17 June 2003 The Honorable Duncan Hunter Dear Mr. Chairman: The IEEE-USA recognizes that the FY2004 budget request to Congress would require the "devolvement" i.e., removing from the management) of the Department of Defense (DoD)'s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program from the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), and for it to be split up and divided among the individual military services. It appears that the MURI program has been caught up in an action that does not apply to it, an action that would upset the carefully planned balance of the overall DoD Basic Research ("6.1") program. The MURI program was designed specifically to integrate diverse scientific disciplines into multidisciplinary efforts that would speed the transition into new technologies in a way that complements the smaller individual research projects in which the services excel. A centrally managed program by OSD was therefore initiated nearly twenty years ago after extensive discussions with the university community, leading to the carefully structured MURI program. It has led to stronger interaction, easier communication and closer coordination on developing technologies within the DoD. MURI's have an impressive track record of success that has led to significant improvements in the future defense posture of the United States. MURI provides a springboard for the small research efforts of the Services and top-down management tool by which the DoD leadership can stimulate long-range university research to support National Defense needs, interagency goals, and concerns that transcend the research needs of individual services. Of perhaps even more significance in the devolvement of funds to the services is that it would appear to many to be a plus-up of the DoD Basic Research program and could lead to its reprogramming to other than 6.1 activities. This is highly undesirable since 6.1 budget lines are already at a very low level compared to the rest of the Science & Technology budget. Although the 6.1 budget seem small compared to the overall budget of the Department of Defense, they are highly valued because they are just the funds where investment is needed for high risk, high return initiatives that can greatly enhance the effectiveness of our future defense capabilities. In summary, the devolvement of the highly successful MURI program would disrupt the balance among a host of smaller single-investigator programs managed so well by the Services and the larger multidisciplinary MURI program, which complements all of them. The 2004 National Defense Authorization Act, as passed in the Senate, contains language - Section 211(5) - that prohibits the services from transferring the University Research Initiative outside of the Office of Secretary of Defense. We urge the House of Representatives to adopt the Senate language and keep the MURI program in the OSD budget. IEEE-USA 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 the 235,000 electrical, electronics, computer and software engineers who are U.S. members of the IEEE. If you have any questions, please contact Bill Williams at (202) 230-8331 or at bill.williams@ieee.org. Sincerely, James V. Leonard, P.E. (Sample of
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