Defense Authorization Levels for Science and Technology

Both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have completed their work on the FY 2003 authorization bills. The House bill has cleared the floor. Following Senate floor action, differences between the two bills will be resolved in a conference.

The defense authorization bill sets important markers for the appropriators in their writing of the FY 2003 funding bill. The figures below represent proposed changes in funding from the current budget. Excerpts from the House and Senate committee reports pertaining to the overall level of spending on S&T follows the figures. The reports contain many specific references to particular research programs, and can be accessed under Committee Reports at: http://thomas.loc.gov/

Note that in the figures below, “Defense-Wide” spending is NOT aggregate spending, which is listed first. Defense-Wide programs refer to DARPA and other defense labs.

AGGREGATE 6.1 (basic research) funding: House down 1.6%; Senate up 2.7%
AGGREGATE 6.2 (applied research) funding: House down 6.3%; Senate down 2.8%
AGGREGATE 6.3 (advanced technology development) funding: House up 9.4%; Senate up 8.0%
TOTAL AGGREGATE 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding: House up 1.4%; Senate up 2.8%

ARMY 6.1 funding: House up 2.6%; Senate up 7.8%
ARMY 6.2 funding: House down 23.3%; Senate down 19.6%
ARMY 6.3 funding: House down 7.4%; Senate down 2.3%
TOTAL AGGREGATE ARMY 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding: House down 13.3%; Senate down 8.8%

NAVY 6.1 funding: House up 1.7%; Senate up 3.7%
NAVY 6.2 funding: House down 15.8%; Senate down 21.6%
NAVY 6.3 funding: House down 6.7%; Senate down 23.2%
TOTAL AGGREGATE NAVY 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding: House down 8.5%; Senate down 17.3%

AIR FORCE 6.1 funding: House down 0.9%; Senate down 3.1%
AIR FORCE 6.2 funding: House up 1.2%; Senate down 4.8%
AIR FORCE 6.3 funding: House up 38.6%; Senate up 1.8%
TOTAL AGGREGATE AIR FORCE 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding: House up 14.6%; Senate down 2.2%

DEFENSE-WIDE 6.1 funding: House down 6.4%; Senate up 2.1%
DEFENSE-WIDE 6.2 funding: House up 4.3%; Senate up 16.4%
DEFENSE WIDE 6.3 funding: House up 15.5%; Senate up 27.5%
TOTAL AGGREGATE DEFENSE-WIDE funding: House up 8.5%; Senate up 20.1%

HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE REPORT 107-436 ACCOMPANYING H.R. 4546

“The budget request contained $9,677.2 million for defense science and space technology, including all defense-wide and military service funding for basic research, applied research, and advanced development. The committee notes that this amount represents an increase of $919.5 million, or 10.5 above the amount requested for the fiscal year 2002 budget, and 2.7 percent of the budget request. However, the committee also notes that the amount requested for science and technology is a decrease of $199.3 million from the amount provided by Congress for fiscal year 2002. The committee commends the Department of Defense commitment to a goal of 3 percent of the budget request for the defense science and technology program and progress toward this goal.

“The committee views defense science and technology investments as critical to maintaining U.S. military technological superiority in the face of growing and changing threats to national security interest around the world, and believes that both the defense agencies and the military departments have vital roles in DOD’s science and technology investment strategy. Defense agencies focus on science and technology specific to the particular agency or, in the case of DARPA, on problems of national-level problems, operational dominance, and exploitation of high-risk, high-payoff technology. The military departments’ science and technology programs focus on the development and transition of more mature technologies into future weapons systems.

“The committee notes that the defense-wide science and technology account increased over 14 percent while the Air Force account increased over 5 percent and the Army and Navy science and technology accounts each decreased more than 21 percent (over $400 million each). Although the committee is pleased with the overall progress in the defense science and technology program, the committee continues to be disturbed by the continuing trend of overall reduction in the military departments’ science and technology program in comparison to significant increases in the Defense-wide science and technology account and in the amount budgeted for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), in particular. The committee concern is not directed at the content of the DARPA program, but rather on the Department’s continuing trend of placing higher priority on defense agency science and technology programs at the expense of the already inadequate service research and development budgets. The committee believes that the Department has not provided sufficient justification to support these imbalances in funding levels between defense agencies and the services, and, therefore, recommends correcting these imbalances by reductions in the DARPA accounts that appear to show disproportionate growth and distribution of those funds among service science and technology projects.”

SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE REPORT 107-151 ACCOMPANYING S. 2514:

“The committee supports Department of Defense efforts to transform itself to meet the emerging threats of the 21st century. The committee feels that a robust defense science and technology program is a requirement in order to develop the new systems and operational concepts that will enable transformation. Unmanned vehicles, satellite communications, and precision weapons are transforming today’s military. In the same way, new systems based on nanotechnology, robotics, and artificial intelligence will transform the military of the future. To ensure that each wave of technological change is sustainable and can be expanded upon, however, it is critical to make the small but stable investments in fundamental and applied research that produce the capabilities of the future.

“The committee fully supports the Department’s stated goal of investing 3 percent of the defense budget into science and technology programs. The fiscal year 2003 budget request fell short of that goal. In fact, the budget request would decrease the percentage of the budget invested in science and technology each consecutive year, falling to 2.3 percent of the budget by 2007. The committee urges the Department and each of the military services to achieve the 3 percent goal as soon as practicable.

“To support the transformation of the military, the committee recommendations would provide over $170.0 million for high priority science and technology programs above the amount requested in the fiscal year 2003 budget. This includes over $200.0 million in research to support the development of the Army’s Objective Force, with new technologies such as unmanned ground vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, and next generation weapons systems. The committee recommends adding $23.5 million to research programs to address corrosion problems in platforms, weapons systems, and installations. This research could eventually save the Department billions of dollars per year in corrosion maintenance and repair costs.

“The committee recommendations would provide an additional $33.0 million for revolutionary research and technology to meet future cyberthreats. The funding would include extensive investments in scholarship programs to train the next generation of information security specialists. The committee notes that a limiting factor to technological transformation will be the ability to generate and deliver power on demand to critical military assets. For this reason, the committee recommends an increase of $41.0 million in research and development on revolutionary power technologies.

“The committee recommendations would also provide an additional $34.0 million for nanotechnology investments. This burgeoning scientific field has the promise to transform technologies ranging from power systems to aerospace materials to biological sensors. In addition, the committee recommendations increase Department investments in basic research by nearly $50.0 million. These fundamental research programs are often performed in collaboration with universities and national laboratories and help serve to train tomorrow’s scientific leaders.

“In addition to these investments, the committee continues to work to ensure that the Department gets the best return on investment on research dollars. The committee recommendations would provide an additional $25.0 million for the Department’s technology transition activities as well as establish a new funding mechanism and coordinated process for rapid transition of technologies from the laboratory to the battlefield.

“The recommendations for authorization of appropriations for fiscal year 2003 would continue the committee’s tradition of strongly supporting the defense science and technology enterprise. By supporting strong research investments, strengthening our defense laboratories, and working to speed transition of technologies into operational systems, the committee hopes to continue and accelerate the transformation of the military.”