THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, TEST AND EVALUATION FY 1979 The Honorable William J. Perry Under Secretary of Defense, Research and Engineering Committee on Armed Services House of Representatives, 95th Congress, Second Session Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, Research and analysis for the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (OJCS) play an important role in almost every facet of the DoD's central planning and decision process. They provide information to the Department's decision makers at all levels, and represent an investment in new ideas and better ways of doing things that will pay off in future improvements throughout the Defense establishment. Some of this effort is conducted by the in-house staffs, but the DoD also selectively contracts with outside organizations when their unique capabilities are necessary to perform specialized in-depth research and analyses. The Congress has questioned the DoD research, studies and analyses program in terms of the efficacy of this effort, the Department's management policies and practices, and the extent to which it employs outside organizations. The DoD has taken steps, described later in this statement, to respond positively to these concerns. The FY 1979 Defense Budget request for OSD/0JCS external research studies and analysis supports a sound program which is designed to satisfy our needs by exploiting fully the quality of effort available from outside research. In this Statement I will describe the FY 1979 Budget request for external research; the purpose, role and uses of research studies and analysis; how and why the contributions of outside research organizations are essential; and how the Department manages this effort. THE FY 1979 BUDGET REQUEST $24.184 million is requested in FY 1979 for outside research studies and analyses required for the OSD and the OJCS. These funds, which represent less than two-tenths of one percent of the $12-1/2 billion Defense RDT&E request for FY 1979, will be allocated as follows: Descriptions of each OSD office allocation and the support of OJCS are attached as annexes to this statement. Includes support for outside research and analyses for the OJCS. PURPOSE OF RESEARCH STUDIES The basic management functions of the DoD leadership are to develop defense policies and strategies to support U.S. national security objectives; to plan, program and budget the resources needed and currently available to achieve defense objectives; to plan the doctrine, level, acquisition, composition, training, deployment, maintenance, and employment of U.S. military forces; and to direct military operations. The planning and decision processes in each of these areas are both dynamic and continuous. Defense planners and decision makers must carefully consider both the near and far term implications of available decision alternatives, assess a large number of complex and often rapidly changing factors, and cope with generally high levels of ambiguity and uncertainty. For example, the rapid introduction of new weapon technologies and major changes in threat capabilities require a continuing reassessment of our force structure and individual service mission responsibilities. Major acquisition issues often cut across existing service mission responsibilities, and assessments of new developments and systems require an expertise in a number of rapidly expanding technologies. Policies, doctrine, and strategy must be based on the ever-changing political and military environment of both the U.S., its allies, and our potential opponents. Studies and analyses provide a key part of well organized, insightful and objective research which current and future DoD decision makers and planners must have to perform their functions efficiently, and often offer new concepts and innovative approaches to defense problems and their solutions. Research, study and analysis directly influence all levels of the DoD resource allocation and policy/strategy planning and decision process. In the planning area, for example, study and analysis is needed to identify valid requirements for weapon systems, to aid in the selection of the most appropriate system from among candidates to fulfill a particular military requirement, to identify feasible directions for the exploitation of new technology, to provide data needed for strategic planning, to support testing, and to assess political, economic, and organizational issues that impact on strategy, planning and programming. In the area of operations, research and analysis is used to assess the performance of weapon systems and military forces of various types and mixes, to project requirements for supporting systems and forces, to assess the effectiveness of management policies at many levels, and to assist in the organization of logistics support for operating forces. There is, in fact, almost no area of the defense policy making, planning, programming and budgeting process that is not influenced by the inputs from research, studies and analyses. These inputs are important because they can reduce some uncertainties confronting the decision maker while highlighting others for him, and often provide him with data, directions or alternatives contrary to what his own experience, knowledge or intuition, or his institution's established positions, would have indicated. The ultimate value of studies and analyses lies in how well they assist the decision maker in the near and far term in narrowing the focus of his judgments to those areas in which judgment alone must be applied, thereby reducing the risk of capricious, arbitrary, incomplete, or misinformed decisions. The Department of Defense recognizes the need to ensure that studies and analysis resources are used effectively. We are aware of the danger of unfocused and duplicative efforts, poor coordination, insufficient distribution, and inadequate quality control. I will discuss later in this statement the steps we are taking to correct problems in these areas. But we also feel strongly that the improvements we actively seek throughout the defense establishment can only be made as a result of continuous ly thinking of better ways of doing things, and better ways of thinking about problems; and, we believe that cuts in our studies and analysis program will make it more difficult to manage defense, both now and in the future. OUTSIDE RESEARCH The DoD has, for some time, relied on support from and capitalized on the benefits available from outside research in carrying out its research, studies and analysis program. As a result of incomplete understanding and output measures, both the need for and the level of this support have been controversial. The Department's position is, briefly, that external research support provides independent and competent insights in technical, strategic, operational and international security areas; employs responsive and varied expertise and does so at a reasonable cost. We believe that the requested $24.184 million for external research support is a modest but highly leveraged investment in diversity of perspective and in the application of highly responsive, unique expertise, both of which pay off in an improved analytic base for future defense decisions. |