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In the past two decades, the United States has deployed a high number of U.S. federal government civilians to high-threat environments. Past findings point to a likely need for civilian post-deployment reintegration support. However, until now, a descriptive account of such support has been lacking. In this report, the authors present assessments of federal agencies' practices to reintegrate civilians following a deployment to high-threat areas.

Historically, insurgency is one of the most prevalent forms of armed conflict and it is likely to remain common in the foreseeable future. Recent experiences with counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan offer many lessons for future counterinsurgents, but the discourse on the subject continues to be mired in a traditional dichotomy pitting population-centric approaches to counterinsurgency against enemy-centric approaches. Historical analysis suggests that this traditional dichotomy is not a sufficiently nuanced way to understand or plan for such operations. Instead, discussions of counterinsurgency should focus on two dimensions: actions (use of physical force vs. political or moral actions) and targets (active insurgents vs. insurgent support). This perspective divides the space of possible counterinsurgency efforts into four quadrants, suggesting that effective counterinsurgency campaigns find a balance of effort across the four quadrants that is well matched to the specific context.

As the largest provider of government civilians to support U.S. military operations, the Army stands to benefit to a great extent from a more robust process for forecasting future demand for its civilian workforce. The modeling process described in this report supports the Army and other force providers in aligning their available expeditionary civilian workforces with the projected future demand for these capabilities.

Changes in employment stability, family structure, and economic pressures have created challenges for the U.S. military reserve component (RC). It is necessary to modify assumptions about Reserve duty to improve RC member recruitment, performance, development, and retention. The authors provide recommendations and analysis that will be applicable in developing and administering programs to facilitate access to civilian human capital.

With the drawdown of US troops from both Iraq and Afghanistan, questions abound regarding the role of private military and security contractors (PMSCs) in American security policy moving forward. This article explores evolving US considerations for the use of various types of PMSCs currently and in the future. In doing so, it argues that the United States will continue to use PMSCs for the foreseeable future, although to a lesser extent than in the previous decade, and for different types of services in different theatres than was witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan. In particular, it is likely that the US will use PMSCs specializing in security or training/consulting functions in place of US troops for external security support missions. The effects of this shift may be moderated by the private military industry’s increasing adherence to international regulatory standards, although it is likely that such regulations will have the greatest impact on those firms providing security services.

Over the past decade, private contractors have been deployed extensively around the globe. In addition to supporting U.S. and allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, contractors have assisted foreign governments, nongovernmental organizations, and private businesses by providing a wide range of services, including base support and maintenance, logistical support, transportation, intelligence, communications, construction, and security. At the height of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, contractors outnumbered U.S. troops deployed to both theaters. Although these contractors are not supposed to engage in offensive combat, they may nonetheless be exposed to many of the stressors that are known to have physical and mental health implications for military personnel. RAND conducted an online survey of a sample of contractors who had deployed on contract to a theater of conflict at least once between early 2011 and early 2013. The survey collected demographic and employment information, along with details about respondents' deployment experience (including level of preparation for deployment, combat exposure, and living conditions), mental health (including probable posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and alcohol misuse), physical health, and access to and use of health care. The goal was to describe the contractors' health and well-being and to explore differences across the sample by such factors as country of citizenship, job specialty, and length and frequency of contract deployment. The findings provide a foundation for future studies of contractor populations and serve to inform policy decisions affecting contractors, including efforts to reduce barriers to mental health treatment for this population.

Contractors provide supplies and perform other functions in theaters of conflict. This comprehensive review of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) operational contract support (OCS) planning and integration workforce shows that some doctrinally mandated tasks are not being performed by DoD personnel and that the force receives limited training in OCS, recommending several options to address these shortfalls.

RAND conducted an end-to-end review and analysis of Department of Defense civilian deployment to inform policy and practice for using deployable civilians to meet mission needs ten to 20 years into the future.