Time to Re-engage with DARPA
The end of the Tether era at DARPA has generated a lot of speculation about Tether’s successor — though nothing yet that seems all that credible. But what about DARPA itself in the post-Tether era? Randy Katz and I gave some of our thoughts on “Re-envisioning DARPA,” but I thought it might be worth a brief comment here on the relationship between DARPA and academia.
The academic community — not just in computer science but also in other fields — has often expressed its frustrations with DARPA during the Tether era. The complaints have been wide-ranging, but in the end they usually boil down to one issue: money. As is well-known, there has been a major decline in DARPA funding for university-based research. But is this anything more than just a whole lot of whining?
In one particularly eloquent reaction to our “Re-envisioning DARPA” piece, the importance of university research is explained thusly:
Historically, and even more so today than at any time in the last 50 years, of the various possibilities, sustained, unfettered university research is most likely to produce, and keep producing, game-changing science and technology. DoD’s S&T enterprise, including DARPA, must find ways to ensure that the world’s best scientists and researchers, regardless of citizenship status, want to work with us.
(I include the above quote without attribution; similar sentiments are easy to find from a wide range of thinkers on the subject.) The key point, I think, has to do with engagement. It’s not only about universities helping the nation gain technological superiority over its adversaries; just as important is DARPA’s role in making university research better. When deep engagement between university research and DARPA happens, we are better able to sustain our edge.
Over the past decade, in my interactions with DARPA in various advisory capacities, the single biggest change has been the decline in engagement between leading academics and DARPA management. At the start of my career, I was brought into DARPA programs, immersed in the DoD problems and way of thinking, and able to make contributions. Leading thinkers such as Allen Newell, Raj Reddy, and others were roaming the halls of DARPA. Today, in contrast, we have an entire generation of young academic researchers who have never engaged with DARPA; they are largely unaware of its problems and completely unaccustomed to the kind of mission-oriented focus of its programs. This is not something that just gets switched on and off. In my view, this has been a loss for university research as well as a loss to the nation’s defense.
As we now look forward to a new future for DARPA, it seems to be an important time for universities to find ways to get re-engaged. Yes, it’s about research funding. But it is also about making university research better and, by extension, the nation safer.
Peter Lee @ February 17, 2009