CHAPTER 7 



BARRIERS TO OPTIMUM SUPPORT AND CONDUCT OF BASIC 

 RESEARCH BY THE MISSION AGENCIES 



Three questions asked of the agencies rehite 

 closely to the subject of this chapter. They are: 



• What barriers exist to optimum support of 

 basic research by your agency? 



• What changes in Federal regulations and pol- 

 icies would facilitate conduct or support of 

 basic research by your agency? 



• What Federal regulations and policies, if any, 

 impede the conduct and/or support of basic 

 research by your agency? 



The capacity and eagerness of U.S. scientists to 

 conduct basic research seem to be almost unlimit- 

 ed. The constraints, however, are numerous. Lim- 

 ited funds, facilities, and manpower, plus the 

 imposition of controls from outside the agencies, 

 are cited as barriers to the possible achievement 

 of a more desirable level of basic research activi- 

 ty. The optimum goal of the mission agencies is to 

 contribute to scientific knowledge and to promote 

 research results that will be useful in solving ev- 

 ery problem facing the agency as it carries out its 

 legislated purpose. As long as problems exist and 

 faith that knowledge will bring solutions persists, 

 the agencies, if given a free hand, would support 

 more research. Incidentally, it is not clear how 

 great an increase is desired in basic research 

 compared with applied investigation. The Air 

 Force responds that the achievement of "objec- 

 tives" is the primary motivation — and applied 

 work is probably the most common approach. 



One response gives a summary of the attitude 

 expressed by many agencies: 



The optimum situation for Air Force research 

 would be enough good scientists working on 

 every identified problem to reasonably assure 

 its solution. Lack of resources forces the pro- 

 gram to focus on certain higher priority prob- 

 lems and ignore others. For instance, of 489 

 research objectives identified by Air Force Sys- 

 tems Command, the Air Force Research Plan 

 identified work on only 297 or 61 percent in 

 fiscal 1978. 



The overall control of agency activity in basic 

 or applied research is exerted by external deci- 

 sions manifested in legislation, appropriations, 

 and executive and agency administrative judg- 

 ments. In spite of this, the agencies generally ex- 

 press satisfaction with the system. They want to 

 do more research, but they want other things, too. 

 The balance within and between agencies and the 

 operation of the Federal "system" of research is 



one they understand and support. They did not 

 respond with alarm or a sense of desperation but 

 rather as people working within a system they 

 have always tried to improve. Nevertheless, the 

 specific barriers they mentioned and the recom- 

 mendations for improvement they offered are 

 numerous and important. 



Funding 



Limited funding for basic research is viewed as 

 a primary barrier. Obviously more funds would 

 allow more research. The emphasis in the respon- 

 ses, however, is not so much on funds as on fluc- 

 tuations and uncertainty in how the funding is 

 provided. As was mentioned in the responses 

 from the research community to the National Sci- 

 ence Board, and described in the Eighth Board 

 Report,' funding stability is regarded as highly 

 important in basic research. 



The response from the National Institutes of 

 Health (NIH) on unpredictability in funding de- 

 serves quotation: 



Unpredictability in funding probably tops the 

 list. This issue is not unique either to NIH or to 

 basic research, but is nonetheless significant. 

 The model of the lone scientist working by 

 himself with equipment put together with rub- 

 ber bands and paper clips is no longer valid, if 

 it ever was. Biomedical science today requires 

 a range of technical support services, complex 

 equipment, often collaboration between a num- 

 ber of scientists and frequently a great deal of 

 time. All of this is expensive. Under these cir- 

 cumstances, uncertainties and interruptions in 

 funding can make it extremely difficult to keep 

 research teams together for the length of time 

 required to complete work on any given prob- 

 lem, or to fully exploit existing leads, with the 

 result that the efficiency of the enterprise is 

 markedly reduced. Any activity which is sub- 

 jected to a series of arbitrary, externally in- 

 duced stops and starts is bound to suffer. Basic 

 research, a difficult, often frustrating, long-term 

 endeavor is particularly sensitive to such dis- 

 turbances. 



'Science ut the Bicentennial: A Report From the Rese;irch 

 Community, report of the National Scienee Board/l'*76 (GPO: 

 Washington. 1976). 



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