The Rand Corporation is a nonprofit global policy think tank originally founded in Santa Monica, California, United States in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company. The company’s name and logo come from the company’s mission statement: “to help improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis.” The company has since grown to include locations in Arlington, Virginia; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Boston, Massachusetts.
The organization’s stated goal is “to provide objective analysis and advice to the United States Government, the private sector, and the public.”Rand has been described as having a “uniquely influential role in American intellectual life”, with its staff of researchers having contributed to numerous fields such as economics, statistics, political science, psychology, sociological theory, anthropology, operations research (particularly military planning during World War II), systems engineering (especially for the Apollo program), game theory (notably regarding nuclear strategy), and many more.
In addition to conducting its own original research studies on a wide variety of topics—such as education, healthcare,, national security,, energy and environment,, social welfare,, transportation,, arms control,,and science policy—the corporation provides consulting services to both government agencies and private-sector clients. Notable projects undertaken by Rand at various times have included work on operationally responsive space; ballistic missile defense; launch Vehicle system concepts; intelligent buildings; human resources management policies for government organizations such as NASA , Department of Veterans Affairs , Department of Energy ; health insurance exchanges under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ; development of alternative fuels ; improving highway safety ; analyzing cyber security threats related to critical infrastructure protection electric grid resilience military intelligence sharing international relations NATO expansion online communities open-source software privacy regulation risk perception scientific peer review technology commercialization telecommunications competition terrorist financing universal service wireless spectrum management
Founded in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company