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© Copyright 2018 RAND CorporationR® is a registered trademark.Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this publication. iii Preface This is the final report of a RAND Arroyo Center study for the U.S. Army. The purpose of the project was to perform a comparative historical analysis of the four Quadrennial Defense Reviews (QDRs) conducted since the first QDR in 1997-including QDR reports in September 2001to identify larger trends, as well as implications and recommendations for the Army to shape the conduct of and thereby improve future reviews. 1 The purpose of this document is to report the results of our analysis to Army and Department of Defense senior leaders and planners well enough in advance that measures can be taken to improve the organization, processes, and analytics associated with the next Defense Strategy Review. 2 Therefore, this report may be of interest to defense planners in the Army, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and Joint Staff, as well as students of defense planning in the scholarly community.This research was sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7, and conducted within the RAND Arroyo Center's Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program. RAND Arroyo Center, part of the RAND Corporation, is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the United States Army.The Project Unique Identification Code (PUIC) for the project that produced this document is HQD146687. The study reported here systematically compares these most-recent four QDRs by examining them in the following categories: organization and process, strategy development, force planning, modernization and transformation, resources, defense reform and infrastructure, risk assessment, and reception. This report also details between-QDR changes in each dimension of defense planning, so that readers can better understand and appre...