Demystifying the Department of Veterans Affairs Budget Process: An Explainer

This report presents an overview of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA’s) budget, its funding sources, and its flexible authorities. The authors describe VA’s budget process and some of the pressing VA-related issues that policymakers face.

Conceptualising Digital Capability: Enabling NATO Digital Capabilities Series: Paper 1

This paper, part one of a three-part series, examines digital capabilities within NATO, clarifying their role in NATO’s core tasks. We recommend fostering a shared understanding of key concepts for effective digital transformation.

Industry Insights on Digital Engineering and Defense Acquisition

Responses to an aerospace industry survey indicate that digital engineering has the potential to provide significant long-term benefits to defense acquisition even if cost savings or schedule reductions are not immediately apparent.

From Strategic Ambiguity to Strategic Anxiety: Taiwan's Trump Challenge

Taiwan's strategic dilemma is getting worse amid intensifying pressure from China and increasing uncertainty in its relationship with the United States. In response, Taiwan is taking proactive steps. But are these steps sufficient?

Time to Reassess the Costs of Euro-Atlantic Security

Increased defense spending in Europe is crucial to deter threats from Russia and China. It is essential to understand and quantify the rising costs of Euro-Atlantic security to determine how allies can equitably share them.

Improving the Efficiency of the Military Compensation System: Insights from the Literature

This report summarizes the body of literature on military compensation, with the goal of identifying ways to improve efficiency and gaps in knowledge for which future analysis would be promising.

Saving the Government Money: Recent Examples from RAND's National Security–Related Federally Funded Research and Development Centers

This publication lists and summarizes recent defense-related and homeland security–related projects undertaken by RAND's four federally funded research and development centers that have helped save the government money or identified ways to do so.

What Do U.S. Allies Really Contribute to the Costs of Global Security?

Every NATO country has pledged to spend two percent of its GDP on defense. But this goal has never been an effective measure of contributions to global security. Approaching this issue in a different way can provide a starting point to make more focused requests of allies instead.

Digging In: The Army's Promising Path to Real Change in Audit

The U.S. Army aims for its first clean audit after years of failures, investing heavily in improving financial processes. After the U.S. Marines succeeded in receiving a clean audit, the Army is focusing on governance and accountability while addressing problems to achieve audit readiness.

Organizing for Army Financial Audit Success: Steering Army Organizations Toward Financial Audit Success

The U.S. Army has been working toward achieving a clean financial audit for decades but has yet to show significant progress in doing so. RAND conducted a study of Army financial management organizations to identify opportunities for change.

Les déviations et les démentis de la Russie concernant l'utilisation d'armes chimiques en Ukraine

Russia's Post-War Military Recruiting Strategy Emerges

Russia's military recruiting efforts generally include offering higher wages and benefits, tightly managing public engagement and perceptions of the war to suppress bad news, and increasing military–patriotic education in schools to target the next generation of recruits.