DARPA Director Leaves Pentagon For Google 70
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."
In more recent news... (Score:5, Funny)
What's revolutionary? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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"Quick... where do I sign!?!?"
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You shouldn't be waiting much longer [nytimes.com]
Re:What's revolutionary? (Score:5, Informative)
There are various places you can live on the axes of basic versus applied research, though. DARPA traditionally spent a larger proportion of its budget on basic research than it does today; nowadays the vast majority of DARPA projects intend practical outcomes in the 3-5-year timeframe, often pairing universities doing near-term applied research with companies like Lockheed who're simultaneously implementing it, and expected to exercise considerable pressure on the university partners to focus their research on the near-term "deliverable". Traditionally, that was part of the DARPA budget, while blue-skies research, often in the form of block grants to e.g. a physics or CS research group, was another part of it. The relative percentages have shifted a lot towards the former.
Some of the justification is that the NSF is supposed to fund basic research, while DARPA is supposed to fund things of near-term practical use to the military. That makes some sense conceptually, but a shift in DARPA priorities without a reallocation in funds between the NSF and DARPA means that in effect science/engineering research funding is being cut in favor of something that leans closer to military R&D.
Congratualations... (Score:3, Funny)
you now work for the doubleclick of the 2000s.
Real Programmer (Score:2)
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I like how General Petraus went right from the military to the CIA, and the CIA director Leon Panetta went right into the military. The CIA and military commanders just traded places, and yet none of the mainstream media chose to point out that obvious fact.
Chilling times indeed, when the CIA and military are basically the same thing now.
-- Ethanol-fueled
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Huh? That was all over the news. Nobody cared because it's not a big deal. "Wait, you're trying to tell me that the head of a government organization doing national security work was deemed qualified to lead a different government agency doing national security work?"
Re:Incest all around. (Score:4, Interesting)
It's more that it's a sign of the times of how 'top-people' are expected to be 'top-people' wherever they are. Take a 'top-banker' and make him head of the post office and before you know it, you have an extremely profitable post office. Or something. What the exchange of Petraeus and Panetta say, is that people don't believe in earning your spurs in your own line of business anymore.
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In related news, Kevin Rose was also just hired by Google. What is the chocolate factory up to?????????
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... Yeah, DARPA, unlike DoJ, congress and the likes, is very important for big businesses.
Just think: Google already knows where you live - latitude, longitude and altitude, knows your circle of friends and your interests. Now couple that with "... shape-shifting robots, Mach 20 missiles ..." and you'd better be careful when bad mouthing Google.
Google probably pays more. (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
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So true.. let's go ahead and fix that quote for her:
She felt she could not say no to such an 'innovative company,' he adds. ... 'There is a time and a place for daydreaming while getting paid a ridiculous amount of money. But it is not at DARPA,'
There we go, much better.
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Do you have any idea how much a house cost in Silcon Valley? ... or maybe rent for an apartment?
You need millions. Tens of millions for a middle class lifestyle if you have kids and want to buy ... gulp an actual house more than 1600 sq feet in a nice area.
The econonics over there does not make sense and I still smell a huge bubble as only the top 5% can afford the median square foot home. If I had a family Google would have to pay me at least $1 million dollars to move as I do not want 85% of my income to
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The private sector always pays more. Companies pay through the nose for director of X federal agency. They're buying that person's rolodex so that they can secure future federal contracts. It's a very lucrative business. All sorts of white house staffers end up on the board of directors of defense contractors and what have you.
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Can someone explain what "the shift" means? (Score:1)
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?
Re:Can someone explain what "the shift" means? (Score:5, Interesting)
those exotic programs which are mentioned in the article ought to take a lot longer than 3 years to manifest
DARPA = Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Yes, DARPA's place is exploring wild ideas, pushing the envelope. But the current administration doesn't want to fund basic research if it's related to the military so they appointed her to merge her budget with routine acquisitions; that way it looks like research is still in the budget when it was actually cut.
It's just a coincidence that her leaving comes at a time when there's an investigation into some of those acquisitions that were no bid contracts to the company she founded and is still part owner of.
She is leaving Massive Dynamics? (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously she reminds me of Nina Sharp in Fringe.
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She looks a bit older than when I saw her in person back around '98 or so... Still not too bad looking.
Interesting to see a reference in TFA about her having close ties with one the DARPA contractors. Heard a comment that suggested she had a close tie with one of the contractors from the late 1990's.
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Keep in mind that I'm probably older than her and she looks better than a good number of women my age. She does remind me a bit of a former girlfriend. OTOH, she's obviously not likely to be appearing in the SI swimsuit issue...
From some of the other posts, it looks like the OIG investigation may have had more of a reason for her leaving than she is letting on to.
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If you're using porn stars and heavily made-up actresses as your basis for comparison, she's a frump at best. If you're using reality as your basis for comparison, she's at least adequately attractive for her age and the fact that she has more to do in her life than visit her personal trainer and her person esthetician. Maybe you should join us here in reality, which is a little less misogynistic.
so, the question is (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
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What did she get the government to do for Google while at DARPA
It appears to be the other way around. Google's top executives are major Obama supporters, fundraisers, and donors. Giving her a cushy job as an escape from her "controversial tenure" at DARPA is another favor to the administration.
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Embrace Evil (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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Yes, bringing in someone from the eeeeeevil research agency that basically gave us Internet and many more is definitely eeeeeeevil thing to do.
You google bashers need to work harder on your delivery, you lack impact.
Re:Embrace Evil (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Suuuuuuuuuuure it is. This is just the start of Google Defense. Its their plan to come up with a better, ad-supported military.
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I guess you're under the impression that DARPA is just about killer robots and Mach 20 self-guided missiles. Maybe you forgot DARPA tried to create the Total Information Awareness [wikipedia.org] program [Most TIA programs are still running under different names]. Maybe you didn't see Rugan's All Things D interview where she admitted to "working closely" with Google. What better way to make the DARPA-Google relationship more cozy than to install a DARPA director at Google's skunkworks arm?
Re:Embrace Evil - Skynet (Score:2)
Skynet wasnt advertiser supported!
Advanced Vaporisation, now brought to you by....
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What's broken about American political life is the Entitlements, that 2/3's of the budget that will sweep us all over the brink if it's growth isn't curtailed. DoD spending as a percentage of GDP has steadily gone down.
Obama's response (Score:5, Funny)
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.”
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lol.. for those of you who missed the joke above:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Lucovsky
Prior to her departure, Ms. Dugan set up a meeting with President Obama to discuss her plans. At some point in the conversation Obama said: “Just tell me it’s not Google.” She told him it was Google.
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.”
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Maybe this says more about Google than DARPA (Score:2)
Google is perhaps running in a quasi military mad scientist model now.
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She was never military, that's why she left. And given her reputation in DoD, Google won't be expecting any warm fuzzies from it.
the choice was probably get out or go to jail (Score:2, Informative)
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 staf
Totally Incompetent (Score:1)
'The Robert Oppenheimer manouvre'. (Score:1)