Category: Intel

Back in fall 2021, we at the American School District Panel surveyed school districts nationwide to better understand their staffing challenges in the pandemic’s third school year. The results echoed media accounts: large majorities of districts report they don’t have enough staff to hire—particularly substitutes, bus drivers, and special education teachers. When we conducted in-depth… Continue reading Finding Teachers and Bus Drivers Is a Big Problem, but a Different Staffing Challenge Is Looming in School Districts

Antarctica, as one of the largest shared spaces on the planet, represents an emerging nexus of geostrategic competition. Australia may have reason to be troubled by this. As a longstanding champion of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), and as Antarctica’s largest claimant, any fracturing of the status quo could force Australia to reappraise its strategic… Continue reading Not So Quiet on the Southern Front

Automated Vehicle (AV) safety isn’t a game. But when policy problems involve many different groups with diverging interests along with significant uncertainty about the future, games can be a valuable way to explore the potential consequences of important policy decisions. The AV industry is serious business and big business; it’s valued at over $54 billion… Continue reading Developing a Winning Safety Strategy for Automated Vehicles

This week, we discuss how a Russian invasion of Ukraine could lead to a massive refugee crisis; the benefits of investing in women’s health research; how to end all U.S. roadway deaths; pandemic-related staffing challenges in America’s schools; programs available to support incarcerated parents and their children; and the strengths and weaknesses of China’s defense… Continue reading Refugees, Women’s Health Research, Supporting Incarcerated Parents: RAND Weekly Recap

On Jan. 23, China repeated its familiar pattern of sending warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone—in this case, 39 advanced air assets including fighter jets, nuclear-capable bombers and surveillance and transport aircraft. Although highly provocative, it was in many respects just another day in January. For the whole month, Beijing only refrained from threatening… Continue reading Why China Is Intensifying Its Military Flights Against Taiwan

As the drums of war beat louder in Ukraine, an unlikely voice has emerged calling for restraint—China hawks. Members of Congress have expressed an openness to making concessions to Russia, with some arguing that any U.S. response to Russia would detract from our ability to deter China. Similarly, prominent China defense analysts warned not to… Continue reading The False Choice Between China and Russia

U.S. President Joe Biden’s threatened sanctions far exceed previous measures to curb Russian President Vladimir Putin, but they have not stopped Putin from ordering Russian forces into rebel-held territory in Eastern Ukraine. This begs the question whether the severe measures the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union have threatened to take are… Continue reading A Test of How Effective Sanctions Are

In the past two years, the U.S. Coast Guard has made strong statements suggesting it would be increasing its effort to deter illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activity. As it does so, the Coast Guard might also consider enhancing its role as a trainer of other nations. IUU fishing occurs outside of careful resource… Continue reading A Timely Opportunity for the U.S. Coast Guard to Teach a Man to Protect His Fish

Jocelyn joined the U.S. Army with dreams of putting herself through college and becoming a lawyer. It’s been a long and bitter journey from there to the streets of Los Angeles, where she scratches out a living selling handicrafts on the Venice Beach boardwalk. The closest thing she has to a bed at night is… Continue reading The Lives of Veterans Experiencing Homelessness

This week, we discuss why the decision to either respond to Russia or deter China is a false choice; the effectiveness of sanctions as a tool for statecraft; why it may be time for a new approach to helping unemployed Americans; how substance use disorder complicates sex trafficking cases; teachers’ views on anti-bias education; the… Continue reading Responding to Russia, Sex Trafficking, Anti-Bias Education: RAND Weekly Recap