Contents: (1) Overview, Structure and Funding of NITRD:: Amer. Recovery and Reinvest. Act of 2009; Amer. Competitiveness Initiative; NCO, PITAC, and Related Reports and Activities: National Cyber Leap Year Summit; High-Confidence Medical Devices: Cyber-Physical Systems for 21st Cent. Health Care; Digital Data for Science and Society; Fed. Plan for Advanced Networking R&D; Info. Tech. R&D in a Competitive World; Fed. Plan for Cyber Security and Info. Assurance R&D; NSA Superconducting Tech. Assessment; Computational Science; Cyber Security; NITRD Enabling and Governing Legislation: High-Performance Computing Act of 1991; Next Generation Internet Research Act of 1998; (2) Fed. Tech. Funding. Illus.

Report discussing the federal government's role in the country's information technology (IT) research and development (R & D) activities.

In the early 1990s, Congress recognized that several federal agencies had ongoing high-performance computing programs, but no central coordinating body existed to ensure long-term coordination and planning. To provide such a framework, Congress passed the High-Performance Computing and Communications Program Act of 1991 (P.L. 102-194) to enhance the effectiveness of the various programs. In conjunction with the passage of the act, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released Grand Challenges: High-Performance Computing and Communications. That document outlined a research and development (R & D) strategy for high-performance computing and a framework for a multiagency program, the High-Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) Program. The HPCC Program evolved over time and is now called the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program, to better reflect its expanded mission.

Describes R&D activities in advanced networking, software, high-end computing and computational science, cyber security, and other leading-edge information technologies (IT) funded by the 13 Fed. Agencies in the Networking and IT R&D (NITRD) Program. Capabilities and tools generated through NITRD investments accelerate advances across the spectrum of science, engineering, and technology fields, supporting key national security and scientific missions of the Fed. Gov¿t. and enhancing the Nation's economic competitiveness. The Pres.¿s FY2009 Budget provides a 6% increase for the NITRD Program overall, reflecting the vital contributions of networking and IT to sustaining U.S. leadership in science and technology.