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Highlights
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The National Science Foundation (NSF) R&D budget would increase by
2.8 percent to a level of $4.2 billion, but the President’s request again
falls far short of the amount authorized in the NSF authorization bill
signed into law in 2002 (see Table II-7). -
Department of Defense (DOD) R&D would see the smallest budget increase
since the mid 1990’s at 0.1 percent to $71 billion. Basic Research (“6.1”),
Applied Research (“6.2”), Advanced Technology Development (“6.3”) and
Medical Research, known collectively as Science and Technology (S&T)
would see an enormous cut of $2.9 billion to a level of $10.7 billion
– a 21.3 percent decrease. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA), on the other hand, would see a 3.6 percent increase to $3.1 billion.
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NASA’s R&D budget would increase by 4.6 percent to a level of $11.5
billion. However, aeronautics research would be cut by 5.9 percent, and
NASA has canceled a planned robotic servicing mission to repair the Hubble
Space Telescope (see Table II-12).
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The double-digit increases of the past two years at the Department of
Homeland Security’s R&D have disappeared in the FY 2006 budget, but
DHS will still receive a healthy 3.6 percent increase for R&D to a
level of $1.3 billion (see Table II-6).
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R&D at the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, the largest
federal supporter of electrotechnology basic research in the United States, would decrease for the second year in a row. For FY
2006, the funding cut would be $150 million (see Table
II-11).
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The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) would see its budget drop
to $1.1 billion, despite legislation authorizing much higher amounts (see
Table I-9).
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The Advanced Technology Program is once again targeted for elimination
in the Bush Administration’s budget request, as it has been every year
since FY 2001. The Manufacturing Extension Program is again targeted for
reductions.
Introduction
The
following chapter is a broad summary of the Bush Administration’s proposed
FY 2006 funding levels for select electrotechnology R&D programs at
the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, the Departments of Energy
(DOE), Defense (DOD), Homeland Security (DHS), and Commerce and two multi-agency
initiatives: the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) and the Networking
and Information Technology Research and Development Program (NITRD). The
budget figures contained in this analysis are expressed in current dollars
and are based on data provided by the federal agencies at the release
of the Administration’s FY 2006 budget.
Electrotechnology
research and development, like most other aspects of science and technology
R&D, is feeling the squeeze of budget deficit restraints and the Global
War on Terror in the FY 2006 President’s budget request. Funding for DOD,
DOE, NNI, and NITRD is flat or decreasing, but funding for NSF, NASA,
DHS and NIST is increasing although NSF funding is far below authorized
levels.
National
Science Foundation (NSF)
On
November 21st 2005, the U.S. Senate confirmed Dr. Ardent L. Bement Jr., a professor of Nuclear
Engineering at Purdue University, to be the next Director of the National Science Foundation,
replacing Dr. Rita Colwell. When unveiling the FY 2006 budget, Dr. Bement
explained that “The Administration has outlined an ambitious agenda for
science and engineering in America: continue to create economic growth and opportunity;
respond to national needs, including homeland security and cybersecurity;
and strive for the efficient and effective use of resources.” Dr. Bement
said that the NSF is “poised to help the community carry out these responsibilities.”
But he also warned that it must do so “in a highly constrained budget
environment.”
This
constraint is reflected in the slight 2.4 percent FY 2006 requested increase
to a level of $5.6 billion, which again falls far below the $8.5 billion
levels authorized by legislation passed in December 2002. This trend has
been the pattern every year since the legislation was passed. Dr. Bement
acknowledged that the modest increase would allow “little room for growth
in research and education programs.” Accordingly, the Research and Related
Activities (R&RA) budget which funds most of NSF’s R&D would increase
2.7 percent to $4.3 billion (see Table II-7). According
to the budget request, the NSF’s funding priorities will focus on four
major funding areas that it expects to “address the current national challenges
and strengthen the core portfolios of NSF’s research and education investments.”
The four priorities are: strengthening core disciplinary research; providing
broadly accessible cyberinfrastructure and world-class research facilities;
broadening participation in the science and engineering workforce; and
sustaining organizational excellence in NSF management practices.
In
addition to these priority areas, the NSF supports seven major research
areas, or Directorates, including: Biological Sciences (BIO); Computer
and Information Science and Engineering (CISE); Education and Human Resources
(EHR); Engineering (ENG); Geosciences (GEO); Mathematical and Physical
Sciences (MPS); and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE.) It
also has accounts for Polar Programs and Major Research Equipment and
Facilities Construction (MREFC).
The
Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate (CISE), which
supplies 86 percent of the federal funding for university-based basic
computer research, would increase by 1.1 percent to a level of $621 million.
The most significant change in funding levels in CISE is a $28 million
cut in funding for the Information Technology Research (ITR) sub-activity.
The NSF budget states that the funds are being transferred to other CISE
sub-activities “to support emerging scientific opportunities and to increase
core funding rates.” Correspondingly, the funding for the remaining CISE
sub-activities, the Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF), Computer
and Network Systems (CNS), and the Information and Intelligent Systems
(ITS), all increase by around $11 million.
The
Engineering Directorate is the largest gainer among the directorates, and would
increase by a relatively robust 3.5 percent, a $19 million increase over FY
2005. The Directorate funds 45 percent of all university-based basic
engineering research. Under the Engineering Directorate, the Electrical &
Communication Systems sub-activity would see a 3.8 percent increase. The bulk
of this increase would go to support “‘Integrative Systems’ principle in the
design, development and implementation of new nano/micro/macro/complex and
hybrid systems.” The Engineering Education and Centers sub-activity would
likewise increase by $3 million. The Engineering Directorate is also a large
participant in the interagency National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), and would
devote $127.8 million towards NNI.
The
Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS) directorate also funds the NSF’s
participation in the NNI. Between the two directorates, funding for NNI-related
activities would increase by 1.8 percent to $344 million.
The
NSF’s budget for the Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program, a joint
program with the Department of Education, would be cut by $19 million.
The Bush Administration plans to shift the majority of MSP funding towards
the Department of Education. This plan has been met with some resistance
in Congress and by members of the science and technology community. Many
feel that the NSF’s peer-reviewed program for MSP grants is superior to
the block-grant mechanism used by the Department of Education.
For
the third year in a row, the funding level for Major Research Equipment
and Facilities Construction (MREFC) would receive a large increase. (For
more on NSF, see Chapter 7.) Department
of Defense (DOD)
According
to DOD, the FY 2006 budget “supports the Global War on Terror (GWOT) by
strengthening U.S defense capabilities and keeping U.S. forces combat ready.” As demonstrated through such innovations
as Laser-guided Weapons Systems, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), stealth
bombers, technology continues to play a large part in U.S. defense efforts by providing a “force multiplier” effect.
The military’s Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E)
program is the means by which these advances in military technology are
realized. The RDT&E appropriation provides funding for future military
hardware and software and their underlying technologies, covering the
full spectrum of R&D from the most basic research to advanced, full-scale,
military systems development. RDT&E collectively consists of seven
budget activities: Basic Research (“6.1”), Applied Research (“6.2”), Advanced
Technology Development (“6.3”), Advanced Component Development (“6.4”),
Systems Development and Demonstration (“6.5”), Management Support (“6.6”),
and Operational Systems Development (“6.7”). RDT&E is the federal
government’s single largest research and development account.
DOD
R&D has been the recipient of some of the largest increases in the
federal budget in recent years and it continues to be the largest federal
sponsor of R&D, however the request for R&D in FY 2006 would see
the smallest budget increase since the mid-1990s at 0.1 percent, to $71.0
billion (see Table II-2).
The
“6.1” through “6.3” accounts plus Medical Research, known collectively
as Science and Technology (S&T), would be the hardest hit. S&T
would see an enormous cut of $2.9 billion to a level of $10.7 billion
– a 21.3 percent decrease. Each of the services’ S&T budgets would
be drastically diminished, but the Army would take the brunt of the cuts
with a 40 percent or $1.16 billion decrease.
The Navy is not far behind with a 22.4 percent $512 million cut,
while the Air Force S&T budget would be reduced by 15 percent ($349
million). The single largest budget victim would be Army Advanced Technology
Development (“6.3”), which would fall by 45 percent (see Table
II-5).
The
University Research Initiatives program (URI) competitively awards basic
research grants to university performers and is funded by the three services.
DOD “6.1” funding for URI would fall 15.7 percent down to $248 million.
RDT&E
also funds the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), whose
mission is to “develop imaginative, innovative and often high risk research
ideas, offering a significant technological impact that will go beyond
the normal evolutionary developmental approaches,” is one of the few gainers
in the Presidents Budget Request with a 3.6 percent increase to $3.1 billion.
(For more on DOD, see Chapter 6.) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
The
top priority for NASA in the FY 2006 budget will be the return-to-flight
of the Space Shuttle fleet according to then-NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe.
“The fiscal 2006 NASA budget reaffirms the President’s commitment to the
Vision for Space Exploration and provides the next step in implementing
it,” said O’Keefe in his statement accompanying the budget. The budget
is consistent with NASA’s plan from last year titled Renewed Spirit
of Discovery, The President’s Vision for U.S. Space Exploration, which
established long-term agency goals: a sustained human and robotic
space exploration program; a return to the moon, Mars and beyond; and
a strategy to develop and improve the “technologies, knowledge and infrastructures”
for space exploration.
These
admittedly ambitious goals are reflected in the NASA R&D budget, which
is one of the few bright spots in the entire federal R&D budget. Even
though the total NASA budget would increase only slightly, by 1.6 percent,
the NASA R&D budget would see a 4.6 percent increase to a total of
$11.5 billion (see Table II-12). Much of this
increase would go towards R&D for future space exploration to the
moon and Mars, including the start of a design competition for the Crew
Exploration Vehicle, which NASA hopes to test in 2008. Funding for this
project is up 113 percent to $1.1 billion. Robotic moon and Mars missions
would also be a high priority as NASA has requested a 17 percent increase
to a level of $585 million for this purpose. The International Space Station
(ISS) would also receive a substantial increase – 10.8 percent to $1.9
billion.
One
item of significant controversy in the FY 2006 budget for the science
and technology community and with many members of Congress is NASA’s reversal
of its decision, despite recommendations by the National Academy of Sciences,
to send a robot servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
to replace gyroscopes and batteries expected to fail in the next several
years. The budget does include $175 million for design activities to safely
de-orbit HST. Citing unacceptable risk, NASA continues to rule out a manned
servicing mission.
NASA’s
accounts and sub-accounts designations have undergone a significant restructuring
in the past several years in response to the Bush Administration’s new
focus. The former Space Flight Capabilities (SFC) account has been changed
to Exploration Capabilities (EC), which contains the Space Flight enterprise
and a new Exploration Systems enterprise. The Space Flight enterprise
contains the International Space Station (ISS), the Space Shuttle and
Space and Flight Support. The Exploration, Science and Aeronautics (ESA)
account is further divided into five separate Enterprises: Space Science,
Earth Science, Biological and Physical Research, Aeronautics (formerly
Aeronautics Technology), and Education programs. (For more on NASA, see
Chapter 10.)
Department of Homeland Security
(DHS)
The
primary mission of the Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate at
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is to enable research into technology
to provide the capabilities to “anticipate, prevent, respond to and recover
from terrorist acts.” Commensurate
with the priority the Bush Administration places on this activity, the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues to defy downward budget
pressures felt by other agencies. Although DHS R&D would not see the
double-digit increases of the past two years, it is still slated to receive
a 3.6 percent increase to $1.3 billion – a $44 million boost (see Table
II-6).
Major
divisions within the S&T Directorate include: Plans Programs &
Budget; Research & Development; Homeland Security Advanced Research
and Projects Agency (HSARPA); and Systems Engineering and Development.
One significant change in the FY 2006 budget is that DHS will consolidate
within the Science & Technology (S&T) Directorate the research,
development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) activities of all of the
departments, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA),
the US Coast Guard (USCG), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Information
Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP). According to the budget
request, this consolidation will be done in order to “bring the scientific
and engineering personnel and other RDT&E resources of the Department
under a single accountable authority.”
Major
funding priorities within the S&T Directorate for FY 2006 would include
$23 million to expand the capabilities the National Bio and Agrodefense
Facility (NBAF) to develop and test the technical means to prevent and
recover from attacks on agriculture and humans, plus $227 million to establish
a Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO).
The request also contains $20 million to develop a Low Volatility
Agent (LVA) Warning System for “chemical threat agents whose vapor pressure
is sufficiently low that detection by conventional methods is exceptionally
difficult.” The budget would also increase funding to $110 million (up
$49 million) for Counter-MAN Portable Air Defense Systems (C-MANPADS),
which conducts research into technical countermeasures for commercial
aircraft against the threat of shoulder-fired missiles. (For more on DHS,
see Chapter 12.) Department of Energy (DOE)
On February
1, 2005, Dr. Samuel Bodman, former Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
and Deputy Secretary of Commerce, replaced Spencer Abraham as Secretary
of Energy. Secretary Bodman is
also a former professor of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. In the statement accompanying his swearing in, Secretary
Bodman gave a preview of DOE’s FY 2006 budget priorities which are “to advance this department’s critically important missions,
including preserving America’s pre-eminence
in the physical sciences, ensuring the responsible stewardship of our nation’s nuclear
weapons stockpile, advancing our international nuclear nonproliferation
efforts, and ensuring reliable, secure, affordable and environmentally
responsible supplies of energy for our growing economy.”
The
Department of Energy budget request touts its record of being “one of
the top federal agencies in meeting the challenges of the President’s
Management Agenda, including budget and performance integration.” However,
the agency’s frugality in 2005 was rewarded with even more belt-tightening
in FY 2006 with a $221 million cut to the DOE’s overall R&D budget
to a level of $8.4 billion (see Table II-11). The
DOE R&D budget is divided into seven separate accounts: Energy Supply,
Science, Fossil Energy, Energy Conservation, Atomic Energy Defense, Clean
Coal Technology, and Radioactive Waste Management. The Office of Science,
which is the largest supporter of electrotechnology-related basic research
in the United States, lists its mission as “[protecting] our national and
economic security by providing a world-class scientific research capacity
and advancing scientific knowledge.” Office of Science R&D would decrease
by 4.5 percent to a level of $3.2 billion. Within the Office of Science,
R&D in the Basic Energy Sciences (BES) program would see an increase
of 3.7 percent to a level of $1.1 billion. The BES program will provide
funding for four Nanoscale Research Centers located at Oak Ridge, Lawrence Berkeley, Argonne, and Sandia/Los Alamos National Laboratories. DOE is a major contributor
and participant in the NNI.
The
FY 2006 Office of Science budget also contains $36 million to complete
the high-profile research facility construction project, Spallation Neutron
Source (SNS), and $32.5 million for the President’s Hydrogen Fuel Initiative.
The Office of Fossil Energy would take a large hit in with a 14.7 percent,
$66 million cut, as would Radioactive Waste Management ($19 million decrease).
(For more on DOE, see Chapter 9.) National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI)
Nanotechnology,
as classified by the federal government, must satisfy three requirements.
It must involve: a) “Research and technology development at the atomic,
molecular or macromolecular levels, in the length scale of approximately
1-100 nanometer range”; b) “Creating and using structures, devices and
systems that have novel properties and functions because of their small
and/or intermediate size” ;and c) “Ability to control or manipulate on
the atomic scale.”
The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) is a multi-agency nanotechnology
research initiative conducted at a total of ten federal agencies. NSF,
DOD, DOE, NIH, NASA are the agencies with the most significant investments
in nanotechnology research (see Table I-9).
In
the FY 2006 budget, NNI would decrease by 2.5 percent to a level of $1.1
billion, despite the authorization bill signed into law in 2003 by President
Bush, the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research & Development Act,
which authorized $3.7 billion for nanotechnology R&D for FY 2005-2008.
House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) put a positive
spin on the NNI budget pointing out that, “In a very, very difficult budget
year … nano is holding its own.” (For full information on NNI, please
see Chapter 24.) Networking
and Information Technology R&D (NITRD)
Another
multi-agency research program of considerable importance is the Networking
and Information Technology R&D Program (NITRD). Chartered in 1991
as a collaboration of federal agencies involved in fundamental high-end
computer research, seven federal agencies participate in NITRD, including
the Department of Defense (DOD), the National Science Foundation (NSF),
the Department of Energy (DOE), NASA, the Department of Commerce, and
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
As
with the National Nanotechnology Initiative and the Climate Change Science
Program, the federal government’s other multi-agency initiatives, the
NITRD budget would likewise face the chopping block in FY 2006. The NITRD
Budget would decrease by 4.5 percent to a level of $2.2 billion. (For
full details of NITRD, see Chapter 23.) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
The
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a non-regulatory
federal agency within the Commerce Department. NIST was founded in 1901
and has a mission to “develop and promote measurement, standards, and
technology to enhance productivity, facilitate trade, and improve the
quality of life.” In the FY 2006 budget R&D at the National Institute
of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratories would increase by 12.7
percent to $357 million (see Table II-14).
Within
NIST, the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) is once again targeted for
elimination in the Bush Administration’s budget request, as it has been
every year since FY 2001. ATP’s mission is to “accelerate the development
of innovative technologies that promise significant commercial payoffs
and widespread benefits for the nation.” Key defenders in Congress have
stepped in to rescue the beleaguered program each year, but this year
may be different as former Sen. Ernest Fritz Hollings (D-SC) who sat on
the Appropriations Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary Subcommittee
(which has jurisdiction over the program) retired in 2004. Congress did
not provide funding for new programs in FY 2005 and the FY 2006 budget
request seeks to terminate the program in favor of “higher-priority needs.” The
Manufacturing Extension Program, which is designed to help small and medium-sized
manufacturers get started, is targeted for a 50 percent reduction in FY
2006. (For more on NIST, please see Chapter 13.)
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