Group seeks more DOD R&D

A group called the Task Force on the Future of American Innovation has issued a new report urging President Bush to increase funding for basic research.

The group was joined by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich among others.

The Bush administration has proposed the American Competitiveness Initiative, which "would double over ten years the federal investment in basic research in the physical sciences and engineering in other key science agencies—while pointing out the importance of the Pentagon's basic research programs to the nation's economic competitiveness and national security," according to the group.

I have opined about the necessity of R&D spending.

The innovation task force, a coalition of industry, scientific societies, and higher education associations, today released "Measuring the Moment: Innovation, National Security, and Economic Competitiveness".

"There is a profound linkage between economic and national security, and nowhere is it made clearer than in the Defense Department's support for basic research in the physical sciences and engineering," said Gingrich. "Support for basic research is something that the Administration and both parties in Congress have agreed on this year and in the past, and I hope they will step up support for all areas of basic research over the next two years."