Special Federal Budget Issue: Department of Defense

The Administration's FY 2006 budget request for the Department of Defense (DoD) totals $419.3 billion, an increase of 4.8 percent from the FY 2005 appropriation level. However, the budget proposes significant cuts for Defense science and technology (S&T). The FY06 budget provides $10.5 billion for S&T, a 19.5 percent decrease from the FY05 funding level of $13.1 billion. This includes cuts in basic research, applied research and advanced technology development. Spending on basic research is down 12.9 percent from the FY05 funding level, applied research would decline 14.7 percent, and advanced technology development would drop 24.5 percent.

The budget provides $10.3 million for a new National Defense Education program aimed at providing financial support to students who pursue studies in areas deemed critical to national defense, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. The new program would incorporate $2.5 million provided in the FY05 budget to the Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation Defense Scholarship Pilot Program, or SMART.

Defense-wide science and tech expenditures would decrease as would the research budgets of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Missile Defense Agency. S&T spending at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, on the other hand, would increase. The breakdown by major component is as follows:

Army

• Basic Research - $307.6 million (21.7 percent decrease)
• Applied Research - $671.3 million (39.9 percent decrease)
• Advanced Technology Development - $756.4 million (45.4 percent decrease)

Navy

• Basic Research - $448.3 million (8.7 percent decrease)
• Applied Research - $597.9 (27.3 percent decrease)
• Advanced Technology Development - $729.8 million (25.2 percent decrease)

Air Force

• Basic Research - $340.8 million (11 percent decrease)
• Applied Research - $851.7 million (9.9 percent decrease)
• Advanced Technology Development - $787.6 million (21.3 percent decrease)

Defense-wide

• Basic Research - $222 million (9.8 percent decrease)
• Applied Research - $2.02 billion (2.8 percent increase)
• Advanced Technology Development - $2.79 billion (16.3 percent decrease)

Funding university-based research seems to particularly unpopular in DoD's FY06 budget, as many of the major university-related programs see double-digit reductions or elimination:

• Defense Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) - $9.2 million (30.2 percent decrease) to improve the capabilities of U.S. institutions of higher education to conduct research and to educate scientists and engineers in the areas important to national defense.
• Government/Industry Cosponsorship of University Research - no new funding is requested ($6.8 million decrease). The Government-Industry Cosponsorship of University Research (GICUR) program fosters cooperative research by universities with industry or government laboratories.
• University and Industry Research Centers - $81.9 million (18 percent decrease) to leverage research in the private sector through Federated Laboratories, Centers of Excellence, and the University Affiliated Research Center.
• University Research Initiatives - $248 million (15.7 percent decrease) to improve the quality of research performed at universities to meet DoD needs, provide expanded opportunities for interaction between universities and the DoD research community, and to support fellowships and traineeships in science and engineering disciplines important to national defense. The breakdown by component includes $67.2 million (19.7 percent decrease) for the Army, $75.9 million (16.9 percent decrease) for the Navy, and $105 million (11.7 percent decrease) for the Air Force.

Funding for other programs of interest also would suffer cuts, including:

• Dual Use Science & Technology Program - no new funding is requested ($5.1 million decrease).
• Office of Economic Adjustment - $30.5 million (65.7 percent decrease) to provide assistance to communities, regions and states adversely impacted by significant DoD program changes, such as: base expansions, closures, realignments, major contract changes that result in significant worker layoffs, and other personnel reductions or increases.
• Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC) - anticipated $20.0 million (23.7 percent decrease). The 93 PTACs across the country provide assistance to business firms in marketing products and services to the federal, state, and local governments.
• Technology Link - $3.4 million (57 percent decrease) to MDA for facilitating the use of technology developed in the non-defense public and private sectors.