Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
DARPA funds the high-risk research the services will not fund for themselves. Created in 1958 in the wake of Sputnik, it runs on a deliberately unusual model: term-limited program managers, no laboratories of its own, and a mandate to pursue transformative capability rather than incremental improvement. Stealth, GPS, and the internet all trace back to it.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | DoD Agency |
| Headquarters | Arlington, VA |
Mission
Creates breakthrough technologies and capabilities for national security. High-risk, high-reward research.
DARPA is a Defense Agency rather than a military department, established by the Secretary of Defense under 10 U.S.C. § 191 and supervised by an Office of the Secretary of Defense official under 10 U.S.C. § 192, with its Director separately named in 10 U.S.C. §§ 4021 and 4022 as a holder of research and prototype other transaction authority. No section of Title 10 establishes the agency by name, a placement mapped at Title_10_Structure.
Key Subordinate Organizations
- DSO
- I2O
- MTO
- STO
- TTO
- BTO