Defense Tech: DARPA COMES DOWN TO EARTH: "Back in 2003, the Senate Armed Services Committee was worried enough about Darpa getting overly-practical that it launched an investigation into whether the agency had 'raided' its basic research budget to finance 'near-term goals.'

Now, the Times reports, Darpa is cutting its funds for 'open-ended 'blue sky' research by the nation's best computer scientists... in favor of financing more classified work and narrowly defined projects that promise a more immediate payoff.'

This week, in responding to a query from the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Darpa officials acknowledged for the first time a shift in focus. They revealed that within a relatively steady budget for computer science research that rose slightly from $546 million in 2001 to $583 million last year, the portion going to university researchers has fallen from $214 million to $123 million.

The agency cited a number of reasons for the decline: increased reliance on corporate research; a need for more classified projects since 9/11; Congress's decision to end controversial projects like Total Information Awareness because of privacy fears; and the shift of some basic research to advanced weapons systems development.

In Silicon Valley, executives are also starting to worry about the consequences of Darpa's stinting on basic research in computer science.

'This has been a phenomenal system for harnessing intellectual horsepower for the country,' said David L. Tennenhouse, a former Darpa official who is now director of research for Intel. 'We should be careful how we tinker with it.'"

(Via a DefenseTech.)