4 ms·

What does this mean for DARPA / the state of DARPA? I just searched and see that Walker was head of DARPA for about 2 years, which seems like a short time. Pre

by dpflan 7y ago

What does this mean for DARPA / the state of DARPA? I just searched and see that Walker was head of DARPA for about 2 years, which seems like a short time. Previous heads' tenures: 1. A. Prabhakar: ~5 years 2. R. Dugan: ~3 years 3. A. Tether: ~8 years

ghostcluster 7y ago
compare that to the heads of other government agencies and the so-called revolving door https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/top.php?display=I https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/top.php?display=I
- dpflan 7y ago
  Are you saying that this is a longer tenure than other industries? I see in the link you shared that "Internet" has 387 people profiled and a high percentage 78.0% (which I don't quite understand, the page seems to be lacking information.)
  - ghostcluster 7y ago
    I haven't dug into the data that deeply but my hunch is this is probably somewhere in the broadly average range of the distribution Just for example: > The most prominent example of the Comcast/FCC revolving door is former FCC commissioner and current Comcast lobbyist Meredith Baker. > Baker, whose views tended to side with the industry even before she went to the FCC, was appointed to to her FCC position in July 2009 and stayed there for nearly two years, cutting her four-year term short in June 2011 to move to Comcast as its senior vice president of government affairs. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/04/the-comcast-fcc-revolving-door/ https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/04/the-comcast-fcc-rev...
    - dpflan 7y ago
      (Check out this comment by JonathonW: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21892818 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21892818)
freyr 7y ago
I don’t know about the head role specifically, but DARPA generally has short tenures by design. Each DARPA project lasts two years (with possibility of extension). So a typical DARPA program manager will work in that role for just a couple years before returning to industry.
JonathonW 7y ago
Walker had been acting director of DARPA since January 2017 (eventually formally becoming director in November 2017), so, when his resignation takes effect, he'll have been in the position for three years-- actually a few months longer than Dugan. Historically, Prabhakar and Tether's long tenures in the position are unusual [1], with most directors staying anywhere from one to four years. This mirrors how DARPA works at the lower levels: the revolving door for DARPA Program Managers (and their programs) is very much real and 100% intentional: DARPA PMs are typically recruited from academia or industry, serve 3-5 year terms and then return to work in academia or industry. This keeps fresh talent and fresh ideas moving through the organization, and provides a sense of urgency and time-sensitivity to their work (successful projects get transitioned either commercially or into longer-term programs under other branches of the military-- they don't languish forever within DARPA by design). [1] https://www.darpa.mil/attachments/DARPA_Directors_Sheet-web.pdf https://www.darpa.mil/attachments/DARPA_Directors_Sheet-web....
- dpflan 7y ago
  Thank you for clarifying! This approach makes sense.
- cushychicken 7y ago
  Seems like a smart way to do business. (Or, research, as it were.) Too many orgs end up resting on their laurels - either getting too focused on research and not executing on technical advantages generated by that research, or too focused on execution and not enough into research.

by dpflan 7y ago

ghostcluster 7y ago

compare that to the heads of other government agencies and the so-called revolving door https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/top.php?display=I https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/top.php?display=I

dpflan 7y ago
Are you saying that this is a longer tenure than other industries? I see in the link you shared that "Internet" has 387 people profiled and a high percentage 78.0% (which I don't quite understand, the page seems to be lacking information.)
- ghostcluster 7y ago
  I haven't dug into the data that deeply but my hunch is this is probably somewhere in the broadly average range of the distribution Just for example: > The most prominent example of the Comcast/FCC revolving door is former FCC commissioner and current Comcast lobbyist Meredith Baker. > Baker, whose views tended to side with the industry even before she went to the FCC, was appointed to to her FCC position in July 2009 and stayed there for nearly two years, cutting her four-year term short in June 2011 to move to Comcast as its senior vice president of government affairs. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/04/the-comcast-fcc-revolving-door/ https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/04/the-comcast-fcc-rev...
  - dpflan 7y ago
    (Check out this comment by JonathonW: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21892818 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21892818)

freyr 7y ago

I don’t know about the head role specifically, but DARPA generally has short tenures by design. Each DARPA project lasts two years (with possibility of extension). So a typical DARPA program manager will work in that role for just a couple years before returning to industry.

JonathonW 7y ago

Walker had been acting director of DARPA since January 2017 (eventually formally becoming director in November 2017), so, when his resignation takes effect, he'll have been in the position for three years-- actually a few months longer than Dugan. Historically, Prabhakar and Tether's long tenures in the position are unusual [1], with most directors staying anywhere from one to four years. This mirrors how DARPA works at the lower levels: the revolving door for DARPA Program Managers (and their programs) is very much real and 100% intentional: DARPA PMs are typically recruited from academia or industry, serve 3-5 year terms and then return to work in academia or industry. This keeps fresh talent and fresh ideas moving through the organization, and provides a sense of urgency and time-sensitivity to their work (successful projects get transitioned either commercially or into longer-term programs under other branches of the military-- they don't languish forever within DARPA by design). [1] https://www.darpa.mil/attachments/DARPA_Directors_Sheet-web.pdf https://www.darpa.mil/attachments/DARPA_Directors_Sheet-web....

dpflan 7y ago
Thank you for clarifying! This approach makes sense.
cushychicken 7y ago
Seems like a smart way to do business. (Or, research, as it were.) Too many orgs end up resting on their laurels - either getting too focused on research and not executing on technical advantages generated by that research, or too focused on execution and not enough into research.