The United States leads the world in government spending on research in science and technology, with only China and the combined European Union budgets coming anywhere close. Sounds good. But in FY2015, the Department of Defense accounted for 48.2% of total federal R&D funding–$65.5 billion out of $135.8 billion–which was more than twice the support given to the next largest recipient, HHS (primarily for NIH). “R&D” as an educated layman might understand the term is a misnomer for what the Pentagon does with most of this money. Basic research, defined as “understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts without specific applications towards processes or products in mind,” accounts for about $2.2 billion. Even this is “related to long-term national security needs,” such as the work done at the Johns Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute (HEMI) funded by the U.S. Army. The rest is all focused on specific military devices, materials and systems. Next time you’re lurching sideways down the aisle of an overheated Amtrak rattletrap somewhere north of Washington DC, wishing for the TGV, keep in mind one big reason why the future here ended a long time ago.
And for you DARPA fans:
