DTRA Basic Research Initiative
Abstract
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) safeguards America and its allies from Weapons of Mass Destruction (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high explosives) by providing capabilities to reduce, eliminate, and counter the threat, and mitigate its effects. The Basic Research Initiative program provides for the discovery and development of fundamental knowledge and understanding by research performers drawn primarily from academia and world-class research institutions in government and industry. This leverages Department of Defense’s $1 billion annual investment in basic research by ensuring a motivation within the scientific community to conduct research benefiting Weapons of Mass Destruction-related defense missions and by improving Agency knowledge of other research efforts of potential benefit to DTRA nonproliferation, counterproliferation and consequence management efforts. These efforts are closely coordinated with the Chem-Bio Technology portfolio which executes a basic research program under the joint Chem-Bio Defense Program. Agency research interests are coordinated with those of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Service basic research programs through the Defense Basic Research Advisory Group. DTRA reviews research interests annually to focus on technology areas not clearly addressed by other basic research efforts.
Document Details
- Document Type
- R2 Budgetary Justification
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2011
- Source ID
- 0601000BR_1_0400_PB_2011
- Change Summary Explanation
- The increase of $12 million between FY 2009 and FY 2010 reflect the Agency’s commitment to realign research efforts to achieve the Department of Defense’s investment norm of 10-12% of total obligation authority for Basic Research. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s basic research program supports high-payoff, novel research that will provide benefits to the warfighter in important areas of the Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) mission. Three exemplary areas are: (1) remote detection of fissile material; (2) defeat of WMD-related facilities and materials with acceptable collateral damage; and (3) advances in physical and social network analyses that fosters the means for countering electromagnetic pulse attacks and terrorism. Another very important benefit of basic research is the training of the next generation of scientists, who will be needed to support the warfighter in future operations against emerging WMD threats. The realignment in funding to basic research and systems engineering is to grow the scientific community in support of WMD research to provide far sighted, high payoff research to reduce, eliminate, and mitigate the effects of WMD. The FY 2010 congressional reduction was levied for excessive growth ahead of program assessment. The DoD did not estimate FY 2011 costs when the FY 2010 President's Budget was prepared. There is a FY 2011 decrease that reflects the internal functional transfer of advisory and assistance services from DTRA’s Research, Development, Test & Evaluation, Defense-Wide account to the Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide account ($.210 million). This transfer reflects the internal functional realignment of advisory and assistance services and other business-related costs that were formerly captured under DTRA’s Research, Development, Test & Evaluation, Defense-Wide account to the Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide account. As part of DTRA’s continued effort to integrate and refine its functions and activities, this transfer more appropriately aligns this funding to the proper appropriation. At the Agency level, this functional transfer between appropriations will have a zero sum impact to these budget line items. An additional decrease of $.266 million is associated with changes in the inflation rates and therefore is a price change, not a program change.
- Service Agency Name
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Entities
Organizations
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency
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