Resource Allocation For The New Defense Strategy The Dynarank Decision Support System

This report describes a decision-support system called DynaRank. It illustrates DynaRank's use in defense planning with examples based on work for the Quadrennial Defense Review and follow-up research in 1997. It is our hope that a version of this methodology, which explicitly links program-level choices to higher level strategy, will become part of the Department of Defense Planning, Programming and Budgetary System (PPBS). We believe that a methodology that considers all of the components of the new defense strategy-respond, shape, and prepare now, will help provide rationale for making difficult programmatic choices if necessary. This report and DynaRank should not only be of interest to military analysts but also to policy analysts and other researchers in general, because of DynaRank's broader applicability to evaluating policy options. This document describes the DynaRank tool in a fair amount of detail, including an appendix that can be used as a tutorial. DynaRank is a Microsoft Excel workbook available for the Macintosh and an IBM-compatible computer.

DynaRank is a Microsoft Excel based program that allows detailed high-level evaluation of policy options. This report describes the development of DynaRank through a series of RAND policy studies, culminating in its application to the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). The authors provide an overview of the process and why it was developed, describing its application to a domestic transportation project and a long-range planning study for the Air Force. They then provide detail about its application late in the QDR process and describe how it assisted them in reaching certain conclusions. The appendixes provide a tutorial, instructing a new user how to set up and apply DynaRank; show a step-by-step example of its use; and list DynaRank's functions.

The question that faces governments and militaries the world over is how best to allocate resources for management of defence in the new age. This book, by Shri A.K. Ghosh who has an economics background, explores the framework for change in resource allocation and capability building. It emphasises the importance of introducing programming in Indian defence to serve as a link between defence planning and budgeting. Them is match between defence planning and budgeting needs to be connected by the introduction of resource constrained budgeting, having a multi-year perspective. The RMA, force modernisation, cost-benefit analysis,management of risks, and internal and external audits are among the many issues the author has provided a perspective on. It is argued by the author that defence needs to be viewed as a giant business and, where possible, business practices should be introduced. The book is recommended reading forth planners and decision-makers of defence management and will benefit readers from the armed forces as well. The lay readers interested in the subject of national defence and security will also find it useful and interesting.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold WarÑand then the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001Ñtransformed the task of American foreign and defense policymaking. This book outlines the dimensions of that transformation and sketches new tools for dealing with the policy challengesÑfrom modeling and gaming, to planning based on capabilities rather than threats, to personnel planning and making use of "best practices" from the private sector.

A selective review of modern decision science and implications for decision-support systems. The study suggests ways to synthesize lessons from research on heuristics and biases with those from "naturalistic research." It also discusses modern tools, such as increasingly realistic simulations, multiresolution modeling, and exploratory analysis, which can assist decisionmakers in choosing strategies that are flexible, adaptive, and robust.

For more than 3 decades, the U.S. Army War College (USAWC) Department of National Security and Strategy has faced the challenge of educating future strategic leaders on the subject of national security, or grand strategy. Fitting at the top of an officer's or government official's career-long professional development program, this challenge has been to design a course on strategy that incorporates its many facets in a short period of time, all within the 1-year, senior service college curriculum. To do this, a conceptual approach has provided the framework to think about strategy formulation. The purpose of this volume is to present the USAWC strategy formulation model to students and practitioners. This book serves as a guide to one method for the formulation, analysis, and study of strategy--an approach which we have found to be useful in providing generations of strategists with the conceptual tools to think systematically, strategically, critically, creatively, and big. Balancing what is described in the chapters as ends, ways, and means remains at the core of the Army War College's approach to national security and military strategy and strategy formulation.

How can countries decide what kind of military forces they need, if threats are uncertain and history is full of strategic surprises? This is a question that is more pertinent than ever, as countries across the Asia-Pacific are faced with the military and economic rise of China. Uncertainty is inherent in defence planning, but different types of uncertainty mean that countries need to approach decisions about military force structure in different ways. This book examines four different basic frameworks for defence planning, and demonstrates how states can make decisions coherently about the structure and posture of their defence forces despite strategic uncertainty. It draws on case studies from the United States, Australian and New Zealand, each of which developed key concepts for their particular circumstances and risk perception in Asia. Success as well as failure in developing coherent defence planning frameworks holds lessons for the United States and other countries as they consider how best to structure their military forces for the uncertain challenges of the future.