The Air Force admits that it is not adequately funding its science and technology accounts, and will continue to do so through 2007. Due to a fluke in the accounting, it will actually reach the agreed requirement for such spending in 2004 (and even exceed it by $44 million) due to other accounts not growing as fast as they were expected to. The extra money will be welcome, but such on-again/off-again funding is actually very wasteful. Sudden increases cannot be readily absorbed into the existing scientific industrial base, and sudden reductions see newly-hired technicians suddenly laid off.--Stephen V Cole