The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) runs three federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) focusing on defense and scientific issues.
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Centers
The IDA Studies and Analyses FFRDC is co-located with IDA headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. It includes the following divisions:
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- Cost Analysis and Research Division (CARD)
- Information Technology and Systems Division (ITSD)
- Joint Advanced Warfighting Division (JAWD)
- Operational Evaluation Division (OED)
- Science and Technology Division (STD)
- Strategy, Forces and Resources Division (SFRD)
- System Evaluation Division (SED)
The Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) supports the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. It is located in Washington, DC. The IDA Communications and Computing FFRDC supports the National Security Agency.
Work
IDA's work is primarily in producing studies and analyses for the federal government of the United States on defense and scientific issues. IDA works only on projects sponsored by the U.S. federal government. Most of IDA's work supports Department of Defense or Department of Homeland Security agencies and offices.
Staff
IDA's staff comprises research staff and administrative staff. As of October 2004, the IDA Studies and Analses FFRDC research staff had the following characteristics:
- Degrees:
- Doctoral: 61%
- Master's: 30%
- Bachelor's: 9%
- Discipline:
- Math, Statistics, or Operations Research: 27%
- Engineering: 21%
- Physical Sciences or Life Sciences: 20%
- Economics, Social Sciences, or Political Science: 14%
- Computer Science: 11%
- Business Administration/Management or Humanities: 6%
- Other: 1%
As early as 2002, the President of IDA, Retired U.S. Air Force General Larry Welch, was being paid an annual salary of $323,979, according to IDA’s Form 990 for the year beginning Sept. 29, 2001 and ending Sept. 27, 2002. At least ten other IDA executives were also paid annual salaries of over $140,000 in 2002. For instance, the IDA Vice-President for Administration and Finance, Ruth Greenstein, was paid an annual salary of $261,212, while the IDA Vice-President for Planning and Evaluation was paid $212,554. Annual salaries of between $196,889 and $231,076 were also paid to the directors of IDA’s five weapons research divisions in 2002. In addition, the chairman of the IDA board of trustees, former University of South Carolina President John Palms, was paid an additional $27,100 in 2002 by IDA for his work as IDA board chairman. MIT Professor Sheila Widnall, a former Clinton Administration Secretary of the Air Force, also was paid an additional $10,800 in 2002 by IDA for apparently representing MIT on IDA’s board of trustees in 2002. Although IDA claims to be a “non-profit” and a “public charity”, from its Pentagon weapons research contracts in 2002 it earned total revenues of $145 million that were $4 million more than the $141 million it had to spend on its weapons research think-tank activity. According to IDA’s 2006 Annual Report, between 1996 and 2006, “Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom was examined” by IDA researchers “for lessons for future joint military operations and for operational test and evaluation programs.”
Other Information
In order to preserve its impartiality, IDA maintains a low profile and minimizes contact with the press. However, IDA's status as a defense organization has sparked controversy, most notably during the Columbia University protests of 1968.
