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News Release OFFICE OF MEDIA RELATIONS 703-413-1100 x5117 and 310-451-6913media@rand.org FOR RELEASE Tuesday June 10, 2008 Virginity Pledges May Help Postpone Intercourse Among Youth Making a virginity pledge may help some young people postpone the start of sexual activity, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Researchers found that adolescents who made pledges to remain virgins until they are married were less likely to be sexually active over the three-year study period than other youth who were similar to them, but who did not make a virginity pledge, according to the study published online by the Journal of Adolescent...

INTRODUCTION "Wars of subversion and counter subversion are fought, in the last resort, in the minds of the people," a leading British authority on counterterrorism concluded in 1971.1 More than three decades later, there is growing recognition among U.S. government officials, journalists, and analysts of terrorism that defeating al-Qaida— arguably the preeminent challenge to U.S. security—will require far more than "neutralizing" leaders, disrupting cells, and dismantling networks. From its inception in the mid-1990s, al-Qaida has been both a terrorist organization and an international revolutionary movement, which today stretches across North America, western Europe, and the global south.2 That organization, driven...

National Guard study issued WASHINGTON, June 4 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army should create 10 National Guard task forces to respond quickly to domestic emergencies, a RAND Corp. report recommended Monday. "We believe the best way to improve the Army's response to domestic disasters is to empower the National Guard for a regional focus," said Lynn Davis, lead author of the report from RAND, a non-profit research group. "The experience of Hurricane Katrina also demonstrates that new strategies are needed to prepare Army forces for all types for domestic emergencies." As envisioned by the RAND report, each 900-member task force...

When I suggest that radical Muslims are the problem and that moderate Muslims are the solution, the nearly inevitable retort from most people is: "What moderate Muslims?" "Where are the anti-Islamists' demonstrations against terror?" they ask me. "What are they doing to combat Islamists? What have they done to reassess Islamic law?" My response: Moderate Muslims do exist. But, of course, they constitute a very small movement when compared to the Islamist onslaught. This means that the American government and other powerful institutions should give priority to locating, meeting with, funding, forwarding, empowering, and celebrating those brave Muslims who, at...

Identifying Key Partners and Audiences A critical part of U.S. network-building efforts, as well as in its broader public diplomacy and strategic communications policy, is identifying key partners and audiences. Difficulties in distinguishing potential allies from adversaries present a major problem to Western governments and organizations attempting to organize support for moderate Muslims. Work done by the RAND Corporation—in Cheryl Benard’s Civil Democratic Islam and Angel Rabasa et al., The Muslim World After 9/11—has begun to lay the framework for identifying ideological tendencies in the Muslim world,1 which is necessary in order to identify the sectors with which the United...

How the CIA Funds Anti-Bush Propaganda By Bill Gertz The Washington Times | September 14, 2004 The CIA's Counterterrorist Center has spent more than $15 million in the past three years funding studies, reports and conferences produced by former Democratic administration officials and other critics of the Bush administration. The latest effort was a $300,000 grant by the CIA to the Atlantic Council for a study co-authored by Richard A. Clarke, the former counterterrorism official who wrote a best seller accusing the Bush administration of failing in the war on terrorism by invading Iraq.

Sever Plocker Five million in five years Five million more Palestinians are expected to populate the Gaza Strip and the West Bank within the next five years Palestinian population will grow as emigrants return and new children are born Photo: AP Rand Corporation is a California research institute that has built its reputation as a conservative, strict, yet reliable and credible think tank. Last week, the institution published a complete study on the options of establishing and founding a Palestinian state. According to the report, the cost of a durable Palestinian state that sustains reasonable living standards is more than...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - High-quality, universal preschool for all 4-year-olds in California would generate $2.62 in benefits for every public dollar spent, according to a new economic analysis released Tuesday by the Rand Corp. The cost-benefits study by the Santa Monica-based think tank estimated average annual costs of $1.7 billion for universal preschool would be offset in the long-term by a reduction in the high school graduation dropout rate, less juvenile crime and a more productive work force. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, which advocates voluntary preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds in California by 2013, funded the study....

"In terms of perception, we've already lost the war," said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism analyst who heads the Washington office of RAND Corp., a think tank known for its problem-solving research..

<p>LONDON, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- A Rand Corp. study released Tuesday in London warns terrorists might use container ships in terror attacks meant to cause massive casualties.</p> <p>World Tribune.com says the report warns cargo ships or shipping containers could be used to deliver weapons of mass destruction for terror groups such as al-Qaida.</p>

The United States has concluded that Al Qaida and its allies are taking over the Sunni insurgency war in Iraq. U.S. officials said Central Command officers in Iraq have seen increasing evidence of Al Qaida and Islamic volunteer forces participating and even leading the insurgency war in the Sunni Triangle. They said Al Qaida has succeeded in presenting Iraq as the next arena for what the movement terms the Islamic holy war against the United States. "Foreign terrorists are attracted to areas where the coalition is on the offense in the global war on terror, and in Iraq we are...

The capture of Khalid Sheik Mohammed could significantly impact Al Qaeda operations. WASHINGTON AND KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - Unlike Osama bin Laden, he's not a household name - at least not until now. But no individual's capture could have wider implications for America's war on terrorism than that of Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Apprehended in Pakistan this weekend and now facing interrogation in US custody overseas, Mohammed is considered to be Al Qaeda's foremost operational leader, with unrivaled knowledge of the organization's plans and personnel. The news of Mohammed's capture could help on several fronts, from the manhunt for bin Laden to...

Reprinted from NewsMax.com In Helping Enemies of America, Saudis Sow Seeds of Own DestructionArnaud de BorchgraveNewsMax.com WiresFriday, Aug. 23, 2002 When ailing Saudi King Fahd decamped from a Geneva clinic where he had spent the last two months, no less than 12 large jet aircraft, including a hospital jumbo, were required to move him and his entourage to one of his summer palaces in Marbella, Spain. Local shopkeepers were gleeful. Marbella's chamber of commerce estimates the royal household drops $80 million a week on hotels and designer knickknacks. For Fahd, suffering from multiple life-threatening ailments, the growing tumult surrounding the...