Introduction
A budget gives a roadmap of how an individual or organization plans to spent resources in a specified period of time. The budget usually contains financial projections the organization or individual estimates to spend on various items of expenditure in the given period (Rubin, 2006). This paper provides and analysis of the operation and maintenance section of the 2008 financial year of the department of defense. The department of defense is charged with an enormous responsibility of maintaining security to the nation. In discharging this responsibility, it requires a well planned budget to cater for; activities relating to atomic energy, military activities and defense to the federal agencies.
Overview of Research and Development in DoD
The Research and development department plays an important part in the military wing. The department is charged with the responsibility of searching and availing information that is relevant to ensuring federal security. The modern era criminal activities are conducted in the most sophisticated ways which require the department of defense to keep updating their skills in order to curb them (Schick, 2000). Terrorism activities which are top on the agenda of the department of defense are currently executed through highly intelligent operations that require an equally intelligent defense team to thwart its effort.
Information gathered from research and development activities is stored in the comptroller’s system database. The information is provided on an annual basis to the congress oversight committee on defense and shared to the public through the office of the assistant secretary. The department of defense is divided into; the army, the navy, air force and the defense agencies. The research and development department is also responsible for testing and evaluation of the various defense equipment and methodologies. Testing and evaluation is important to ensure that the equipment and defense methodologies are relevant for their intended purpose. Evaluation information helps to inform the defense department whether its procedures are appropriate and identify the weak areas that need to be reinforced.
Financial Allocations per Service in the Financial Year 2008
The total budgetary allocation to the department of defense in 2008 amounted to $75 billion less one billion the previous year. The biggest share of the amount went to the air force receiving $26 billion, followed by the defense agencies, the navy and the army bagging $ 10 billion. The bigger allocation to the air force is to cater for expensive research and development of equipment and personnel training in new operations in the air force. The research arm of the defense department is divided into basic and applied research. In the 2008 financial year, the defense department cut spending on science and technology by 22% to $ 11 billion. Science and technology is the umbrella research body that comprises of “basic research, applied research, medical research, and technology development” (Schick, 2000).
According to Schick (2000) the 6.7 % allocation to the air force was meant to cater for the “space and secret arms expansion program”. This amount was set to go up when the supplemental finances are awarded. The chemical and biological department was also set to receive more money from the house; estimated to about $ 1 billion. There was a decline of about $ 640 million in the defense department budget from the previous year. This was because congress had failed to reflect on the $ 2. 6 billion that had been requested as a supplemental conflict package fund. This meant that the decline would be settled in the later part of the year when congress finally approves the supplemental fund.
Of all the federal government agencies, the department of defense’s research and development program receives the largest allocation. The department of defense receives nearly half of the total research and development allocations of the federal government. Besides the federal funds, the DoD’s research and development arm receives funding from the US department of energy (Rubin, 2006). The money policy is an important aspect of implementing the department of defense budget. Congress needs to fast track the legislation process on policies that will encourage the growing innovation in the military. The bills should be ascended to by the president into law to govern the perceived gains that the budget projects to achieve.
Basic research funding in the three services was reduced substantially as compared to the previous year. Even the university research initiative which funds researchers on a competitive basis at university level was cut by 14% to $ 246 million. The largest beneficiary of the basic research funds was the National Defense Education Program (NDEP), receiving a total of $ 44 million (Rubin, 2006). Except the aerospace research programs and the chemical and biological defense program, funding to all other applied research services were reduced as well.
Medical research suffered the biggest blow of all the services, receiving 61% less funding than the previous year. The program had been allocated $ 348 million in 2007, but ended up with $ 134 million in 2008. Besides the $ 348 million allocation in 2007, the program also received a total of $ 218 million as a grant to be awarded competitively for breast and prostate cancer research.
Reference List
Rubin, I. (2006). The Politics of Public Budgeting (5th ed.). Washington D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press.
Schick, A. (2000). The Federal Budget: Politics, Policy, Process (Revised). Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.