FROM SPUTNIK TO . . . RADAR? MUCH-MALIGNED DEFENSE RESEARCH AGENCY HAS LONG 
BEEN THE PENTAGON'S FANTASY SHOP
David Voss, Globe Correspondent. Boston Globe. Boston, Mass.: Aug 12, 2003. 
pg. D.1  
Word Count 1297

Abstract (Document Summary)

To be sure, DARPA's problems run deeper than a little bad press. Even before 
the terrorism futures contretemps, DARPA had been rocked by controversy, 
largely because of another [John Poindexter]-led program, a computerized 
global surveillance system called Terrorism Information Awareness that some 
viewed as a potential invasion of privacy. And some critics lament that 
DARPA has become risk-averse, supporting shorter-range immediate goals 
rather than big global technology adventures like the Internet.

DARPA's most enduring success may be its role in creating the Internet. In 
the 1960s, DARPA built a small network that moved data among only four 
computers, a grid that eventually became the Internet. For a long time, the 
net was a quiet place where academics could send e-mail back and forth. In 
1989, however, Tim Berners Lee at the European physics lab, CERN, invented 
the World Wide Web, making the Internet far more accessible and easier to 
use, leading to an explosion in popularity. Today, with early support from 
DARPA, Berners-Lee is working on WWW version 2.0, a vision that he calls the 
"semantic Web" in which computers will be able to understand what Web pages 
mean in order to make new connections.

DARPA no doubt will weather the "terrorism futures" controversy as it has 
survived others in its past. Over its 47 years, DARPA has been the envy of 
some in the military and the bane of others, but it's model of flat 
hierarchy and culture of risk-taking managers is attracting new interest. 
The Department of Homeland Security is reportedly planning to create its own 
"HSARPA" to crank up research for domestic defense and counterterrorism, 
possibly headed by a former DARPA manager. And, like the old saying goes, 
imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.