Vernon Ehlers: “I rise to make a statement regarding the importance of investing in fundamental research at the Department of Defense.…”

“I rise to make a statement regarding the importance of investing in fundamental research at the Department of Defense. This statement would have been offered as a colloquy, but unfortunately my flight was delayed and I was unable to participate in a colloquy with the distinguished Chairman of the Subcommittee on Defense. Scientific research and development forms the foundation of increased innovation, economic vitality and national security. In 2001, the Hart- Rudman Commission concluded that, ``. . . the inadequacies of our systems of research and education pose a greater threat to U.S. national security over the next quarter century than any potential conventional war that we might imagine.'' While our focus on immediate national security threats is certainly warranted, it is necessary for us also to consider longer-term threats. Basic research is essential to advances in medicine, military applications and continued economic prosperity. In fact, the development of cancer therapies, global positioning system (GPS), laser-guided missiles, and the Internet are all products of DOD fundamental research endeavors. Who could have imagined that physicists' experimentation with the atomic clock in the 1950s and 1960s would provide the foundation for a technology that allows any soldier to know his precise location no matter where he or she is on this planet?…”