The Trump Administration’s newly released Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Research and Development Budget Priorities and Cross-Cutting Actions memorandum represents a fundamental realignment of federal science and technology strategy, moving away from climate and equity-focused initiatives toward mission-driven research explicitly aimed at national security and economic dominance.
The FY2027 memorandum – jointly issued by the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy – declares that “following years of unfocused Federal investments weighed down by woke ideology and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, we are realigning the Federal R&D portfolio to serve its core purposes: driving economic growth and high-wage employment for all Americans, promoting high quality of life, and ensuring U.S. leadership in critical sectors to our national security.”
Five Strategic Pillars
The memo outlines five key research and development (R&D) budgetary priorities that agencies must align with when developing their FY2027 budgets.
1. Critical and Emerging Technologies Leadership
The administration prioritizes artificial intelligence research focused on “architectural advancements; data-efficient and high-performance AI techniques and systems; the interpretability, controllability, and steerability of AI systems; and AI adversarial robustness, resilience, and security.” Applied AI priorities include scientific discovery acceleration, nuclear energy applications, quantum information science, and autonomous robotics systems.
Quantum information science and technology receives renewed emphasis, with agencies directed to “deepen focused efforts, such as centers and core programs, to advance basic quantum information science, while also prioritizing R&D that expands the understanding of end user applications and supports the maturation of enabling technologies.”
2. Energy Dominance and Frontier Exploration
The energy portfolio emphasizes “affordable, reliable, and secure energy technologies, including fossil fuels, advanced nuclear fission and fusion, geothermal, and hydropower.” The memo specifically calls for supporting “technological development and demonstration of advanced reactors, including microreactors, small modular reactors, Generation IV reactors, and fusion energy demonstrators.”
Arctic research receives strategic priority as agencies are directed to “invest in R&D that assures America’s uncontested navigation and strategic utilization of the Arctic,” reflecting growing geopolitical competition in polar regions.
3. Strengthened American Security
Defense research priorities include “offensive and defensive hypersonic weapons capabilities, unmanned and autonomous systems, resilient national security space systems, and modernized and flexible strategic and nonstrategic nuclear deterrent capabilities.”
A new “Golden Dome” initiative for homeland missile defense receives specific attention, with agencies instructed to invest in “sensing and sensemaking, trusted autonomy, space maneuverability, directed energy, advanced materials, and affordable scalability.”
Implications for Fire Safety
The memo’s third priority area also addresses preparedness and resilience against natural disasters alongside traditional security threats. Agencies are directed to invest in “R&D that improves the Nation’s safety and resilience and empowers state and local governments and communities, the private sector, and individuals to advance their mutual preparedness,” including research to “enhance capabilities for anticipating, preventing, responding to, and recovering from threats and natural disasters.” This has particular relevance for wildfire and fire safety technologies.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, 52,571 wildfires have burned 4,529,314 acres as of September 29. The 10-year average for this date is 45,854 wildfires and 6,503,876 acres burned.
As former U.S Fire Administrator, industry expert, and Homeland Security Today Editorial Board Member Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell noted, “For wildfire-related technologies, we have to remember that wildfire and community conflagration are a threat to homeland and economic security.”
The memo’s focus on mission-driven research and public-private partnerships could create new opportunities for fire safety innovation across domestic, commercial, and industrial sectors.
However, some observers worry about potential gaps in federal support for comprehensive fire safety technologies. Comprehensive government engagement with fire safety innovators across all sectors will be needed to ensure these research priorities translate into meaningful technological advances rather than remaining as policy directives without practical implementation.
4. Health and Biotechnology Security
Health research focuses on “Gold Standard Science that leads to interventions to prevent and treat America’s most pressing health challenges, including chronic diseases, obesity, metabolic disorders, Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.” The memo emphasizes biosafety and biosecurity, calling for research into “function-based screening for the pathogenicity and toxicity of nucleic acids, proteins, small molecules, and other biochemical products.”
5. Space Dominance
Space research priorities include “human space exploration and development, including long-duration travel and habitation, in-space aggregation and assembly, local resource utilization, space weather hazard prediction and mitigation, space nuclear power systems and biotechnologies for space applications.”
Structural Changes in Science Policy
Beyond specific technology priorities, the memo introduces significant structural changes to federal R&D management:
Gold Standard Science: Agencies must “support replication studies and statistical validation methods” and “categorize funding as basic research, applied research, or experimental development” in their performance reporting.
STEM-Trained Future Workforce: Agencies should “provide all Americans with access to high-quality [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] STEM education and workforce development pathways throughout their lifetimes.”
Research Access: Prioritizing research infrastructure investments, and access to tools and facilities, along with collaboration with international partners and the private sector.
Public-Private Partnerships: The administration emphasizes “innovative models for funding and sharing scientific research infrastructure” and calls for agencies to “prioritize funding for cooperative projects that align organizational incentives and advance new public-private partnerships and multisectoral consortia.”
Technology Protection: Agencies must “prioritize efforts to protect R&D programs critical to our national security objectives from theft, diversion, and exploitation by strategic competitors” and “institutionalize risk-based and data-driven technology protection practices.”
Looking Forward
The FY2027 memo represents more than a routine budget guidance: it signals a fundamental shift in how the federal government will approach science and technology investment. By explicitly rejecting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in favor of national security, manufacturing capability, and economic competitiveness objectives, the Trump Administration is reshaping the research landscape that will influence American innovation for years to come.
The full FY2027 Research and Development Budget Priorities memorandum is available on the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy website under National Science and Technology Memoranda.
