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On 2 April 2005, The New York Times (NYT) ran an article (“Pentagon Redirects Its Research Dollars; University Scientists Concerned by Cuts in Computer Projects”) regarding a shift in The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) focus from long term, open-ended research, to more classified work and narrowly defined projects that promise immediate results.
IEEE-USA President Gerry Alphonse's response to the NYT article appears to the right.
As The Times reported, DARPA officials first acknowledged the focus shift to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Last year, the portion of computer science research funds going to university researchers fell by 57 percent. Officials stated that a need for increased security in the post 9/11 world and increased reliance on corporate research were the reasons.
DARPA's concerns are highlighted in a February 2005 report by the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) on the state of the nation's cybersecurity.
The PITAC report, "Cybersecurity: A Crisis of Prioritization," argues that our information technology structure is vital to the day-to-day security of the U.S., but that it is highly vulnerable to disruptive domestic and international attacks. While existing technologies can address some IT security vulnerabilities, fundamentally new approaches are needed to address the more serious structural weaknesses of the IT infrastructure. The report notes that by last year, very little of DARPA's financing was being directed toward fundamental research in this field.
This shift has many leading computer scientists and electrical engineers warning that there will be long-term consequences for the nation's economy and they accuse the Pentagon of stifling research activities that have fostered the U.S.' lead in computer and communications technologies. DARPA is probably most famous for having conducted research that led to the creation of the Internet.
The Times quoted several IEEE members, expressing concerns about the future of technologies that, more often than not, result from years of patient research.
" 'I'm worried and depressed,' said IEEE Fellow David Patterson, a computer scientist at the University of California, Berkeley who is president of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), an industry and academic trade group. 'I think there will be great technologies that won't be there down the road when we need them.' "
" ' I can see they are after deliverables, but the unfortunate thing is that basic research gets squeezed out in the process,' said IEEE Senior Member Wolfgang Porod, director of the Center for Nano Science and Technology at the University of Notre Dame."
" 'Virtually every aspect of information technology upon which we rely today bears the stamp of federally sponsored university research,' said IEEE Fellow Ed Lazowska, a computer scientist at the University of Washington and co-chairman of the President’s IT advisory panel. 'The federal government is walking away from this role, killing the goose that laid the golden egg.' "
DARPA's philosophical shift has caused some reconsider their alignment with the agency. IEEE Life Fellow Leonard Kleinrock, a computer scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles and one of the small group of researchers who developed the 1960's predecessor to today's Internet, went so far as to decline DARPA funding when he learned that the agency was insisting that he employ only graduate assistants with American citizenship.
On the other hand, DARPA officials responded by saying the criticisms were not accurate and that the agency had always supported a mix of longer- and shorter-term research. The New York Times quoted a DARPA spokesperson as saying, "The key is a focus on high-risk, high-payoff research. Given the threat from terrorism and the demands on troops in Iraq, DARPA is rightly devoting more attention to "quick reaction" projects that draw on the fruits of earlier science and technology to produce useful prototypes as soon as possible." IEEE Member Anthony J. Tether, DARPA's director, told PITAC that secrecy had become more essential for a significant part of the agency's work.
Some researchers support the changes in DARPA arguing that we need to adjust to a world full of uncertain enemies.
' "There are pressures and demands on DARPA to be relevant," said IEEE Fellow Robert Kahn, a former DARPA administrator who is now president of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives in Reston, Va. "People think it should stay the same, but times have changed." '
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To the Editor:
Re: " "Pentagon Redirects Its Research Dollars" (New York Times, Business Day, April 2):
As one of the crown jewels of the Federal R&D enterprise, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's historical mission has been to invest in high-risk, revolutionary technologies that promise high payoffs. And DARPA has been successful, not only in giving our warriors a technological edge on the battlefield, but also in pushing the envelope on new technologies that have had significant economic and social payoffs, such as the Internet. By investing in cutting-edge research at universities, DARPA also helps train future generations of the best and brightest engineers and scientists.
My organization, which seeks to advance the public good and promote career and technology policy interests of U.S. technologists, is concerned that DARPA is shifting its focus to support narrow application-oriented research, while promising immediate payoffs. Any near-term payoffs will be long forgotten 20 years from now when our foes pull a technology surprise, as the Soviets did with Sputnik in 1957, and we find that our nation's technology cupboard is bare.
Gerard A. Alphonse
President, IEEE-USA
Washington, April 11, 2005
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