BY ANDREW NOYES, CONGRESSDAILY

The Homeland Security Department's top technology official warned today that the U.S. workforce is 'in crisis' due to students fleeing math and science fields because they are viewed as too difficult and the payoff too distant. Unless this generation is energized, the nation will lack a 'first-world economy' two decades from now, science and technology undersecretary Jay Cohen said.

Cohen, who assumed his Homeland Security job in August 2006, aired his warnings at a University of Maryland global security summit, underscoring similar recent comments by House Science Chairman Bart Gordon and Congressional Research and Development Caucus co-chairmen Reps. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., and Rush Holt, D-N.J.

On Friday, Biggert and 10 other lawmakers sent the most recent in a series of letters to House Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Boehner requesting that they recoup some of the U.S. competitiveness funds slashed in the FY08 omnibus appropriations package. The letter, which asked for more money for Energy Department basic research projects, was also sent to House Appropriations Chairman David Obey and ranking member Jerry Lewis. ...