DoD Announces $400 Million Investment To Basic Research

Why funding for civilian basic research in the US is suffering, especially with a continuing resolution with a disastrous fiscal year budget, funding for basic research from the military is alive and well.

The Department of Defense today announced plans to invest an additional $400 million over the next five years to support basic research at academic institutions.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates secured the additional funding in the fiscal 2009 President's budget request to Congress to expand research into new and emerging scientific areas and to foster fundamental discoveries related to the DoD's most challenging technical problems. The DoD published a ‘Strategic Plan For Basic Research’ last summer, which built the case for this effort. Acknowledging this need, Congress authorized and appropriated funds to support these significant increases in basic research investment.

However, don't tell those misguided "activists" at the University of New Mexico. They'll think that no matter what research area you got money in, that you're doing "weapons research".