Iran1s commander in chief and highest political authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, plays a critical role in Iran1s direction. This monograph explores factors shaping the succession to K
Security cooperation is an important instrument of the U.S. government for advancing national security objectives vis-a-vis partner countries. RAND examined and evaluated the effectiveness and efficie
Findings and recommendations from a study undertaken to assist AFSOC in planning for, assessing, and enhancing the effectiveness of missions to build partner capacity in health. It places health secur
The U.S. Air Force leadership plans in the near term to identify arid implement a range of initiatives for enhancing the service's contributions to irregular warfare (IW) operations and to meet DoD g
Many view unrest in the Middle East in the context of religious sectarianism, focusing on the Sunni-Shi’a split. The authors analyze sectarianism in the region and suggest a different interpreta
This report examines the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance’s history, activities, and roles to determine how its missions can best be performed to achieve the De
U.S. Air Forces in Europe seeks to build partnerships and partner capacity in Europe. This report characterizes the current policy debate on security cooperation and force posture in Europe, develops
The U.S. ability to 'read' the Iranian regime and formulate appropriate policies has been weakened by lack of access to the country and by the opacity of decisionmaking in Tehran. To improve understan
This report reviews two core U.S. Air Force decisionmaking processes to determine the extent to which decisionmakers consider security cooperation impact and to recommend ways to make such considerati
This report describes how the Israel Defense Force fought an adaptive hybrid adversary in a dense urban setting under intense public scrutiny during its wars in Gaza and draws lessons from the Israeli
This report identifies and assesses factors that create and perpetuate environments susceptible to insurgency, terrorism, and other extremist violence to inform military decisions on allocation of ana
The authors describe possible regional security structures and bilateral U.S. relationships with Iraq and Afghanistan. They recommend that the United States offer a wide range of security cooperation
In an analysis grounded in the observation that although Iranian power projection is marked by strengths, it also has serious liabilities and limitations, this report surveys the nature of both in fou
