$6 Million: DOD Grant to University of Montana to “Strengthen American Democracy by Bridging Divides”

The Defense Department Funded Domestic Political Polarization Research. The National Science Foundation Exists for This.

The Department of Defense awarded $6 million to the University of Montana for a program described as strengthening American democracy by bridging partisan and ideological divides. The program conducted research on political polarization, cross-partisan dialogue initiatives, and democratic resilience — framed within the DOD’s Minerva Research Initiative, which funds social science research with potential national security applications. DOD’s argument is that domestic political polarization creates national security vulnerabilities exploited by foreign adversaries.

The National Science Foundation has a Political Science program and a Human-Centered Computing program that fund exactly this type of research. The DOD’s Minerva Initiative was designed for research on foreign social dynamics — understanding adversary societies, conflict drivers in foreign populations, and social science relevant to military operations abroad. Funding domestic American political polarization research through a defense department military research program is an application of that authority that stretches well beyond its original mandate.