FY 2001 Request: DOD Basic and Applied Research

The FY 2001 Clinton Administration request for science and technology programs within the Department of Defense is mixed. Almost of the requests for 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 programs would decline. Only the Navy’s 6.1 budget and the defense-wide (not to be confused with total defense) 6.1 and 6.2 budgets would increase.

The Department of Defense is requesting $291.1 billion for FY 2001, about a 1% increase over the current year. DOD explains that “Personnel issues have the highest priority in President Clinton’s fiscal 2001 Defense Budget Request.” Of note in the request is $60 billion for procurement, an amount recommended in the 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review. This would pay, DOD states, for “cutting-edge new systems like the F-22 fighter as well as cost-effective upgrades to existing systems.”

A senior defense official made the following comments at a Pentagon budget briefing about DOD’s S&T program. The transcript of his remarks provides the best insight at this time into DOD’s approach:

“The S&T program is the other one I want to comment on. Here there is a reduction in S&T relative to the congressional level of last year. Last year Congress added a billion dollars in science and technology to the defense program we submitted. We have added $250 million to what we’re submitting in ’01, [note:apparently in future years] but that does not match that congressional increase. [There are] Certain areas that we just don’t match them. And so whereas we’re seeing an S&T program that, in historical terms, is at 2.5% of the budget - that’s higher than it ever was during the 1980s - but, however, it does not match the recent congressional increases.”

The DOD S&T budget is a plethora of numbers. Below are the percentage changes, and selected dollar amounts. Readers wanting a summary of all dollar amounts should write to fyi@aip.org or consult http://www.dtic.mil/comptroller/fy2001budget/ which has a breakdown by line item for each service branch and for defense- wide programs, such as DARPA. Numbers have been rounded:

AIR FORCE:
6.1 would decline by 3.7%
6.2 would decline by 1.2%
6.3 would decline by 14.2%
Total 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3 funding would decline by 7.0% or $97 million

ARMY:
6.1 would decline by 1.5%
6.2 would decline by 23.9%
6.3 would decline by 28.2%
Total 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3 funding would decline by 22.9%, or $385 million

NAVY:
6.1 would increase 6.1%
6.2 would decline 15.3%
6.3 would decline by 28.5%
Total 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3 funding would decline by 16.4% or $287 million

DEFENSE-WIDE (such as DARPA and other defense labs; not to be confused with total):
6.1 would increase 12.2%
6.2 would increase 1.7%
6.3 would decline by 8.5%
Total 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3 funding would decline 2.4%, or $85 million

TOTAL OF ALL OF THE ABOVE:
6.1 would increase by 4.8%, or $56 million, to $1,217 million
6.2 would decline by 7.8%, or $266 million, to $3,144 million
6.3 would decline by 16.8%, or $644 million, to $3,182 million

Total 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3 funding would decline by 10.2%, or $854 million, from $8,397 million in FY 2000 to $7,543 million in FY 2001.