological, nuclear, or biological attack. This quick guide attempts to fill in some of these gaps by offering specific actions to take during each of these situations, as well as preparations that can be taken. These actions are appropriate regardless of the likelihood of an attack, its scale, or the current government alert level; are designed to be sensitive to potential variations; and have been defined in terms of simple rules that should be easy to follow. A reference card included at the back of the guide encapsulates the key points and can be removed for display in a prominent place.
Looking to the 2030–2040 time frame, U.S. policy and military strategy will need to strike a balance among maintaining a cooperative relationship with China, deterring Chinese aggression in regional disputes, and preparing for the possibility that China could become more assertive. The U.S. Army will have an important role to play in preparing for these developments and for protecting and furthering U.S. interests in the region.
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