FYI Number 14: February 8, 2003

Bush Administration FY 2003 Request for Defense S&T

The Bush Administration has requested a 2% reduction in total funding for science and technology programs at the Department of Defense for FY 2003. Under its request, the budget would decline $193 million, from $9,869 million to $9, 676 million for the 6.1 (Basic Research), 6.2 (Applied Research), and 6.3 (Advanced Technology Development) programs.

There was little discussion of these programs at Monday's Pentagon briefing. Undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller) Dov Zakheim explained:

"Here's another area that we would have liked to have done more of, and that's science and technology. Our objective is to fund science and technology to 3 percent of the overall defense budget. This year we're funding at 2.68 percent. If you take the original budget submission a year ago, it was at 2.65 percent; basically the same. Of course, the base line is larger, the budget's much larger. In absolute terms the science and technology numbers have grown as well. Would we have liked to have gone faster? Of course."

The 3% figure Zakheim cited was recommended in last fall's Quadrennial Defense Review Report. It stated:

"A robust research and development effort is imperative to achieving the Department's transformation objectives. DoD must maintain a strong science and technology (S&T) program that supports evolving military needs and ensures technological superiority over potential adversaries. To provide the basic research for these capabilities, the QDR calls for a significant increase in funding for S&T programs to a level of three percent of DoD spending per year."

The FY 2003 DOD S&T request is detailed in an eighty-one page Pentagon document, the R-1, that can be viewed at http://www.dtic.mil/comptroller/fy2003budget/index.html# Below are figures for the three S&T programs in the aggregate and categorized by the three service branches and for Defense- Wide programs. "Defense-Wide" is not total spending, but rather spending for DARPA, missile defense, other defense labs. Also note that the percentages below are based on a comparison of the FY 2002 Defense Department appropriation and the FY 2003 Administration request.

AGGREGATE 6.1 (basic research) funding would decline 0.7%
AGGREGATE 6.2 (applied research) funding would decline 7.5%
AGGREGATE 6.3 (advanced technology development) funding would increase 2.8%
TOTAL AGGREGATE 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would decline 2.0%, from $9,869 million to $9,676 million.

ARMY 6.1 funding would increase 2.6%
ARMY 6.2 funding would decline 29.5%
ARMY 6.3 funding would decline 19.8%
TOTAL AGGREGATE ARMY 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would decline 21.6%, from $2,051 million to $1,609 million.

NAVY 6.1 funding would increase 1.2%
NAVY 6.2 funding would decline 25.4%
NAVY 6.3 funding would decline 29.1%
TOTAL AGGREGATE NAVY 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would decline 21.7%, from $2,052 million to $1,607 million.

AIR FORCE 6.1 funding would decline 3.1%
AIR FORCE 6.2 funding would decline 9.1%
AIR FORCE 6.3 funding would increase 29.9%
TOTAL AGGREGATE AIR FORCE 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would increase 6.0% from $1,566 million to $1,660 million.

DEFENSE-WIDE 6.1 funding would decline 2.7%
DEFENSE-WIDE 6.2 funding would increase 14.0%
DEFENSE WIDE 6.3 funding would increase 18.8%
TOTAL AGGREGATE DEFENSE-WIDE funding would increase 14.3% from $4,200 million to $4,800 million.

Richard M. Jones
Media and Government Relations Division
American Institute of Physics
fyi@aip.org
(301) 209-3095

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