RAND Corporation releases report on U.S. government’s decision-making processes

The RAND Corporation called for a leaner, more efficient national security decision-making process designed for a larger, modern world, on Tuesday.

“The president could force the sclerotic U.S. government to achieve coherence and sustainability in national security policy by breaking organizational stovepipes, reducing bloat at the top of the structures and the agencies, and instructing the government to both improve internal and external messaging as well as become better at looking ahead,” Charles Ries, lead author of the study and vice president of international at RAND, said. “Our institutions need to do less at the top, delegate more and insist on accountability. That will help ensure a focus on what is important, rather than having those issues overwhelmed constantly by the immediate.”

The report is the result of a study that examined trends in U.S. national security decision-making structures and processes over seven decades following World War II. It found that the decision-making apparatuses developed during that period were ill-suited to the realities of 21st century U.S. foreign policy.

The RAND reports also makes recommendations to specific changes that would effectively streamline the government’s decision making processes.

“The time and attention of top decision makers is increasingly scarce, the threats and actors diverse, and the focus of media attention shifts ever more quickly from crisis to crisis placing policy coherence at risk,” Ries said. “Public support for an America engaged in global affairs is declining.”