Abstract :
When, last March 22, President Reagan called for a stepped-up effort to develop advanced weapons to defend against nuclear missiles, he was talking about programs the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) was pursuing. Two weeks later, when the Department of Defense disclosed a new attempt to build an advanced supercomputer to match a government-backed program in Japan, the spotlight was again on Darpa. Darpa, which is marking its 25th anniversary this year, funds the initial research on high-risk projects that other civilian, Government, and private research organizations tend to shun.
