FY 2008 Budget Request for Defense S&T Down 19.2%

Total funding for the Department of Defense’s science and technology programs would be cut by 19.2 percent in FY 2008 under the budget request that the Bush Administration sent to Congress last week. The total budget for the 6.1 Basic Research, 6.2 Applied Research, and 6.3 Advanced Technology Development programs would decline from $13,325.2 million to $10,771.7 million, a cut of $2,553.5 million.

There was no discussion of defense science and technology programs at last Monday’s briefings by senior Department of Defense officials or Office of Science and Technology Policy officials. Nor is there descriptive material explaining changes in the request. Under this request, funding for all 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3 programs in all branches and for Defense Wide S&T programs would be reduced from current year spending.

Note that last year the Administration requested a cut of 16.3 percent in total spending for the defense S&T programs. Congress largely kept total funding flat, approving a 0.7 percent increase. The Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security were the only FY 2007 appropriations bills that were completed.

Also of historical note: last June, OMB and OSTP issued a memo outlining the Administration’s FY 2008 R&D priorities. This document reaffirmed as a Presidential Priority the doubling goal in the American Competitiveness Initiative for the NSF, the DOE Office of Science, and the NIST research program. It also stated: “In addition to the doubling effort at these three agencies, similarly high-impact basic and applied research of the Department of Defense should be a significant priority” (see http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/fy2006/m06-17.pdf .) Comparing the President’s Budget Requests for the 6.1 Basic Research programs between FY 2007 and FY 2008 finds a requested increase of 0.4 percent; for 6.2 Applied Research, a requested cut of 2.7 percent.

The below funding figures are taken from the Defense Department’s R-1 document; the percentage changes were provided by the Coalition for National Security Research. These figures are not adjusted for inflation, changes in program classification, or earmarks, and reflect the difference between current year funding and the FY 2008 request.

AGGREGATE 6.1 (basic research) funding would decline 8.7% to $1,428.1 million.
AGGREGATE 6.2 (applied research) funding would decline 18.3% to $4,356.7 million.
AGGREGATE 6.3 (advanced technology development) funding would decline 22.5% to $4,986.9 million.
TOTAL AGGREGATE 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would decline 19.2% from $13,325.2 million to $10,771.6 million.

ARMY 6.1 funding would decline 16.4% to $305.9 million.
ARMY 6.2 funding would decline 43.0% to $686.3 million.
ARMY 6.3 funding would decline 41.7% to $735.9 million.
TOTAL AGGREGATE ARMY 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would decline 39.0% from $2,833.0 million to $1,728.0 million.

NAVY 6.1 funding would decline 5.0% to $467.3 million.
NAVY 6.2 funding would decline 13.8% to $677.5 million.
NAVY 6.3 funding would decline 32.1% to $521.8 million.
TOTAL AGGREGATE NAVY 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would decline 18.5% from $2,045.7 million to $1,666.6 million.

AIR FORCE 6.1 funding would decline 8.2% to $375.2 million.
AIR FORCE 6.2 funding would decline 12.5% to $1,011.1 million.
AIR FORCE 6.3 funding would decline 44.4% to $577.3 million.
TOTAL AGGREGATE AIR FORCE 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 funding would decline 24.5% from $2,601.6 million to $1,963.5 million.

DEFENSE-WIDE (DARPA, etc.) 6.1 funding would decline 5.9% to $279.9 million.
DEFENSE-WIDE 6.2 funding would decline 9.3% to $1,981.8 million.
DEFENSE WIDE 6.3 funding would decline 6.3% to $3,151.8 million.
TOTAL AGGREGATE DEFENSE-WIDE funding would decline 7.4% from $5,844.9 million to $5,413.5 million.

See Department of Defense Summary Justification Material for the RDT&E Program (the “R-1") for detailed figures on specific Programs and Program Elements, which can be viewed at http://www.dod.mil/comptroller/defbudget/fy2008/index.html#