Program Directory

 
City Club of Cleveland - James Thomson, President, RAND Corporation
City Club of Cleveland
 
 
 
James Thomson has been RAND's president and chief executive officer since August 1989. The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution that seeks to improve public policy through research and analysis. With annual revenues of over $200 million and a staff of 1500, RAND's research programs address a broad range of domestic, international, and national security issues.


Mr. Thomson will address the polarization of the American political climate. Whatever its causes, the effects of this polarization on political discourse and policymaking are clear: There is less room for deliberation between the two parties, and decisionmaking is increasingly driven more by ideology than by objective analysis of which policies and programs will achieve the desired outcomes at the lowest cost.


A member of the RAND staff since 1981, Dr. James Thomson has served the institution in a variety of roles, including that of director of RAND's research programs in national security, foreign policy, defense policy, and arms control; vice president in charge of the Project AIR FORCE division; and executive vice president. From 1977 to January 1981, Dr. Thomson was a member of the National Security Council staff at the White House, where he was primarily responsible for defense and arms control matters related to Europe. He was on the staff of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1974-1977.
May 14, 2010