ACS joins CNSR on letter to Secretary of Defense on FY24 Budget

October 6, 2022

The Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III
Secretary
U.S. Department of Defense
1400 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301

Dear Mr. Secretary,

As you develop the fiscal year (FY) 2024 U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) budget request, the Coalition for National Security Research (CNSR), representing the undersigned members of industry, academia, scientific and professional organizations, and non-profits, urges you to reverse recent trends of requesting cuts for the defense science and technology (S&T) program including the defense basic research programs. We respectfully request you seek to fund the defense S&T program equal to 3% of the overall DoD budget and ensure defense basic research is funded at 20% of the defense S&T budget, per expert recommendations from public and private sector organizations as outlined in this letter.

Deterring aggression and strategic attacks, and building enduring advantages for the Joint Force are the foundation of the National Defense Strategy (NDS).¹ Ensuring the United States has military technological superiority over competitors is essential to supporting the NDS deterrence goals. As noted by the Defense Science Board (DSB), adequate investment in defense S&T is vital to military dominance and lower funding levels could put the military at a national security disadvantage.² In addition, defense basic research often attracts the most innovative scientists and engineers to work on issues of critical importance to DoD while also training the next generation DoD workforce through supporting research and educational opportunities for students, which is another key priority of the NDS as it relates to DoD investing in its most valuable resource – its extraordinary people.³

The DSB,⁴ National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI),⁵ National Academies,⁶ Center for New American Security (CNAS),⁷ bipartisan House Armed Services Committee’s Future of Defense Task Force report,⁸ and Council on Competitiveness⁹ all recommend that the defense S&T program funding equal 3% of the DoD budget in order to ensure United States military technological dominance. Further, the DSB,¹⁰ National Academies¹¹ and Council on Competitiveness¹² recommend defense basic research comprise 20% of the defense S&T budget to support the high-payoff research needed to yield transformational capabilities for the military. Unfortunately, DoD’s budget requests have not met these recommendations. The FY 2023 budget request sought defense S&T funding of just 2.1% and basic research funding of 14.4%. DoD has essentially requested lower percentages for defense S&T and basic research in each budget request since FY 2017.

Finally, we would like to highlight two recent reports from the National Academies related to strengthening the STEM workforce by investing in Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) among others. The Academies concludes that MSIs have huge potential to grow the STEM workforce and United States’ research capacity.¹³ However, increased federal investment is required, particularly in defense S&T,¹⁴ to enable MSIs to adequately support their students and acquire infrastructure needed to conduct world-class scientific research in areas of importance to DoD. We hope you will keep this in mind, as well as the other recommendations mentioned in this letter, as you craft the FY 2024 DoD budget request.

Thank you for consideration of our views. If we can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,