20 March 2002 The Honorable Carl Levin Dear Mr. Chairman: The Department of Defense has a vital influence in several key engineering fields of interest to the members of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-United States of America (IEEE-USA). In particular, DoD S&T accounts for more than half of the federal government investment in electronics, engineering mathematics, signal processing, and computer science. Historically, the DoD Laboratories, driven by specific mission needs, working with universities and industry, have carried to fruition some of the most revolutionary engineering developments of the past fifty years. It is vital that we attract some of the "best and brightest" to S&T by providing sufficient and consistent funding in order to assure the critical qualitative edge needed by U.S. armed forces in the years ahead. The United States is the most dominant military force in the world, due in large part to DoD's continued support of S&T. There is no denying, DoD S&T investment works. The preliminary numbers from the FY03 President's Budget Request are cause for concern. The IEEE-USA notes that when compared with the FY02 PBR, Basic Research funding (Category 6.1) in the Services is down in the Navy and Air Force, and static in the Army. A similar situation exists in Exploratory Development (6.2). Even Advanced Development (6.3) is down in the Navy. The IEEE-USA is concerned that the Services have submitted such budgets at a time when overall S&T is up almost $2B from five years ago. When inflation is taken over that time, the budget would mandate a growth of ten percent or more. As Secretary Rumsfeld has stated, S&T is an investment in the future. The Services must maintain a steady, stable, balanced approach that grows S&T at least at the level of inflation. Otherwise, the U.S. will be unable to carry out the essential research and development that will lead to the weapon systems of the future. I urge you to enlist the S&T leadership of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and DARPA to resolve this issue in a manner that redresses the chronic S&T shortfalls. IEEE-USA, with 240,000 U.S. members, is an organizational unit of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc, created in 1973 to promote the careers and public policy interests of electrical, electronics, computer and software engineers who are U.S. members of the IEEE If you have any questions or we can be of further assistance, please call Bill Williams, legislative representative for our Research and Development Policy Committee, at (202) 785-0017 ext. 8331. Sincerely, LeEarl A. Bryant, P.E. Also provided to Members of the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Defense, Secretary of Defense, and Director of Defense Research and Engineering | Top of Page | Policy Log | Public Policy Forum | IEEE-USA | Last Update:
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