One of the main thrusts of the Bush campaign—and the government initiatives announced this year—is that government is too big (with the corollary that government is bad) and that private-sector action ensures competition and efficient operation at some stage.

The White House (in a budget released in late February) emphasized the President’s promise "to make government more market-based." Here are some of the particulars for specific agencies:

• For NASA the plan is to "pursue management reforms to open government activities to competition, an example being to aggressively pursue Space Shuttle privatization opportunities…"

• For the National Science Foundation the plan proposes changes in the research process, by which the agency will "develop efficiency measures of the research process and determine what is the right grant size."

• For the Department of Defense the Administration "should seek every opportunity to open to competition functions that are commercial in nature." DOD will also continue "to study opportunities for outsourcing and privatization with particular emphasis on commercial type functions." And, as announced earlier, DOD will get "funding to continue research, development, and testing of a missile defense program." President Bush’s budget message said we must develop and deploy effective missile defense "to protect our own people, our allies and friends."

• The Department of Energy, the White House states, "will adopt best commercial practices and increase performance-based competitive contracting."

Former presidential science adviser D. Allan Bromley is highly critical of the budget plan. In comments carried by The New York Times (9 March 2001), Bromley noted that, after accounting for inflation, the budget includes cuts to the three primary sources of ideas and personnel in the high economy:

"The NSF is cut by 2.6 percent, NASA by 3.6 percent and the Department of Energy by an alarming 7.1 percent ... Economists … attribute much of America’s 1990s boom to increased productivity stemming from … scientific research."

Bromley added: "The 21^st century economy will continue to depend on scientific innovation. Economists estimate that innovation and the application of new technology have generated at least half of the phenomenal growth in America’s gross domestic product since World War II. Keeping the economic source productive is critical to both national prosperity and federal revenues."

Bromley summarized by saying that "the proposed cuts to scientific research are a self-defeating policy. Congress must increase the federal investment in science. No science, no surplus. It’s that simple."