The Imagineers of War: The Untold Story of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency That Changed the World on March 21, 2017 at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

I received a March 17, 2017 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars notice (via email) about this upcoming event,

The Imagineers of War: The Untold Story of DARPA [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency], the Pentagon Agency That Changed the World

There will be a webcast of this event

In The Imagineers of War, Weinberger gives us a definitive history of the agency that has quietly shaped war and technology for nearly 60 years. Founded in 1958 in response to the launch of Sputnik, DARPA’s original mission was to create “the unimagined weapons of the future.” Over the decades, DARPA has been responsible for countless inventions and technologies that extend well beyond military technology.

Weinberger has interviewed more than one hundred former Pentagon officials and scientists involved in DARPA’s projects—many of whom have never spoken publicly about their work with the agency—and pored over countless declassified records from archives around the country, documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, and exclusive materials provided by sources. The Imagineers of War is a compelling and groundbreaking history in which science, technology, and politics collide.

Speakers


  • Sharon Weinberger

    Global Fellow
    Author, Imagineers of War, National Security Editor at The Intercept and former Wilson Center Fellow

  • Richard Whittle

    Global Fellow
    Author, Predator: The Secret Origins of the Drone Revolution and Wilson Center Global Fellow

The logistics:

6th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center

I first heard about DARPA in reference to the internet. A developer I was working with noted that ARPA (DARPA’s predecessor agency) was instrumental in the development of the internet.

You can register for the event here. Should you be interested in the webcast, you can check this page.

As a point of interest, the Wilson Center (also known as the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars) is one of the independent agencies slated to be defunded in the 2017 US budget as proposed by President Donald Trump according to a March 16, 2017 article by Elaine Godfrey for The Atlantic.

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