Probably overall research spending. Total NSF 2022 outlays to thousands of universities was $6.8B. DoD issued $5B just in grants, plus they have contracts with universities as well, some of which are major (e.g. the Navy's contract with JHU for APL runs around $2B per year).
Cornell's policy is that the entire concept of "classified research" is incompatible with the mission of an academic institution to generate and disseminate knowledge. Cornell Faculty Handbook: "Given the open nature of Cornell University, research projects which do not permit the free and open publication, presentation, or discussion of results are not acceptable. Nor will the university enter into any agreements unless the principal and co‐principal investigators have the final authority on what is to be published or presented. In particular, research which is confidential to the sponsor or which is classified for security purposes is not permitted at Cornell University."
Without that funding source, Cornell professors have little choice but to go vacuum up all the NSF funding they can get their hands on.
(Edit to add my usual snipe that it's ridiculous to include APL's Navy funding in the JHU total for research. The vast majority of what they do is either product development, or working with OEMs to evaluate *their* products for certification or safety assessments, etc. The USAF does all those same functions in house - the fact that the Navy "outsources" those functions to APL is just a choice that the Navy has made over the last 80+ years. And I say this as someone whose uncle (my namesake and childhood idol) worked his entire career at APL. No doubt that APL does great work - but so do Lockheed and Raytheon, and they don't try to pretend that it's academic research.)
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