AAAS Report Analyzes Funding for
Homeland Security and Defense

On October 1, President Bush signed two pieces of legislation that will fund research and development in two federal agencies—one providing the US Department of Defense (DOD) with a record-breaking increase in FY 2004, and a second approving a 57% rise for R&D in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to a AAAS Budget Update. Congress has not yet taken final action on the bills that would fund R&D in eight other agencies. For now, those agencies are operating on continuing resolutions that allow them to continue their work beyond last Tuesday—the end of FY 2003.

"The fact that these two agencies are the first to have final FY 2004 budgets, and that these budgets contain enormous increases in R&D spending even in tough budgetary times, shows that Congress is willing to spend whatever is necessary to keep the Pentagon and DHS supplied with the scientific knowledge and technologies they need," said Kei Koizumi, Director of the AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program. "This month, we'll see if Congress will be as generous with other agencies' R&D needs."

According to the report, in FY 2004 DHS will have an R&D portfolio of $1.05 billion in FY 2004, up 57 percent from FY 2003 (see www.aaas.org/spp/rd/dhs04c.pdf), outlined in the final version of the first-ever Homeland Security appropriations bill (HR 2555). The newly created agency was established in March 2003. It absorbed almost 180,000 federal employees who had worked for agencies that had been funded in nine appropriations bills. Both the Senate and the House chose to fund the new agency and its activities under the aegis of one Homeland Security bill.

"The final bill will provide $29.4 billion in FY 2004 for discretionary programs in DHS, a modest 1.9 percent increase; included in this total is $1.05 billion for DHS R&D, a staggering 56.9 percent or $381 million increase over FY 2003," notes the AAAS report.

The report also points out that DOD will have a record-breaking R&D portfolio of $66.0 billion (see http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/dod04c.pdf). Despite a climb to $12.6 billion in funding for science and technology in the DOD, basic research in the agency will decline, the report said. Congress is expected to act on legislation funding the other agencies before the end of October.

"Although the overall Defense bill trims $3 billion from the request for a total of $369 billion," the report says, "Congress boosted DOD's R&D programs well above the request and agreed to provide funding for total research and development. (R&D) at DOD will climb to an all-time high in inflation-adjusted dollars."

More information is available at www.aaas.org/spp/rd.

—Coimbra Sirica

6 October 2003