In May 1948, RAND was incorporated as a not-for-profit entity independent of Douglas, but it continued to receive the bulk of its funding from the Air Force.
The think tank did, however, begin to accept extensive support from the Ford Foundation, marking it as a quintessential member of the American establishment.
Collbohm stayed on as chief executive officer until 1966, when he was forced out in the disputes then raging within the Pentagon between the Air Force and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.
McNamara's "whiz kids" were Defense intellectuals, many of whom had worked at RAND and were determined to restructure the armed forces to cut costs and curb interservice rivalries.
Always loyal to the Air Force and hostile to the whiz kids, Collbohm was replaced by Henry S. Rowan, an MIT-educated engineer turned economist and strategist who was himself forced to resign during the Ellsberg-Pentagon Papers scandal.
Collbohm and other pioneer managers at Douglas gave RAND its commitment to interdisciplinary work and limited its product to written reports, avoiding applied or laboratory research, or actual manufacturing.
RAND's golden age of creativity lasted from approximately 1950 to 1970.
During that period its theorists worked diligently on such new analytical techniques and inventions as systems analysis, game theory, reconnaissance satellites, the Internet, advanced computers, digital communications, missile defense, and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
During the 1970s, RAND began to turn to projects in the civilian world, such as health financing systems, insurance, and urban governance.
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http://www.alternet.org/world/83910/?page=1
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RAND CORPORATION Lobbies Pentagon For War To Save US Economy:
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For those of you unfamiliar with the RAND Corporation (RAND coming from research and development), it is a think tank created after World War II to advise the US military.
It was a key player in formulating the US’s policy during the Cold War and developing the US military industrial complex.
RAND’s board of directors includes Frank Charles Carlucci III, former Defence Secretary and Deputy Director of the CIA.
Carlucci was chairman of the Carlyle Group from 1989-2005 and oversaw gargantuan profits the defense contractor made in the aftermath of 9/11 following the invasion of Afghanistan.
The same Carlyle group that “Pappi” Bush now works for. For more on RAND look here. It’s supposed to be an NGO, but in fact proposes policy that will result in huge profits for it’s war mongering associates.
War is openly being considered as a viable commodity. An economic tool to get the country out of a recession.
All this is made even more scary by both presidential candidates hostile views towards Iran (remember McCain’s “Bomb Iran” song) and the fact that Debkafile, an Isreali website that reports on intelligence, terrorism, politics and military issues in the Middle East, have reported that both McCain and Obama have been given a guideline to prepare for a major international crisis soon after the elections.
