[2021 National Audit] "Science and Technology Officers Employed in Irrelevant Fields... Research Also Inadequate"

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Although the 'Science and Technology Specialist Officer' system, which allows science and engineering university students to resolve military service issues while gaining research experience, is being implemented, there are criticisms that it is not being properly operated as many end up working in unrelated fields after discharge.

According to Assemblyman Cho Seung-rae (Democratic Party), a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee, since 2014, the government has been implementing the 'Science and Technology Specialist Officer' system aimed at nurturing outstanding science and technology talents. This system selects about 25 candidates annually from second-year students at science and technology specialized universities and general universities (science and engineering), commissions them as officers after graduation, and assigns them to conduct research and development for three years at the Agency for Defense Development (ADD).

This system was modeled after Israel's elite science and technology officer program called 'Talpiot.' Israel selects gifted science talents, allows them to earn a bachelor's degree at Hebrew University while serving as soldiers for three years, and then serves six years in the military participating in strategic weapons development and other projects.

The problem is that none of the first and second cohorts of discharged officers remain at the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) conducting research. This means the goal of nurturing talents who can work in defense science and technology fields has not been properly achieved. Among the total 38 discharged officers, 20 (52.6%) pursued further studies, 14 (36.8%) found employment, and 1 started a business. Among those employed, the industry with the highest number of officers (3 people) was the 'Passenger Car and Other Motor Vehicle Manufacturing' sector, which seems somewhat distant from defense.

This is because, although the ADD's internal personnel regulations require research positions to have at least a bachelor's degree, actual job postings seek candidates with master's or doctoral degrees. Science and Technology Specialist Officers holding only a bachelor's degree are, therefore, unable to even apply for research positions at the ADD.

Research task performance during the officers' service was also found to be inadequate. Since 2018, they have been involved in defense research and development projects, performing an average of 1.79 research tasks per person annually. However, upon reviewing the detailed research task titles, many were repeated annually. Excluding these, the 38 discharged officers completed a total of 111 tasks over three years (48 tasks by the first cohort, 63 by the second). This averages to 2.92 tasks per person, which translates to less than one task per officer per year. Even considering differences in task difficulty, this is a very low performance.

There was also a significant disparity in the number of tasks performed by individual discharged officers. Over three years, 13 officers (34.2%) completed two tasks, while 5 officers (13.2%) completed only one task.

Assemblyman Cho pointed out, "To properly nurture future talents in the defense science and technology field, the current operation status of the Science and Technology Specialist Officer system must be closely examined and improvement measures sought." He added, "The absence of discharged officers currently working at the Agency for Defense Development is largely due to structural problems."

Assemblyman Cho further suggested, "Changing the selection target from undergraduate students to master's degree holders could surprisingly resolve the issues easily."