Dr. Obaid Younossi brings nearly three decades of leadership in public policy research, having built and led major research programs at the RAND Corporation, one of the world’s most respected nonprofit public policy institutions. Over the course of his three decades RAND career, he held a succession of senior leadership roles, including Director of RAND’s Resource Management Research Program, Research Department Director for Political Science, Vice Dean of the RAND School of Public Policy (formerly the Pardee RAND Graduate School), and Director of the RAND-Qatar Policy Institute, where from 2011 he led policy research initiatives spanning education, energy and environment, family affairs, and national food security for the Government of Qatar and the Qatar Foundation.
Dr. Younossi’s own research has focused on acquisition, cost analysis, and science technology policy, and he has authored or co-authored more than fifty publications cited widely across national security and public-policy scholarship. His work on Afghanistan includes serving as lead author of The Long March: Building an Afghan National Army (RAND, 2009), a landmark study examining the training, development, and institutional challenges of the Afghan National Army in the years following 2001 — research that remains a key reference on Afghanistan’s post-2001 security-sector reconstruction.
He holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Public Administration and an M.Phil. in Public Policy, both from the George Washington University; an M.A. in International Transactions from George Mason University; and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Pittsburgh.
Recent Publications:
Industry Insights on Digital Engineering and Defense Acquisition (RAND Research Brief, 2025).
Link: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RBA2333-1.html
Policymaking in Traditional Architecture and Urbanism: A Literature Review (RAND Working Paper, 2025).
Link: https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WRA4015-1.html