Posted 03.29.2012 at 3:10 pm
17 Comments
Dugan at TED
Generally when PopSci writes about DARPA we do so with enthusiasm, as the Pentagon’s far-out research arm tends to prod at the edges of what seems possible, even when it fails spectacularly. But when it fails institutionally, we have to acknowledge that even the storied Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is at a fundamental level a bureaucracy prone to the same problems and inefficiencies as any other bureaucracy. With that, point you toward a piece by the crew over at Danger Room, who today tell the tale of a seemingly huge DARPA fail.
Part of this story is straight political drama, involving a conflict of interest between outgoing DARPA director Regina Dugan’s roles as chief of the agency and shareholder in a defense tech firm that was granted loads of DARPA cash (her family runs the company, called RedX Defense). We’ve heard rumblings about this contractual conflict before, and indeed the Pentagon’s inspector general has launched an investigation into the matter to see if RedX was treated preferentially during Dugan’s tenure.
But more importantly, the story reveals that DARPA pursued--and that program heads were pressured to pursue--a bomb-detecting technology that allegedly failed time and time again. According to the Danger Room story, agency bosses were told repeatedly that the technology wasn’t panning out, but it kept receiving DoD funds anyhow. A conflict of interest is one thing, but wasting resources and time chasing failed bomb detector tech while American soldiers are daily being threatened by improvised explosive devices lies somewhere between unconscionable and criminal, if indeed the allegations are true.
We don’t really know all the details at this point, but the DoD’s inspector general is digging. In the meantime, click through to Danger Room for the rest of the story.
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It fits.
She looks like a praying mantis . . . she might actually be one.
Seems a bit DRAMAtic. She's going to Google and someone is butt hurt. I've a sneaking suspicion that it'll pan out to be hyped up trash but that realization will only come after it has wreaked havoc with Regina's situation.
@Contoria from Internet pioneer and founder of Gawker:
"there was hope that the unprecedented tool for global communication would lead to thoughtful sharing and discussion on its most popular sites. A decade and a half later, the very idea is laughable" yep pretty much.
Let me make this easy. See the cosmo, see the smallest details of anything and we humans know nothing. Now get over it and your opinion and life matter!
Everyone is important!
I'm stupid, your stupid, they are stupid! So what!
YOU ARE IMPORANT!!!!!!!!!!
YOU MATTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you are breathing, you have a right to make an opinion!
.............................
Science sees no further than what it can sense, i.e. facts.
Religion sees beyond the senses, i.e. faith.
Open your mind and see!
We humans are not judge for what we do or do not know.
We are judge for our actions and sincere intentions that lay in our hearts.
Be like a lion and roar!!!!
Do not allow others to suppress your voice, unless you wish to be a slave to their thinking!
It is your life, live it!
ROAR AND BLOG!
..........................................
See life in all its beautiful colors, and
from different perspectives too!
So what did they think was going to happen when they appointed an agency chief that was also a stockholder and member of the family that ran a company the agency did business with?
Ok, I just read the Danger Room article. At the very least, the standard for Financial Conflict of Interest at DARPA seems out of step with the rest of the Research community. Can you Peer Review when one of the proposals is from an entity you founded and still partially own or your BOSS founded? Yeah right - any NIH or NSF Peer Reviewers on here?
Even more important, what kind of danger is created for the soldiers in the field by the large number of false positives detected by the MAE-WEST gadget? Hopefully, this was not a fraudalent use of time and money that should have went to better tech.
Love, Peace & Soul
Yeah, well, the numbers of people peeling cash away from the U.S. and the actual amounts they are stealing could pay our national debt in 5 years. Programs that are a total scam, with devices that do not work as advertised, being paid out to an ineligible government worker???? Same news, different day, hour, minute, week, year.............And NOTHING will be done in any comprehensive way across the board, and NO ONE WILL GO TO PRISON for the lifetime's earnings of the Americans they are stealing from. Best criminal operation on Earth.
quasi44,
How do you get your sphincter to relax and dilate so well to pull so many odd ball facts out of your patinas? I can only imagine as you eat your beans and flatulence yourself later, you are really stealthy!
But as I read your commentary, I understand you had a need to vent.
.............................
Science sees no further than what it can sense, i.e. facts.
Religion sees beyond the senses, i.e. faith.
Open your mind and see!
"patinas", I kill me. I am so stupid. I meant petunias. LOL, snort!
@ Robot: Yeah, why aren't I a quiet sheep that says and does nothing while his nation is run into the ground...like you? Was that your question? Have you ever bothered actually looking at some of the grants and procurement contracts that are used as a vehicle to steal hundreds of billions per year from this nations' coffers? We get to watch our dreams of advance into space become debt for those not born, while people who provide absolutely nothing become the recipients of space by virtue of corrupted signatures, and owners of worlds. Vent? You have no idea.
quasi44
You know nothing about me to call me or anyone sheep. I do encourage you and all to speak out. I like to see more supportive facts in your mouth sputtering. I was in the military and I also work with the government now. I see daily waste, fraud, abuse and just laziness.This adds up to wasted dollars. So any many ways, I do get your venting.
There are an extreme amout of people that read POPSCI, but do not comment, for fear of the backlash or being ridiculed.
Still there are a large group of readers and maybe important people in our society, decision makers that can make a difference. People pay less attention if a speaker is just mouthing off. I am just asking you to give supportive facts, links and details as you vent. In general, I get where your comming from and I agree with you. There is just nothing you said, that a decision maker reader could act upon.
Just Take care!
.............................
Science sees no further than what it can sense, i.e. facts.
Religion sees beyond the senses, i.e. faith.
Open your mind and see!
@ Robot; So whaddya want me to do? List here all the things in every paper in the country that are proven fact but nothing is done about? I ain't got that kind of time. 'That a decision maker can act on?' You kidding me? The 'decision makers' don't make the decisions anymore; they just find the way to make it look good on paper so that they can continue to receive their graft and their orders concerning the next billion-dollar scam. As for a person like me, there isn't much I can do but carp about it; especially since we all seem to have slept through our 'government' making it impossible under our laws to actually prosecute a high ranking member of our system in open court. We can run out a weak one here or there if they are stupid and get caught out doing the nasty in a public restroom, but prosecute? Not with the 'patriot Act' unrepealed. And who'd have to vote themselves eligible for prosecution again? Yeah. Hell, it's been 20 plus years and we can't get em to stop taking protection money from Big Tobacco. And just so you know, I personally think that our whole government, including you, are pretty much bought and paid for. No? Where are the corruption charges, racketeering charges, malfeasance, coercion charges that have stemmed from what YOU and those around you have actually seen with your own eyes? Since the so-called Patriot Act went up there hasn't been ANY housecleaning done in the government. Even someone with their eyes shut tight knows that it's been way too long and way too much corruption. This woman and her personal scam are not even a drop in the bucket and EVERYONE ON EARTH knows it. She's a symptom and a communicable disease in the guise of a patriot.
quasi44,
In a family you have all these different personalities and ages and sexes. The family always has to be taken care of as a whole. While we courage one person of the family, we cannot forget the other person and their interest and needs.
We must nurture the wants and needs of all the family!
I feel our politicians have long ago stop see the whole of the country, USA, as a family. They arrive with their own political view and will completely sacrifice one segment, for their own self interest. They no longer love the country as a whole, a family. It’s all about control, self interest, money. Their lobbies, their power, their long terms have corrupted them.
I gladly pay twice my taxes next year to help get rid of the national debt and even get a loan to do it, if all the politicians in the Senate, Congress and House would be gone in 5 years. We need new blood! I love the USA and it's constitution. I do not wish to cause chaos and so the current written laws will have to stand. But we need a new group of non-career positions in the government. We need politicians that love the WHOLE OF THE USA AND SEE US ALL AS A FAMILY AND NONE WILL BE SACRIFICE FOR THEIR OWN POLITICAL SELFISH INTEREST!
I applaud your freedom of speech and an occasion paragraph can be nice too. Time it is time for me to move on. Take care.;)
.............................
Science sees no further than what it can sense, i.e. facts.
Religion sees beyond the senses, i.e. faith.
Open your mind and see!