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Frequently Asked Questions
Is RAND an acronym?
The RAND name originated as a contraction of Research and Development. Today RAND conducts research on more than 1,000 topics in a typical year, but we are not involved in technology development.
When was RAND created? Some of your material says you started in 1946; some says 1948.
RAND began in 1946 as a research project (Project Rand) backed by a single client, the Army Air Forces. The project was developed at Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica, California. Two years later, with Ford Foundation support, RAND became an independent, nonprofit research institution committed to exploring the most complex and consequential problems facing our society.
What is a think tank?
It is generally acknowledged that the term "think tank" was first applied to the RAND Corporation in the 1960s. Back then, a think tank was a research institute that came up with new ideas that could influence public policy. But starting in the 1970s, many think tanks became associated with specific political or ideological agendas. RAND is strictly nonpartisan. Our core values are quality and objectivity. And our only fealty is to facts and evidence. We no longer refer to ourselves as a think tank, though we recognize that others will still do so.
What is an FFRDC?
Federally Funded Research and Development Centers are independent entities that assist the United States government with scientific research, analysis, and development. FFRDCs address critical, long-term problems of considerable complexity; provide immediate, short-term assistance for urgent, high-priority issues; analyze technical questions with a high degree of objectivity; and provide creative and cost-effective solutions to government problems. Working in the public interest, FFRDCs operate as long-term strategic partners with their sponsoring government agencies. RAND operates three FFRDCs: RAND Arroyo Center, RAND National Defense Research Institute (NDRI), and RAND Project AIR FORCE (PAF).
Why aren't you located in Washington, D.C., with the other think tanks?
For many years, RAND had an office in Washington, D.C., in addition to our headquarters campus in Santa Monica, California. As our organization grew, we moved to Arlington, Virginia, where 300 RAND staff are now based. We opened a second East Coast office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2000, where almost 200 RAND staff are located.
Why do you call yourself a corporation if you're a nonprofit?
When we set ourselves up as a nonprofit corporation back in 1948 with the help of the Ford Foundation, "corporation" seemed like the right word. We've actually struggled with keeping "corporation" as part of our name, and for about a decade (from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s) we dropped the word "corporation." Subsequent reviews of our brand suggested that while corporation was something of a misnomer for a nonprofit institution, (a) the RAND Corporation was widely recognized as a brand and (b) other organizations had assumed the word "RAND," making RAND alone no longer unique. Though we have rebranded ourselves with our original name ("the RAND Corporation"), we are proud to be a 501(c)(3) organization with many generous philanthropic supporters.
How does RAND select projects?
It really depends on which research unit is doing the work. Some units that conduct research in social and economic policy—e.g., RAND Health, RAND Education, RAND Labor and Population—compete with other organizations and universities for funds from government agencies and private foundations. Our federally funded research and development centers—i.e., RAND Project AIR FORCE, the RAND National Defense Research Institute, and the RAND Arroyo Center—are long-standing research centers funded annually through the Department of Defense budget to carry out short- and long-term research on national security questions. In addition, RAND uses philanthropic support and the organization's own endowment for projects that are either too new (e.g., HIV research in the 1980s) or too urgent (e.g., providing assistance to the U.S. Gulf States region immediately after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita) to have client support.
But isn't most of your research classified SECRET?
No. Roughly 95 percent of our research is unclassified and is publicly available (and at no cost, through free downloads from our Web site). Visit our online bookstore and browse through available titles; about 8,000 titles are now online. We're also in the process of putting our entire 60-year unclassified legacy online. It is true that, to recoup the cost of printing, we sell the hard copies of our books.
For the past three decades, we have opened our archives to academics who want to study our history. This includes access to declassified documents and internal memorandums.
Learn more about gaining access to our archives and the scholars who have written about RAND
Does everyone at RAND have a secret clearance?
No. Many people at RAND do not have a security clearance and never venture into the classified areas.
Do you have to be a U.S. citizen to work at RAND?
No. At present, the RAND staff is made up of people from nearly 40 nations, and the Pardee RAND Graduate School student body is made up of graduate fellows from 20 nations.
Can anyone visit RAND?
RAND invites people in the community to Policy Forums several times each year. You can learn more about the events we offer on our Calendar of Events. We also periodically offer tours of our headquarters campus, which received the U.S. Green Building Council's Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification in April 2006 and the Urban Land Institute Award for Excellence in May 2007.
Does RAND take a position on campaign issues or candidates?
The RAND Corporation is a nonpartisan research institution and as such does not take a position on or lend its name to referenda, candidates, or other legislative initiatives (except in rare instances when a local ballot initiative might affect our Santa Monica campus).
Some states require contributors to provide their occupation and employer information when making a donation to a campaign. Those donations are from individuals who work at RAND, not from the RAND Corporation.
I've heard a lot of rumors about you guys. Are any of them true?
Sure, some of them are. Here's a sampling of the ones that come up most often:
RAND refused to release an important study on the existence of unidentified flying objects
Initially, we did refuse to release the UFO study, but not because it was classified or controversial. The paper was published in an internal series that was not releasable to the public because it hadn't been peer reviewed. We eventually decided that the demand for the paper superseded our internal policy and posted it.
UFOs: What To Do? — 1968
RAND penned H.R. 1955: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007
RAND terrorism expert Brian Michael Jenkins has testified on terrorism and has met with Jane Harman (D-CA), the bill's primary sponsor and chair of the Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment. We did not, however, write the bill.
RAND advised President Nixon on the feasibility of canceling the 1972 presidential election
Henry S. Rowen, then president of the RAND Corporation, released this statement carried by The Wall Street Journal on May 13, 1970: "The Rand Corporation has not undertaken such a study. It does not contemplate making such a study, nor has it been approached by anyone with a proposal for such a study."
RAND developed the "Planetran," a high-speed floating train that can travel from Los Angeles to New York City in two hours
RAND explored the idea, though it was initially discussed at Lockheed.
The Very High Speed Transit System — 1972
Trans-Planetary Subway Systems: A Burgeoning Capability — 1978
RAND predicted in the 1960s what a home computer would look like in 2004
An email hoax shows a man standing next to a wall of gadgets with a steering wheel, which represents our prediction of a home computer. The photo was created for a Photoshop competition organized by Fark.com. You can find out more about the rumor on any of the hoax-busting Web sites (e.g., snopes.com, truthorfiction.com). RAND, however, did invent one of the first mainframe computers.
RAND planned to use LSD to stop antiwar protestors
In the early ‘60s, we did examine the short- and long-term effect of LSD on personality change. Volunteers from RAND's research and support staff enjoyed their "trips" in a controlled environment at UCLA.
Long-Lasting Effects of LSD on Certain Attitudes in Normals: An Experimental Proposal — 1962
Short-Term Effects of LSD on Anxiety, Attitudes, and Performance — 1963
RAND invented windsurfing
Windsurfing was first described in a RAND document written and illustrated by aeronautical engineer James Drake. He was the first to hold the patent and is heralded by many within the windsurfing world as "the father of windsurfing.
Wind Surfing—A New Concept in Sailing — 1969
RAND's first building on Main Street in Santa Monica was designed by a RAND mathematician
The RAND headquarters building at 1700 Main Street in Santa Monica, California, was designed by John Williams, head of the Mathematics Division. He raised the idea of creating a building that would increase the probability of chance personal meetings. Such meetings, he argued, would promote the interdisciplinary aspect of RAND—the use of mixed teams of analysts in addressing a problem.
A RAND researcher designed the bridge of the Starship Enterprise on the original Star Trek television series
A RAND researcher, Harvey Lynn, was consulted, but as a private citizen, not as part of a RAND project.
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