Technology and the military: DOD's DARPA at 25

Journal Article · Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1983 · IEEE Spectrum; (United States)

OSTI ID:5563524

Lerner, E J

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the major government underwriter for high-risk technology in both superweaponry, such as the stealth project, and computer research. This paper reviews its 25-year history and describes its current status in terms of its role as a funding agency, its own growth from an arbiter of government funding to a full-fledged project development organization, its position vis-a-vis the Department of Defense as well as other government agencies and the commercial sector, its willingness to take risks, its responsibility to serve both the military and industrial sectors as a leader in innovative technological thinking, and its accomplishments, which have included phased-array and over-the-horizon radar, rocket propulsion, and, more currently, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, parallel computing, and natural languages programming. Its first assignment was to take over entirely the military space program which, in 1958, had been nearly paralyzed by rivalries between the US military services. Criticized for its investigations into counterinsurgency technology during the Vietnam War, and for its current attitude toward space weaponry, DARPA has lost some of its nonpartisan reputation as a research organization. This paper presents some of the debate currently going on as DARPA, at a quarter of a century, assesses its goals, responsibilities, and identity at a time when its national and political visibility has become enormous.

• Research Organization: Contributing Editor, IEEE Spectrum
• OSTI ID: 5563524
• Journal Information: IEEE Spectrum; (United States), Vol. 20:8
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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