96 



PRIPARID nATEMENT OF JOSEPH P. MARTINO 



Good morning. 



I am Dr. Joseph P. Martino. I am a senior research scientist at the University of 

 Dayton Research Institute. The opinions I will present are my own and do not neces- 

 sarily represent those of my employer. 



My background includes service in government laboratories and in a university 

 research institute, as well as scholarly research on the management of research and 

 development (R6cD). During my Air Force career, I served two tours of duty in the 

 Avionics Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and one tour of duty in the Of- 

 fice of Research Analyses, then at Holloman AFB, New Mexico. I served two tours of 

 duty at Air Force Office of Scientific Research, in Washington, DC, as a project offi- 

 cer with fund-granting responsibility. My final assignment was as Director of an engi- 

 neering organization with a staff of over 200 people. Since retiring from the Air Force 

 eighteen years ago, I have held a full-time research appointment at the University of 

 Dayton Research Institute, where 1 have been supported by grants and contracts from 

 government and industry. I have written numerous articles on the management of 

 R&D, and since 1969 have served on the editorial board of the journal. Transactions 

 on Engineering Management, published by the Institute of Electrical & Electronics 

 Engineers. My book, science Funding, was published in 1992 by Transaction Pub- 

 lishers. 



Of particular relevance to today's hearings, I am currently the Principal Investiga- 

 tor on a contract between the University and the State of Ohio to find ways to com- 

 mercialize the Mound Facility, a Department of Energy research and production 

 facility located near Dayton, which is scheduled to be closed. This contract was the 

 result of an unsolicited proposal which 1 submitted to the state government. 



The General Accounting Office has prepared a report which documents the poor 

 condition of many Federal laboratories. This is being presented as a need for repair 

 and upgrading of these laboratories. 1 am here to suggest an alternative - that instead 

 of being repaired, they simply be closed down. 



My remarks today will cover four main points. 



1 ) One of the serious risks associated with Federal labs is that they will become 

 mediocre and inefficient, as a result of porkbarrel funding. 



2) Another of the serious risks associated with Federal labs is that if they do not 

 become mediocre, they will become an unwarranted subsidy to specific industries. 



3) If a Federal lab is to serve the needs of industry effectively, it must be privat- 

 ized. 



4) This is not the first time we have faced the issue of what to do with no-longer- 

 needed Federal labs. We can learn from history. 



I will illustrate each of these points with examples. 



MEDIOCRE LABS 



The Department of Agriculture is probably the prize example of mediocre or even 

 poor science in the Federal Government. It was established as a subsidy to farmers, 

 not as support for science. Its R&D funding is distributed to the experiment stations 

 in the various states according to a formula which owes everything to politics and 

 nothing to either the economic importance or the scientific merit of the research being 

 performed. There is no peer review of the quality of the work, and no evaluation of its 

 importance to American taxpayers. 



Since 1972, there have been at least half a dozen major reviews of Department of 

 Agriculture in-house research. Three of these were by the National Academy of Sci- 

 ences, and one was by the General Accounting Office. Every one of diese reviews had 

 harsh criticisms of the Department's research. The 1972 NAS report said, "much of 

 agricultural research is outmoded, pedestrian, and inefficient." One of the reviewers 

 taking part in die 1987 studv said, "It was one of the most depressing things I ever 

 saw. . . We saw hundreds of*^ millions wasted on people who haven't published in 20 



