The full name of DARPA is Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It is an administrative agency under the U.S. Department of Defense, which is responsible for developing military high technology. Since the establishment of 1958, DARPA has been the core R&D department of the Ministry of National Defense.
Unlike other military research institutions, although it has an annual budget of about $3 billion a year, it does not engage in specific scientific research. DARPA project managers and supervisors outsource scientific research projects to national defense contractors, academic institutions or other government organizations, and then promote the transformation of scientific research results into military applications. DARPA's mission is to lead the revolution of military scientific research and maintain the overwhelming technological superiority of the United States over other countries in the world. Therefore, DARPA has been the most powerful, fruitful and mysterious military scientific research institution in the world since its establishment.
For such a mysterious institution, it is difficult for the outside world to get a glimpse of it and can only guess from a few words in the media. Anne, a graduate of Sao Paulo College and Princeton University? Jack Boothon is an investigative journalist and best-selling author, writing articles about war, weapons, American national security and government secrets.
In order to tell the story of DARPA, we interviewed 7/kloc-0 people directly related to DARPA, including the president's science and technology adviser, DARPA project manager and scientists, members of Jason's mysterious and highly confidential team of scientists, captains and colonels, and compiled The Pentagon's Brain: The Unknown History of the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of Defense, which restored the history of DARPA and told the unknown story of DARPA buried behind historical events and technological development.
DARPA was born during the Cold War. To some extent, this was the expectation of scientists of the US Department of Defense who were struggling with the Soviet Union at that time. Originally, the United States was already very anxious in the round after round of intensified nuclear weapons race, and the successful launch of the first Soviet satellite in June 1957+00 put the whole United States into a panic.
In that year1October, 1 1, US Secretary of Defense McIlroy came to Capitol Hill with a bold idea. He suggested setting up a new organization in the Pentagon called the Advanced Research Projects Agency. This institution will be responsible for "all satellite and space research and development projects" and shoulder the function of "expanding the research scope beyond the foreseeable weapon systems that are urgently needed at present or in the near future". Mcroy has a very long-term vision. He said that the United States needs such an institution, which has the ability to foresee undeveloped national needs and develop "a large number of future weapon systems."
19581October 7, President Eisenhower sent a memorandum to Congress, authorizing the allocation of $ 100000 to the Advanced Research Projects Agency in the fiscal year of 1958 for the purchase and construction of research, development and test facilities and equipment authorized by the Secretary of Defense. It is necessary to ensure that the funds are in place in time and fully used. "In the State of the Union address two days later, Eisenhower announced the formal establishment of this new institution to the whole country. Since then, DARPA has been the core R&D department of the US Department of Defense, known as the "brain of the Pentagon".
In terms of organizational structure, DARPA is very different from other military research institutions in the United States. Although it has an annual budget of about $3 billion, it does not engage in specific scientific research. Project managers and supervisors of DARPA outsource scientific research projects to national defense contractors, academic institutions or other government organizations, and then promote the transformation of scientific research results into military applications.
DARPA has a keen sense of smell, quick response, no bureaucracy and red tape, and rarely maintains a small staff team. After 60 years of development, DARPA now employs 120 project managers every year, and each project manager has a term of five years. These managers have a strong sense of innovation, and most of them are excellent scientists.
They initiated and supervised hundreds of research projects, involving thousands of scientists and engineers working in national laboratories, defense contractor companies and university laboratories in the United States and overseas.
The command chain of the US military is actually very rigid, but the DARPA project manager has super authority in it. They can start, continue or stop R&D projects with little external interference.
Once the pre-deployment preparation is completed, the weapons or related systems as the results of the R&D project will be handed over to the armed forces such as the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, as well as American intelligence agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the National Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and the National Reconnaissance Agency.
This is the fundamental reason why DARPA can always maintain high efficiency. This is worth learning from the government, universities and non-profit organizations, and it is also of great significance to modern enterprises.
In its 60-year history, DARPA has always maintained the leading position in technology in the United States. The former DARPA scientists interviewed by the author agree that in any historical period, the work of DARPA scientists, especially most secret-related projects, is ahead of the scientific and technological level of the public sector 10~20 years.
DARPA has been carefully protecting its public image. Reports that DARPA is a top scientific research institution are often seen in newspapers, such as "DARPA develops micro-implants, which can make people gain self-healing ability". For another example, Google's driverless car and two robot projects were originally sponsored by DARPA. The human brain chip often advertised by IBM is also a branch of DARPA research plan. Not only that, almost all the frontiers of science and technology you know: Internet, satellites, computers, Star Wars, GPS, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, wearable devices and so on. It was first invented and studied by DARPA. We can say that it is its pioneering work in the field of science and technology that has changed industry, public health, society and culture today.
However, DARPA was not established to promote future civilian technology. Since its birth, it has undertaken the mission of leading the revolution of military scientific research and maintaining the overwhelming technological superiority of the United States over other countries in the world. Before 1972, DARPA was headquartered in the Pentagon, and now it is located in an unmarked building 4 miles from the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency reports to the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
This book has two main lines. One is about war, violence, cruelty and death. From the Cold War, Vietnam War, Iraq War to the war on terrorism, DARPA led or promoted countless military projects, which had an impact on the political environment and the world situation and killed or saved the lives of ordinary people. One is about science and technology, exploration, progress and innovation. From computer, internet, genetic engineering to artificial intelligence, DARPA inadvertently triggered these events that may affect the future destiny of mankind, which has far-reaching significance.