Slashdot Mirror
DARPA Director Leaves Pentagon For Google
New submitter srussia writes with this quote from Wired:
"DARPA director Regina Dugan will soon be stepping down from her position atop the Pentagon's premiere research shop to take a job with Google. Dugan, whose controversial tenure at the agency lasted just under three years, was 'offered and accepted at senior executive position' with the internet giant, according to DARPA spokesman Eric Mazzacone. She felt she could not say no to such an 'innovative company,' he adds. ... 'There is a time and a place for daydreaming. But it is not at DARPA,' she told a congressional panel in March 2011. 'DARPA is not the place of dreamlike musings or fantasies, not a place for self-indulging in wishes and hopes. DARPA is a place of doing.' For an agency that spent millions of dollars on shape-shifting robots, Mach 20 missiles, and mind-controlled limbs, it was something of a revolutionary statement. The shift was only one of the reasons why Dugan was a highly polarizing figure within her agency, and in the larger defense research community."
DARPA is a place of doing
Which profitable company isnt? (not saying that DARPA isnt a profitable company, IDK about it. Isnt it a govt. company?)
Guglielmo Marconi, Italian Scientist, invents a wireless telegraph that is able to send voice signals through the air via "radio" waves.
You don't dream the future you build it. Yeah sure you had to have an idea but ideas are the easy part the hard part is implementation.
you now work for the doubleclick of the 2000s.
WOW. She does calculation on her palms and knees. A Read Programmer
hilarious
So, Google is effectively part of the military industrial complex now? Nice to know there's a revolving door at the highest levels. DARPA's motto should be "making working for the military cool for Silicon Valley programmers".
and so continues the incestuous relationship between governments and corporations.
It's probably because Google pays more.
It seems late to be going to Google to do research. Five years ago, yes. Today, no. Google's innovations lately all seem to involve more intrusive advertising.
I hope Google keeps funding the automatic driving effort. At least until some auto manufacturer picks it up. They're getting close to something usable. Now they need to switch from that rotating car-top Velodyne kludge LIDAR to multiple flash LIDARs like Advanced Scientific Concepts makes, and get the size and price down.
I'm not going to read the article. What does srussia mean by "the shift" which is in the last sentance? She created a controversial shift while head of darpa? Those exotic programs which are mentioned in the article ought to take a lot longer than 3 years to manifest, so weren't they already in motion when she took over?
Seriously she reminds me of Nina Sharp in Fringe.
lucm, indeed.
Hopefully she can foster the same environment of innovation at Google that she did at DARPA.
What did she get the government to do for Google while at DARPA which secured her this cushy position?
I firmly believe that no government officer above a certain position, or elected representative, should be able to work in the private sector for at least ten years after they have left government. I couldn't give a fuck if this means we have to increase their salaries or be seen as paying them to do nothing. It would be so much better than the current revolving door situation.
It is hard to imagine just how much this embraces the opposite of "Don't be evil". Bringing in someone from DARPA is pretty much a conduit to everything that is wrong and broken about American political life right now.
Dog is my co-pilot.
Great, now Google with have Metal Gears!
At that point, President Obama picked up a chair and threw it across the Oval Office, hitting a table. Obama then said: “F**king Eric Schmidt is a f**king pussy. I’m going to f**king bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I’m going to f**king kill Google.”
Google is perhaps running in a quasi military mad scientist model now.
The Federal Inspector General is investigating her for funneling money into favored contractors, including a company she founded and still largely owns.
Internally to DoD, what Wired sees as "good politics" in closer coordination with the pentagon, others see as "misallocation of funds".
Under her tenure the politicization of DARPA has accelerated. Lobbying firms are on DARPA payroll to determine program directions and make funding decisions. Program managers are being selected from among Congressional staffers rather than academia or military labs.
DARPA is only a small part of DoD R&D. After enough of us have had conversations with internal auditors about possibly going to jail over the things we've done under her direction, she made a "choice" to leave... Sure.
Regina was a shining example of an Obama political appointee. The linked article does not tell the story behind the story. She was accused of a conflict of interest when she sent DARPA business a company run by a "friend". She is stepping down to avoid a scandal.
Skynet wasnt advertiser supported!
Advanced Vaporisation, now brought to you by....
Just bought a new quantum computer, but I'm uncertain how it works.
First they 'investigate' you with all your colleagues. Then they reduce your security clearance. Next is work on lots of committees that actually do nothing. Finally they farm you out to a huge government contractor with a big title and nothing of any consequence to do. If you don't get the message then, they are quite prepared to dig up Senator Joseph McCarthy to look into your political allegiances. Resistance is futile!
On the public-private sector merry-go-round that is in no way a conduit for corruption nor is it undermining our faith in our government.
Now Google has one of the security codes to launch Metal Gear!
In other breaking news: some other agency doesn't confirm or deny a lucrative cooperation with Google. Why bother?