Investing in the Future: Trends in the Defense Department’s Science and Technology Funding

Abstract

Tracking and analyzing defense science and technology (S&T) funding has, historically, been difficult—not just for analysts, but for employees of the Department of Defense (DoD) and Congress itself. The research team collected and analyzed these data to understand how S&T funding has changed over time and to build correlations with various strategic plans and operational needs during the 21st century. The Emerging Technologies Institute (ETI) placed S&T funding levels in the context of five selected eras of strategic planning: Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Budget Control Act of 2011, the Third Offset Strategy, the 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS), and the 2022 NDS. The research team gathered data from R-1 Budget Justifications from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and congressional appropriations tables.