Building Careers and Shaping Public Policy

15 April 2005

The Honorable John W. Warner
Chair, Senate Armed Services Committee
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Warner:

I am writing on behalf of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-United States of America (IEEE-USA) to express our deep concern about the recent decision by the Defense Department's Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) to divert resources from fundamental research to more narrow, application-oriented projects.

While IEEE-USA certainly understands that the war in Iraq and the global war on terrorism hasten the need to develop and deliver new technologies to the field, we strongly believe that cutting off the vital research supply line is a shortsighted and ultimately self-defeating strategy. As one of the crown jewels of the Federal R&D enterprise, DARPA's historical mission has been to invest in high-risk, revolutionary technologies that promise high payoffs. DARPA has been successful, not only in giving our warriors a technological edge on the battlefield, but also in pushing the envelope on new technologies that have had significant economic and social payoffs, such as the Internet. In addition, by investing in cutting-edge research at universities, DARPA helps train future generations of the best and brightest engineers and scientists. The mission oriented agencies and private industry are better able to do the applied research and development. Further, they do so more efficiently and effectively.

We encourage DARPA to balance long-term basic research with high payoffs and the near-term technology deliverables that are needed in the battlefield. Many of the technologies that are deployed today in the battlefield are the result of advanced basic research a decade ago. In order to ensure we have the technology needed in the next decade, we must have the fundamental research now. If it weren't for the research on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the 1980s and 1990s, we would not have the surveillance capability with UAVs and unmanned combat vehicles in Iraq today.

Much of the technology that is needed in the battlefield today is being developed in the defense industry and in Defense Department laboratories. In cases where rapid response technology is needed but is not being developed, DARPA has a role to deliver that technology to the operational forces in the battlefield. But, by and large, DARPA should be true to its name and sponsor advanced research of interest to the Defense Department. This means high-risk, high-payoff long-range basic research that will make a difference in the battlefield of the future. DARPA should not neglect the "blue sky" fundamental research that will preserve our national and economic security now and in the future.

IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of the IEEE. It was created in 1973 to advance the public good and promote the careers and public-policy interests of the more than 220,000 technology professionals who are U.S. members of the IEEE. The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society.

For more information, go to http://www.ieeeusa.org. For more information, please contact Bill Williams at (202) 785-8331 or Bill.Williams@ieee.org.

Sincerely,

Gerard A. Alphonse
President, IEEE-USA

(Sample – Similiar letters sent to House/Senate Leadership, House & Senate
Armed Services and to Dr. Anthony Tether, Director, DARPA)