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• Overview
• The History of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
• Context: Broad Social Changes and Public Opinion
• Sexual Orientation and Disclosure
• Unit Cohesion and Military Performance
• Potential Effects on Military Recruiting and Retention
• Health Implications
• Focus Groups of Military Personnel
• RAND Survey of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Military Personnel
• The Experience of Foreign Militaries
• The Experience of Domestic Agencies: Police, Fire, and Federal Agencies
• The Experience of Other Domestic Organizations: Corporations and Universities
• Implementation - Appendix: Insights from the Expanding Role of Women in the Military.

At the request of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Secretary of Defense, the RAND Corporation conducted a study on sexual orientation and U.S. military policy in order to provide information and analysis that might be considered in discussing the possible repeal of the law known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT). The study examined DADT implementation; U.S. public and military opinion about allowing gay men and lesbians to serve in the military without restriction; and the scientific literature on group cohesion, sexual orientation, and related health issues. RAND conducted focus groups with military personnel and a survey of gay, lesbian, and bisexual military personnel. RAND researchers also examined the comparable experiences of other institutions, domestic agencies, and foreign militaries, as well as how repeal of DADT might affect unit cohesion and military readiness and effectiveness.

• Overview
• The history of "Don't ask, don't tell"
• Context: broad social changes and public opinion
• Sexual orientation and disclosure
• Unit cohesion and military performance
• Potential effects on military recruiting and retention
• Health implications
• Focus groups of military personnel
• RAND survey of gay, lesbian, and bisexual military personnel
• The experience of foreign militaries
• The experience of domestic agencies: police, fire, and federal agencies
• The experience of other domestic organizations: corporations and universities
• Implementation
• Appendix: Insights from the expanding role of women in the military.

At the request of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Secretary of Defense, the RAND Corporation conducted a study on sexual orientation and U.S. military policy in order to provide information and analysis that might be considered in discussing the possible repeal of the law known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT). The study examined DADT implementation; U.S. public and military opinion about allowing gay men and lesbians to serve in the military without restriction; and the scientific literature on group cohesion, sexual orientation, and related health issues. RAND conducted focus groups with military personnel and a survey of gay, lesbian, and bisexual military personnel. RAND researchers also examined the comparable experiences of other institutions, domestic agencies, and foreign militaries, as well as how repeal of DADT might affect unit cohesion and military readiness and effectiveness.

In early 2014, the Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office asked the RAND National Defense Research Institute to conduct an independent assessment of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and gender discrimination in the military -- an assessment last conducted in 2012 by the department itself with the Workplace and Gender Relations Survey of Active Duty Personnel. Separately, the Coast Guard requested that we expand the 2014 study to include an assessment of its active and reserve force. This report provides initial top-line active-duty Coast Guard estimates from the resulting RAND Military Workplace Study, which invited close to 560,000 service members to participate in a survey fielded in August and September of 2014.

• Chapter 1. Introduction
• Chapter 2. What are the health care needs of the transgender population?
• Chapter 3. : What is the estimated transgender population in the U.S. military?
• Chapter 4. How many transgender service members are likely to seek gender transition-related medical treatment?
• Chapter 5. What are the costs associated with extending health care coverage for gender transition-related treatments?
• Chapter 6: What are the potential readiness implications of allowing transgender service members to serve openly?
• Chapter 7. What lessons can be learned from foreign militaries that permit transgender personnel to serve openly?
• Chapter 8. : Which DoD policies would need to be changed if transgender service members are allowed to serve openly?
• Appendixes.

• Preface
• Figures and Tables
• Summary
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1. Introduction : Study Approach
• Organization of This Report
• Chapter 2. What Are the Health Care Needs of the Transgender Population?: Definitions of Key Terms and Concepts
• Health Care Needs of the Transgender Population
• Military Health System Capacity and Gender Transition--Related Treatment
• Potential Consequences of Not Providing Necessary Gender Transition--Related Care
• Chapter 3. : What Is the Estimated Transgender Population in the U.S. Military? : General Population Estimates of Transgender Prevalence
• Prevalence-Based Approach to Estimating the Number of Transgender Service Members in the U.S. Military
• Chapter 4. How Many Transgender Service Members Are Likely to Seek Gender Transition-Related Medical Treatment?
• Prevalence-Based Approach to Estimating the Number of Gender Transition-Related Treatments in the U.S. Military
• Utilization-Based Approach to Estimating the Number of Gender Transition-Related Treatments in the U.S. Military
• Summarizing the Estimates
• Chapter 5. What Are the Costs Associated with Extending Health Care Coverage for Gender Transition-Related Treatments?: Private Health Insurance Cost Estimates
• Sensitivity Analyses
• Summarizing the Estimates
• Chapter 6: What Are the Potential Readiness Implications of Allowing Transgender Service Members to Serve Openly?: Impact on Ability to Deploy
• Impact on Unit Cohesion
• Costs of Separation Requirements Related to Transgender Service Members
• Chapter 7. What Lessons Can Be Learned from Foreign Militaries That Permit Transgender Personnel to Serve Openly?: Policies on Transgender Personnel in Foreign Militaries
• Effects on Cohesion and Readiness
• Best Practices from Foreign Militaries
• Lessons Learned and Issues to Consider for U.S. Military Policy
• Chapter 8. : Which DoD Policies Would Need to Be Changed if Transgender Service Members Are Allowed to Serve Openly?: Accession Policy
• Retention Policy
• Separation Policy
• Deployment Policy
• Chapter 9. Conclusion
• APPENDIXES
• References.

"Recent U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) policy banned transgender personnel from serving openly in the military. Potential changes to this policy raised questions regarding access to gender transition--related health care, the range of transition-related treatments that DoD will need to provide, the potential costs associated with these treatments, and the impact of these health care needs on force readiness and the deployability of transgender service members. A RAND study identified the health care needs of the transgender population and transgender service members in particular. It also examined the costs of covering transition-related treatments, assessed the potential readiness implications of a policy change, and reviewed the experiences of foreign militaries that permit transgender personnel to serve openly"--Publisher's description.

• Preface
• Box, Figures, and Tables
• Summary
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1. Introduction: Research Design
• Outline of the Report
• Chapter 2. The Evolution of al Shabaab: Phase One: Ideological and Historical Origins, 1960s-2005
• Phase Two: Proto-Insurgency, 2005-2007
• Phase Three: Rebirth and the Rise of the Islamists, 2007-2009
• Phase Four: The Heyday of al Shabaab, 2009-2011
• Phase Five: Retreat and Adaptation, 2011-2016
• Conclusion
• Chapter 3. The Weakening of al Shabaab: Strategic Options
• The Decline of al Shabaab
• Conclusion
• Chapter 4. Recommendations
• APPENDIX: Data Collection Sources and Notes
• About the Authors
• References
• Index.

"This report analyzes the U.S. and allied campaign against the al Qa'ida-linked terrorist group al Shabaab in Somalia, examines what steps have been most successful against the group, and identifies potential recommendations. It concludes that, while al Shabaab was weakened between 2011 and 2016, the group could resurge if urgent steps are not taken to address the political, economic, and governance challenges at the heart of the conflict. This study finds that a tailored engagement strategy -- which involved deploying a small number of U.S. special operations forces to conduct targeted strikes, provide intelligence, and build the capacity of local partner forces to conduct ground operations--was key in degrading al Shabaab. Still, progress in Somalia is reversible in the absence of continued and consistent pressure and political, economic, and social reforms. Today's terrorism and insurgency landscape defies easy solutions, with challenges from the Islamic State, al Qa'ida, and other groups across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Africa. While there has been a significant focus on how and why the U.S. and other Western governments have failed to degrade terrorists and insurgents in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, and other countries, there has been far less attention on successful efforts to degrade groups. In Somalia, there has been limited progress. The challenge will be preventing a reversal"--Publisher's description.

• Preface
• Figures and Boxes
• Summary
• Chapter 1. Introduction: Why Millennials Matter to Intelligence
• Intelligence in a Changing World
• Four Groups of Millennials
• Methodology
• Chapter 2. The Public: Perception Is Key: U.S. Millennials
• Foreign Millennials
• Chapter 3. Millennial Clients: Policymakers and Decisionmakers for Decades to Come: How Millennials Process and Use Information
• Millennial Analyst-Policy Relationships
• Chapter 4. Intelligence Community Employees: The Intelligence Workforce: Hiring Dilemmas
• A Tale of Two Onboardings
• Developing Skills
• Redefining Retention
• Chapter 5. Intelligence Community Gene Pool: Contractors, Researchers, Foreign Liaisons, and More
• Chapter 6. Conclusions
• Chapter 7. Areas for Further Research
• Abbreviations
• Bibliography.

"In 2015, for the first time, millennials outnumbered baby boomers as the largest generational segment of the U.S. population. This report describes how the intelligence community (IC) must engage millennials across multiple segments to succeed in the future: millennials as intelligence clients, employees, and partners and as members of the public. The authors explore how the perspectives and experiences of millennials falling into each segment are relevant to IC functions and missions. Millennials in each segment may perceive intelligence differently from previous generations, which may influence whether and how they partner and engage with the IC; such decisions will affect future intelligence missions. This report provides an understanding of areas in which intelligence agencies may benefit from further study"--Publisher's description.

• Preface
• Figures
• Tables
• Summary
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Chapter One: Introduction: PTSD and Depression Among Service Members
• Care Provided to Service Members with PTSD and Depression
• Measuring Quality of Health Care
• PTSD and Depression Quality Measures
• Organization of This Report
• Chapter Two: Methods: Overview
• Processing Inpatient and Outpatient Encounter Data
• Identification of Service Members in PTSD and Depression Cohorts
• Technical Specifications for Quality Measures
• Analyses
• Chapter Three: Characteristics of Service Members in PTSD and Depression Cohorts, and Their Care Settings and Treatments: Demographic Characteristics of the PTSD and Depression Cohorts
• Military Service Characteristics of the PTSD and Depression Cohorts
• Utilization of Mental Health Services
• Treatment Setting, Encounter Characteristics, and Types of Providers Seen by PTSD and Depression Patients
• Assessments and Behavioral Interventions Delivered to Service Members in the PTSD and Depression Cohorts
• Prescriptions for Psychotropic Medications Filled by Service Members in the PTSD and Depression Cohorts
• Summary
• Chapter Four: Quality of Care for PTSD and Depression: Quality Measure Results for PTSD
• Overview of Measures for Service Members in PTSD Cohort
• Quality Measure Results for Depression
• Summary of Measures for Service Members in the Depression Cohort
• Chapter Five: Variations in Care for PTSD and Depression Based on Patient Characteristics: Performance of PTSD Measures by Age of Service Member
• Performance of PTSD Measures by Race/Ethnicity of Service Member
• Performance of PTSD Measures by Gender of Service Member
• Performance of PTSD Measures by Pay Grade of Service Member
• Performance of PTSD Measures by Deployment History of Service Member
• Performance of Depression Measures by Age of Service Member
• Performance of Depression Measures by Race/Ethnicity of Service Member
• Performance of Depression Measures by Gender of Service Member
• Performance of Depression Measures by Pay Grade of Service Member
• Performance of Depression Measures by Deployment History of Service Member
• Summary of Variations by Service Member Characteristics
• Chapter Six: Summary and Recommendations: Main Findings
• Policy Implications
• Final Thoughts
• Appendix: A. Technical Specifications for Administrative Data Quality Measures for PTSD
• B. Technical Specifications for Administrative Data Quality Measures for Depression
• C. Rules for Processing Administrative Data for Inpatient Stays and Outpatient Visits
• References.

• Introduction
• Methods
• Characteristics of service members in PTSD and depression cohorts, and their care settings and treatments
• Quality of care for PTSD and depression
• Variations in care for PTSD and depression based on patient characteristics
• Summary and recommendations
• Appendix A. Technical specifications for administrative data quality measures for PTSD
• Appendix B. Technical specifications for administrative data quality measures for depression
• Appendix C. Rules for processing administrative data for inpatient stays and outpatient visits.

"The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) strives to maintain a physically and psychologically healthy, mission-ready force, and the care provided by the Military Health System (MHS) is critical to meeting this goal. Given the rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression among U.S. service members, attention has been directed to ensuring the quality and availability of programs and services targeting these and other psychological health (PH) conditions. Understanding the current quality of care for PTSD and depression is an important step toward improving care across the MHS. To help determine whether service members with PTSD or depression are receiving evidence-based care and whether there are disparities in care quality by branch of service, geographic region, and service member characteristics (e.g., gender, age, pay grade, race/ethnicity, deployment history), DoD's Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) asked the RAND Corporation to conduct a review of the administrative data of service members diagnosed with PTSD or depression and to recommend areas on which the MHS could focus its efforts to continuously improve the quality of care provided to all service members. This report characterizes care for service members seen by MHS for diagnoses of PTSD and/or depression and finds that while the MHS performs well in ensuring outpatient follow-up following psychiatric hospitalization, providing sufficient psychotherapy and medication management needs to be improved. Further, quality of care for PTSD and depression varied by service branch, TRICARE region, and service member characteristics, suggesting the need to ensure that all service members receive high-quality care"--Publisher's description.

• Preface
• Summary
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Rapport
• The Advising Engagement
• Integration of SOF Advisors
• Integration of ASSF
• Sustainability
• Pre-Deployment Training
• Continuity of Operations
• Conclusion.

"Special Operators assigned to Special Operations Advisory Groups advise the commanders and staff of the Afghan Special Security Forces. Drawing on in-depth interviews with these personnel, this report identifies best practices for operational level advising. Topics addressed include rapport building, the advising engagement, integration, sustainability, pre-deployment training, and continuity of operations"--Publisher's description.

• Preface
• Summary
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Chapter One: Introduction
• Chapter Two: SOF Partnership in Afghanistan: The Ministry of Interior's National Mission Units
• Chapter Three: SOF Partnership in Afghanistan: The Ministry of Interior's Provincial Response Companies
• Chapter Four: SOF Partnership in Afghanistan: The ANASOF Special Operations Kandaks
• Chapter Five: SOF Partnership in Iraq
• Chapter Six: SOF Partnership in Colombia
• Chapter Seven: Best Practices and Recommendations for SOF Partnering
• Chapter Eight: Conclusion: SOF Partnership Beyond Afghanistan
• Appendix: Interview Protocol
• References.

"Building the capacity of Afghan Special Operations Forces (SOF) is a key goal of the United States and its coalition partners. This report summarizes key partnering practices and presents findings from SOF partnership case studies in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Colombia. The goal is to identify best practices to benefit the development of Afghan SOF, as well as for special operations partnerships beyond Afghanistan"--Publisher's description.

In January 2012, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced plans for a large-scale reduction, or drawdown, of its military force. The last drawdown to affect all four DoD services occurred in the 1990s, after the end of the Cold War. During that period, the military shrank by almost 37 percent, from about 2.17 million in FY 1987 to 1.37 million by FY 2000. Despite having a variety of goals and strategies for the 1990s and mid-2000s drawdowns, the services had few, if any, explicit diversity goals or strategies related to the drawdowns. Based on our discussions with force management experts, demographic diversity is also not part of their recent drawdown goals and strategies. However, the drawdown could have unintended consequences for demographic diversity even when diversity is not part of drawdown decisionmaking. To address the issue of unintended consequences of drawdowns on diversity, the Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity (ODMEO) in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) asked RAND to analyze how force reductions could affect the demographic diversity of the DoD workforce. Our study focuses on gender and race/ethnicity, although we include other individual differences, such as education, in some analyses.

• Ch.
• 1: Introduction
• ch.
• 2: Why Internet freedom tools?.-- ch.
• 3: Internet freedom tools are countermeasures to the efforts of repressive countries
• ch.
• 4: How could DRL funding affect criminal and netizen behaviors?
• ch.
• 5: Do netizens and criminals seek the same things from Internet freedom tools?
• ch.
• 6: Methodology
• ch.
• 7: Analysis of DRL Internet freedom projects
• ch.
• 8: Additional mitigating safeguards
• ch.
• 9: Conclusion.

• Preface
• Figures and Tables
• Summary
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Chapter One: Introduction
• Chapter Two: Why Internet Freedom Tools?.-- Chapter Three: Internet Freedom Tools Are Countermeasures to the Efforts of Repressive Countries
• Chapter Four: How Could DRL Funding Affect Criminal and Netizen Behaviors?
• Chapter Five: Do Netizens and Criminals Seek the Same Things from Internet Freedom Tools?
• Chapter Six: Methodology
• Chapter Seven: Analysis of DRL Internet Freedom Projects
• Chapter Eight: Additional Mitigating Safeguards
• Chapter Nine: Conclusion
• References.

"This report examines the portfolio of tools funded by the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor that help support Internet freedom and assesses the impact of these tools in promoting U.S. interests (such as freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and the free flow of information) without enabling criminal activity"--Publisher's description.