The Pentagon's Brain (54 page)

1 nuclear physicist John Poindexter: Dr. John Poindexter, DARPA biography.

2 struck with an idea: Harris, 144.

3 Poindexter began teaching himself: Ibid., 83.

4 revitalize the Genoa program: Interview with Bob Popp, June 2014.

5 “That’s funny”: Quotes are from Harris, 144.

6 roughly $42 million: Ibid., 145.

7 existing Genoa program: Presentation by Brian Sharkey, Deputy Director of ISO, Total Information Awareness, DARPATech 99 conference, transcript and briefing slides.

8 let go of profit participation: Harris, 147.

9 opening slide: Ibid., 150.

10 system of systems: Popp and Yen, 409; Dr. Robert Popp, DARPA’s Initiative on Countering Terrorism, TIA, Terrorism Information Awareness, Overview of TIA and IAO Programs, briefing slides.

11 Tether agreed: Interview with Bob Popp, June 2014; Harris, 150.

12 $145 million: Congressional Research Services, “Controversy About Level of Funding,” memo on funding for Total Information Awareness programs from Amy Belasco, consultant on the defense budget, Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Division, January 21, 2003 (hereafter Belasco memo).

13 “In our view”: Quotes are from interview with Bob Popp, June 2014.

14 multiple programs under the TIA umbrella: Information in this section is drawn from “Total Information Awareness Program (TIA). System Description Document (SDD).” Version 1.1, July 19, 2002.

15 EELD office: DARPA, Information Awareness Office, IAO Mission, briefing slides.

16 “techniques that allow us”: Quotes are from statements of Ted Senator, DARPATech 2002 conference, Anaheim, California.

17 “capture human activities”: Ibid.

18 Human Identification: Jonathan Phillips’s explanation of face recognition for SPIE Defense Security and Sensing Symposium can be viewed on YouTube.

19 “the war languages”: DARPA, IAO Mission briefing slides.

20 Red teaming: International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security, Madrid, March 8–11, 2005.

21
“collaborations”: Quotes are from statements by Tom Armour, DARPATech 2000 conference, Dallas, Texas.

22 find the snakes: Armour added, “The intelligence analyst will need to consult vast amounts of information, from both classified and open sources, to piece together enough evidence to understand their activities.” Armour, DARPATech 2000 conference, Dallas, Texas.

23 “artificial automaton”: Von Neumann, “The Computer and the Brain,” 74.

24 lunch in Rumsfeld’s office: Harris, 185.

25 at Fort Belvoir: Dr. Robert Popp, DARPA’s Initiative on Countering Terrorism, TIA, Terrorism Information Awareness, Overview of TIA and IAO Programs, briefing slides.

26 a whooshing sound: Glenn Greenwald, “Inside the Mind of NSA Chief Gen. Keith Alexander,”
Guardian,
September 15, 2013.

27 “initial TIA experiment”: Quotes are from interview with Bob Popp; see also Harris, 187.

28 “a vast electronic dragnet”: John Markoff, “Pentagon Plans a Computer System That Would Peek at Personal Data of Americans,”
New York Times,
November 9, 2002.

29 Safire wrote: William Safire, “You Are a Suspect,”
New York Times,
November 14, 2002.

30 285 stories: Robert L. Popp and John Yen, 409.

31 true numbers: Belasco memo; DefenseNet transfers from Project ST-28 in FY2002 to Project ST-11 in 2003.

32 No interviews: Interview with Bob Popp, June 2014.

33 “I don’t know much about it”: U.S. Department of Defense, news transcript, “Secretary Rumsfeld Media Availability en Route to Chile,” November 18, 2002.

34 offered his resignation: John M. Poindexter to Anthony Tether, director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, August 12, 2003.

35 “terminated immediately”:
Congressional Record,
September 24, 2003 (House), H8500-H8550 Joint Explanatory Statement, Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA).

36 Anonymous Entity Resolution: Ericson and Haggerty, 180; Steve Mollman, “Betting on Private Data Search,”
Wired,
March 5, 2003.

37 Combat Zones That See: DARPA Solicitation number SN03-13, Pre-Solicitation Notice: Combat Zones That See (CTS), March 25, 2003.

38 “to challenge the status quo”:
Defense Industry Daily,
August 1, 2008.

39 came up with: Vice Admiral Arthur K. Cebrowski and John H. Garstka, “Network Centric Warfare: Its Origins and Future,”
Proceedings,
124–139.
Cebrowski says he first heard the phrase at the U.S. Naval Institute Seminar and 123rd Annual Meeting, Annapolis, April 23, 1997.

40 the whole world: Remarks by Bill Mularie, director, Information Systems Office, DARPATech ’99 conference, briefing slides.

41 (C4ISR): Rumsfeld, 10.

42 internal documents: U.S. Department of Defense,
Report on Network Centric Warfare,
2001; Vice Admiral Arthur Cebrowski (retired), speech to Network Centric Warfare 2003 conference, January 2003.

43 “great moral seductiveness”: Cited in James Blaker, “Arthur K. Cebrowski: A Retrospective,”
Naval War College Review,
Spring 2006, Vol. 59, no. 2, 135.

44 “The speed”: Quotes are from “Transforming Warfare: An Interview with Adm. Arthur Cebrowski,”
Nova,
PBS, May 5, 2004.

1 “Mission Accomplished”: Remarks by the President from the USS
Abraham Lincoln,
White House Press Office, May 2003.

2 “I was a gunner”: Quotes are from interview with Jeremy Ridgley, May 25, 2014; Ridgley photographs.

3 “unexploded ordnance”: “Pfc. Jeremiah D. Smith, 25, OIF, 05/26/03,” Defense Department press release no. 376-03, May 28, 2003.

4 Defense Department official: David Rhode, “After the War: Resistance; Deadly Attacks on G.I.’s Rise; Generals Hope Troop Buildup Will Stop the Skirmishes,”
New York Times,
June 10, 2003.

5 “There’s more ammunition”: Abizaid, testimony before Congress, September 25, 2003.

6 greater than the number: Smith, 10.

7 soldiers killed by IEDs: Ibid.; John Diamond, “Small Weapons Prove the Real Threat in Iraq,”
USA Today,
September 29, 2003.

8 “classical guerrilla-style campaign”: Cited in Rick Atkinson, “Left of Boom: ‘The IED Problem is getting out of control. We’ve got to stop the bleeding,’”
Washington Post,
September 30, 2007.

9 “A new phenomenon”: Quotes are from interview with Brigadier General Andrew Smith (retired), June 2014.

10 CREW: Glenn Zorpette, “Countering IEDs,”
IEEE Spectrum,
August 29, 2008.

11 study report: Clay Wilson, “Network Centric Warfare: Background and Oversight Issues for Congress,” June 2, 2004.

12
“Warfare is all about”: U.S. Department of Defense,
Report on Network Centric Warfare,
2001; Vice Admiral Arthur Cebrowski (retired), speech to Network Centric Warfare 2003 conference, January 2003.

13 “Network-centric warfare”: “Transformation for Survival: Interview with Arthur K. Cebrowski, Director, Office of Force Transformation,”
Defense AT&L,
March–April 2004.

14 added four new slides: Office of Force Transformation, “Key Barriers to Transformation,” PowerPoint, 2002; “Meeting the Challenges of the New Competitive Landscape PowerPoint, 2004. See also Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary’s Forward, “Transformation Planning Guidance,” U.S. Department of Defense, April 2003.

15 “That speed of advance”: “Battle Plan Under Fire,”
PBS NewsHour,
May 4, 2004.

16 “culture-centric” solution: Major General Robert H. Scales Jr., U.S. Army (retired), “Culture-Centric Warfare,”
Proceedings,
October 2004.

17 “Knowledge of one’s enemy”: McFate, “Anthropology and Counterinsurgency: The Strange Story of Their Curious Relationship,”
Military Review,
March–April 2005, 24–38.

18 “Combat troops”: Meghan Scully,“‘Social Intel’ New Tool for U.S. Military,”
Defense News,
April 26, 2004.

19 bringing social scientists on board: Email correspondence with Montgomery McFate; interview with Bob Popp, June 2014.

20 “punk rock wild child”: Matthew B. Standard, “Montgomery McFate’s Mission: Can One Anthropologist Possibly Steer the Course in Iraq?”
San Francisco Examiner,
April 29, 2007.

21 received a call: Email correspondence with Montgomery McFate.

22 majority were left-leaning: Scott Jaschik, “Social Scientists Lean to the Left, Study Says,” Insidehighered.com, December 21, 2005.

23 “evangelical mission”: George Packer, “Knowing the Enemy: Can social scientists redefine the ‘war on terror’?”
New Yorker,
December 18, 2006.

24 An entire generation: Williamson Murray and Robert H. Scales Jr.,
The Iraq War: A Military History
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003).

25 “The nature of war”: Major General Robert H. Scales Jr., U.S. Army (retired), “Culture-Centric Warfare,”
Proceedings,
October 2004, 32–36.

26 “When the U.S.”: McFate, “The Military Utility of Understanding Adversary Culture,”
Joint Force Quarterly,
issue 38, July 2005, 44-48.

27 “Soldiers and Marines”: Ibid.

28
“stability operations”: Dehghanpisheh and Thomas, “Scions of the Surge,”
Newsweek
, March 24, 2008.

29 “I do not want”: George Packer, “Knowing the Enemy: Can social scientists redefine the ‘war on terror’?”
New Yorker,
December 18, 2006.

30 “Understanding and empathy”: Robert Scales, “Clausewitz and World War IV,”
Armed Forces Journal,
July 1, 2006.

31 McFate wrote one of the chapters: Email correspondence with Montgomery McFate.

32 “What is Counterinsurgency?”:
Counterinsurgency, Field Manual
No. 3-24.

33 “the first time”: http://humanterrainsystem.army.mil.

1 “Combat Zones That See”: DARPA Solicitation number SN03-13, Pre-Solicitation Notice: Combat Zones That See (CTS), March 25, 2003.

2 “No technological challenges”: Robert Leheny, “DARPA’s Urban Operations Program,” presentation at DARPATech 2005, August 2005, with photographs.

3 “We need a network”: Tether, Statement to Congress, March 10, 2005, 11.

4 Congress had eliminated funding: U.S. Congress, H8500–H8550, Joint Explanatory Statement, Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA),
Congressional Record,
September 24, 2003.

5 “detect the clandestine production”: Tether, Statement to Congress, March 10, 2005, 11.

6 “a network of nonintrusive microsensors”: Leheny, “DARPA’s Urban Operations Program,” 38.

7 unclassified documents: Ehlschlaeger, “Understanding Megacities with the Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Intelligence Paradigm,” 50–53.

8 the HURT program: DARPA Information Exploitation Office (IXO) HURT Program Office, aerial vehicle platform documents; See also James Richardson, “Preparing Warfighters for the Urban Stage,” located in
DARPA: 50 Years of Bridging the Gap,
166–67.

9 “The [HURT] system”: Pagels quoted in Clarence A. Robinson, Jr., “Air Vehicles Deliver Warrior Data,”
Signal Magazine,
July 2007.

10 terrorists could sneak in:
DARPA: 50 Years of Bridging the Gap,
169; Glenn Zorpette, “Countering IEDs,”
IEEE Spectrum,
August 29, 2008.

11 DARPA’s goal: This information comes from Tether, Statement to Congress, 2003; “Combat Zones That See (CTS) Solicitation Number BAA03-15, March 25, 2003. See also Stephen Graham, “Surveillance, Urbanization, and the U.S. ‘Revolution in Military Affairs,’” in David Lyon, ed.,
Theorizing Surveillance: The Panopticon and Beyond,
250–54.

12
every forty-eight minutes: Rick Atkinson, “Left of Boom: ‘You can’t armor your way out of this problem;’”
Washington Post,
October 2, 2007.

13 the “spider”: Noah Shachtman, “The Secret History of Iraq’s Invisible War,”
Wired,
June 14, 2011.

14 EFP: The first EFPs appeared on May 15, 2004, in Bara. DIA linked them to Hezbollah forces from 1997.

15 2,000 meters per second: Rick Atkinson, “Left of Boom: ‘You can’t armor your way out of this problem;’”
Washington Post,
October 2, 2007.

16 Hardwire HD: “Hardwire Receives DARPA Funding for Novel Armor Solutions,”
Business Wire,
August 21, 2006.

17 rip apart soldiers’ bodies: Tony Perry, “IED Wounds from Afghanistan ‘Unbelievable’ Trauma Docs Say,”
Los Angeles Times,
April 7, 2011.

18 JIEDDO: Interview with Brigadier General Andrew Smith (retired), June 2014.

19 “We were dealing with”: Quotes are from interviews with Craig Marsh, June 2014–March 2015.

20 Building 114: Interviews with Craig Marsh; Andrew E. Kramer, “Leaving Camp Victory in Iraq, the Very Name a Question Mark,”
New York Times,
November 10, 2011.

21 Combined Explosive Exploitation Cell: “CEXC: Introducing a New Concept in the Art of War,”
Armed Forces Journal,
June 7, 2007.

22 “Talon robots”: Quotes in this section are from DARPA, Distribution Statement A, “Unmanned Robots Systems: SBIR Technology Underpins Life-Saving Military Robots,” DARPA, Distribution Statement A, 2010, 1-7.

23 “Gordon the robot”: Ibid., 6–8; DARPA, “Unmanned Robotic Systems: Small Business Innovation Research,”
Featured Technology,
December 2010, 6.

24 Talon robots: Sargeant Lorie Jewell, “Armed Robots to March into Battle,”
Army News Service,
December 6, 2004.

25 “Whether it’s magic or scientific”: Rod Nordland, “Iraq Swears by a Bomb Detector U.S. Sees as Useless,”
New York Times,
November 3, 2009.

26 whistleblower revealed: Adam Higginbotham, “In Iraq, the Bomb-Detecting Device That Didn’t Work, Except to Make Money,”
Bloomberg Businessweek,
July 11, 2013.

27 more than two an hour: Rick Atkinson, “Left of Boom: ‘If you don’t go after the network, you’re never going to stop these guys. Never,’”
Washington Post,
October 3, 2007.

28
$15 billion: Glenn Zorpette, “Countering IEDs,”
IEEE Spectrum,
August 29, 2008.

29 Tether appeared: Tether, Statement to Congress, March 21, 2007.

30 “Shot. Two o’clock”: Raytheon news release, BBN Technologies, Products and Services, Boomerang III.

31 CROSSHAIRS: DARPA, news release, “DARPA’s CROSSHAIRS Counter Shooter System,” October 5, 2010.

32 DARPA fielded fifty Radar Scopes: Quotes are from Tether, Statement to Congress, March 21, 2007; Donna Miles, “New Device Will Sense Through Concrete Walls,” Armed Forces Press Service, January 3, 2006.

33 HART: DARPA Heterogeneous Airborne Reconnaissance Team (HART), Case no. 11414, briefing slides. Dr. Michael A. Pagels, August 2008.

34 TIGR (Tactical Ground Reporting): Amy Walker, “TIGR allows Soldiers to ‘be there’ before they arrive,”
U.S. Army News,
October 13, 2009.

35 Congress was told: Leheny, Statement to Congress, May 20, 2009.

36 soldiers told: David Talbot, “A Technology Surges,”
MIT Technology Review,
February 2008.