As reported in FYI #65, the House and Senate have been working on the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005. The House has
passed its bill, H.R. 4200; the Senate will continue work on S. 2400
after it returns from the Memorial Day recess. The Defense Authorization
bill serves as guidance for the FY 2005 Defense Appropriations bill.
There is lengthy report language accompanying the House and Senate
bills on the 6.1 Basic Research, 6.2 Applied Research, and 6.3 Advanced
Technology programs. Below is the general report language pertaining
to science and technology funding from each report. Readers interested
in the language regarding a specific S&T program can review it by
consulting the full report language at http://thomas.loc.gov/
SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE REPORT 108-260 LANGUAGE - Defense
science and technology funding:
"The committee commends the Department of Defense for its commitment
to the importance of science and technology (S&T) programs. The
Science and Technology Program budget request has increased by 22 percent
over the last three fiscal years, keeping pace with the overall increased
investment in defense spending. However, at $10.55 billion, or 2.62
percent of the overall Department's budget, the request falls short
of the Department's stated goal of three percent of total funding for
S&T. The committee urges the Department to increase its efforts
to meet this important goal for its long-range programs.
"The Department faces pressing and competing priorities and challenging
operational requirements. In confronting, adapting to, and surmounting
these challenges, which are represented by unexpected low- and high-tech
threats, interoperability of new capabilities, such as unmanned systems
and coalition forces, and rapid response demands, the Department's S&T
investment remains a key transformational enabler.
"As has been demonstrated in recent operations, stable long-term
investments in basic and applied research have led to critical force
protection technologies, stand off sensing and detection capabilities,
and improved, precision lethality. Future technological innovations
resulting from basic research and scientific endeavors, as well as rapid
transition and adaptation of old capabilities in new ways, will ensure
the continued technological superiority of the U.S. military. The committee
recommends an increase of over $445 million [over the Administration's
FY 2005 request] for S&T programs, including an increase of: approximately
$40 million in projects designed to combat terrorism; over $30 million
toward development of future weapons systems; almost $70 million for
unmanned systems; and approximately $100 million for the future force
and force protection.
"The committee supports the Department's efforts to recruit and
retain scientists and engineers (S&E) in national security critical
disciplines, such as ocean acoustics, hypervelocity physics, energetics,
propulsion, and adaptive optics, and has provided authorization for
a pilot program to further the Department's S&E workforce goals.
"The committee remains concerned with the increasingly near-term,
applied nature of the S&T program and recommends a renewed focus
on the kind of discovery-oriented research, informed by the military
mission, that has yielded tangible benefits for today's warfighter.
The committee recommends an increase of approximately $80 million in
these fundamental research programs.
"It is the courage and commitment of our soldiers, sailors, airmen,
and marines that make the U.S. military the finest fighting force in
the world. When that courage and commitment is coupled with the finest
technology America's scientists and engineers have to offer, the effectiveness
of America's warfighter is dramatically increased."
HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE REPORT 108-491 LANGUAGE - Defense
science and technology funding:
"The budget request contained $10.6 billion for the Department
of Defense (DOD) science and technology program, including all defense-wide
and military service funding for basic research, applied research, and
advanced technology development. The request included $1.8 billion for
the Army, $1.7 billion for the Navy, $1.9 billion for the Air Force,
and $5.1 billion for Defense Agency science and technology, including
$3.1 billion for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
The committee recommends $11.1 billion for the Department of Defense
science and technology program, an increase of $874.0 million to the
budget request. The committee's recommendation includes $2.1 billion
for the Army, an increase of $304.8 million; $1.8 billion for the Navy,
an increase of $201.7 million; $2.0 billion for the Air Force, an increase
of $114.0 million; and $5.2 billion for Defense agency science and technology,
an increase of $64.5 million (including $2.9 billion for DARPA, a decrease
of $204.0 million). Elsewhere in this report the committee has recommended
a provision (section 214) that would transfer funding for the joint
experimentation program from the Navy to a Defense-wide account.
"The committee regards defense science and technology investment
as critical to maintaining U.S. military technological superiority in
the face of growing and changing threats to U.S. national security interests
around the world. Adjusted for inflation, the fiscal year 2005 request
represents an increase of about $200.0 million [from the Administration's
FY 2004 request], but shows a decline from the fiscal year 2004 appropriation
of $12.2 billion. The committee notes that the budget request at a level
of 2.6 percent of the total DOD budget, does not meet the goal of 3
percent established by the 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review. However,
the committee received testimony from DOD witnesses during the committee
hearing on the defense science and technology program that confirmed
that the goal for science and technology funding remains 3 percent of
the total DOD budget.
"The committee notes that the military departments are responsible
for approximately 51 percent of the defense science and technology budget
(Army 17 percent, Navy 16 percent, and Air Force 18 percent) and Defense
Agencies account for 49 percent, including 29 percent in DARPA. Defense
agencies focus on science and technology specific to the particular
agency or, in the case of DARPA, on national-level problems, operational
dominance, and exploitation of high-risk, high-payoff technologies.
The military departments' science and technology programs focus on the
development and transition of more mature technologies into future weapons
systems that are key to the ability of the individual military departments
to achieve their transformation objectives.
"The past year has provided numerous examples of successful technology
development and deployment. The men and women of the U.S. armed forces
are better equipped, trained, and protected because of revolutionary
breakthroughs emerging from the technology base. The committee commends
the Department for the response of the Defense science and technology
base to the emerging critical operational needs in support of the global
war on terrorism and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Elsewhere in this report
the committee has recommended increased funding to further accelerate
the transition of advanced technologies.
"Despite the positive aspects of the Department's science and
technology program, the committee is concerned about long-term projections
for reductions in DOD science and technology as a percentage of total
obligation authority and in short-term trends in the science and technology
accounts of some of the military departments and defense agencies. The
committee cannot emphasize too strongly the need for the Department
to maintain a strong and robustly funded science and technology program
that will provide the advanced technologies needed to assure technical
dominance of our armed forces on any current or future battlefield."
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