Budget woes driving scientists, engineers away from defense department jobs.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin
• Position: STEM News

* The budget crunch is a new factor preventing the Defense Department from recruiting and retaining top talent Within its science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce, a recent report found.

"The activities of the Department of Defense devoted to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are a small and diminishing part of the nation's overall science and engineering enterprise," said an October 2012 report titled, "Assuring the U.S. Department of Defense a Strong Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Workforce."

The report--which was based on an 18-month study by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council--focused on problems with immigration laws, outsourcing and the aging workforce.

The dwindling defense budget is a new issue facing the STEM workforce, the report said. The tightening of the budget, defense contractors becoming more "risk-averse," and increasingly complicated acquisition laws, have slowed down hiring.

Having an underprepared STEM workforce within the Defense Department is a matter of national security, the report said.

Strict immigration laws make it difficult for many foreigners to receive citizenship, the report said. H 1-B visas, for high-tech jobs, have caps on them, which prevent many highly qualified engineers and scientists from working in the country. Furthermore, obtaining green cards and becoming citizens can take up to a decade, the report said. Since many positions require security clearances, the Defense Department cannot always procure top talent at a fast enough rate.

Another problem for the department is increased global demand for STEM professionals. As demand grows, engineering and science job opportunities are becoming increasingly prevalent and attractive around the globe, drawing many top candidates away from the United States, the report said.

It also pointed to the aging STEM workforce within the Defense Department. As current employees move closer to retirement age, not enough quality replacements are coming in to take over.

In 2005, the median age of defense industry STEM workforce members was 45, but increased to 47 by 2010, despite an overall increase of employees under the age of 35, the report said.

American youth are not interested in STEM fields, the report also asserted. Of students graduating with doctorates in U.S. engineering schools, more than half are non-U.S. citizens. Furthermore, of those non-U.S. citizen graduates, 38 percent...