Herman Kahn was an American physicist and a founding member of the Hudson Institute, regarded as one of the preeminent futurists of the latter part of the twentieth century. He originally came to prominence as a military strategist and systems theorist while employed at the RAND Corporation. He analyzed the likely consequences of nuclear war and recommended ways to improve survivability during the Cold War. Kahn posited the idea of a "winnable" nuclear exchange in his 1960 book On Thermonuclear War for which he was one of the historical inspirations for the title character of Stanley Kubrick's classic black comedy film satire Dr. Strangelove. In his commentary for Fail Safe, director Sidney Lumet remarked that the Professor Groeteschele character is also based on Herman Kahn. Kahn's theories contributed to the development of the nuclear strategy of the United States.
Albert James Wohlstetter was an American political scientist noted for his influence on U.S. nuclear strategy during the Cold War. He and his wife Roberta Wohlstetter, an accomplished historian and intelligence expert, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Ronald Reagan on November 7, 1985.
System Development Corporation (SDC) was a computer software company based in Santa Monica, California. Founded in 1955, it is considered the first company of its kind.
Michael D. Rich is President Emeritus at RAND Corporation. Rich was the fifth president and CEO of the Santa Monica, California-based research institution, succeeding James A. Thomson, who had led RAND from 1989 to 2011. Rich was appointed as President and CEO in November 2011 and served in that role until his retirement in 2022. Rich was succeeded by current RAND President and CEO Jason Gaverick Matheny.
The Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School is a private graduate school associated with the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California. The school offers doctoral studies in policy analysis and practical experience working on RAND research projects to solve current public policy problems. Its campus is co-located with the RAND Corporation and most of the faculty is drawn from the 950 researchers at RAND.
The Nepalese democracy movement was the combination of a series of political initiatives and movements from the 20th century to 2008 that advocated the establishment of representative democracy, a multi-party political system and the abolition of monarchy in Nepal. It has seen three major movements, the Revolution of 1951, Jana Andolan and Loktantra Andolan which ultimately abolished the Shah monarchy, transitioned Nepal towards a republic and reintroduced multi-party bicameral democracy.
Mudiriyah, meaning "directorate", is an administrative subdivision also known in English as mudirate, and often translated as "province". It was used in Egypt and in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The term was also used in Yemen. The mudiriya were subdivided into markaz, or districts. In modern Egypt, these subdivisions were replaced by governorates (muhafazat).
Melvin Dresher was a Polish-born American mathematician, notable for developing, with Merrill Flood, the game theoretical model of cooperation and conflict known as the Prisoner's dilemma while at RAND in 1950.
The DARPA TIPSTER Text program was started in 1991 by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). It is a 9-year multi-million dollar initiative, which sought to improve HLT for the handling of multilingual corpora that are utilized within the intelligence process. It involved a cluster of joint projects by the government, academia, and private sector.
Richard L. Kugler is an American thinker and writer on U.S. national security policy and defense strategy.
Norman Zalmon Shapiro was an American mathematician, who was the co-author of the Rice–Shapiro theorem.
The RAND Corporation is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND Corporation engages in research and development (R&D) across multiple fields and industries. Since the 1950s, RAND research has helped inform United States policy decisions on a wide variety of issues, including the space race, the Vietnam War, the U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms confrontation, the creation of the Great Society social welfare programs, and national health care.
Thérèse Delpech was a French international relations expert and prolific public intellectual. Thèrese Delpech graduated from the École Normale Supérieure and went on to pass the agrégation of philosophy. During the rest of her career she concentrated on international relations issues. Delpech had been director of strategic studies at the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) from 1997. She served as an adviser to Alain Juppé during his tenure as Prime Minister (1995–1997). She was also a researcher with CERI at Sciences Po, commissioner with the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, and international adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross, and was "one of France's foremost thinkers on international security." Breaking with many French intellectuals she supported the 2003 American-led intervention in Iraq and had since advocated stronger sanctions against Iran.
William C. Martel was a scholar who specialized in studying the leadership and policymaking processes in organizations, strategic planning, cyberwarfare and militarisation of space, and technology innovation. He taught at the U.S. Air War College and U.S. Naval War College, and performed research for DARPA and the RAND Corporation. He later become Associate Professor of International Security Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, a position he held until his death in 2015.
Lynn Etheridge Davis was United States Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs from 1993 to 1997.
General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the most senior military body in Iran, to implement policy, monitor and coordinate activities within the Armed Forces.
The Iranian pragmatists are a political faction in Iran composed of moderate clerics and the merchant elite that see the Islamic Republic as a mean to retain power. The pragmatic faction is receptive to negotiate with the West and many would prefer a socialist market economy rather than closed markets.
Sharla Boehm was an American computer scientist who carried out pioneering work in packet switching while working for the RAND Corporation in the 1960s.
Glenn F. Spears is a retired United States Air Force lieutenant general now working as a business development consultant. He was formerly Commander, Air Forces Southern and 12th Air Force. He was also deputy commander of United States Southern Command, one of nine combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. He also commanded the Special Air Mission, the unit responsible for flying the President of the United States on Air Force One. During his 33 years of service in the Air Force, he commanded at every level, provided force management expertise and flew over 3,400 hours in 16 types of Air Force aircraft.
David J. Armor is a social scientist, academic, and author. He is the Professor Emeritus of Public Policy in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.
