RAND's role in the Vietnam War is widely derided on many grounds, from the highly unethical behavior exposed in the Pentagon Papers to technical incompetence in

RAND's role in the Vietnam War is widely derided on many grounds, from the highly unethical behavior exposed in the Pentagon Papers to technical incompetence in programs like Igloo White, the 'electronic fence' that was supposed to keep the NVA from infiltrating weapons, soldiers and supplies into South Vietnam. So maybe they were destroyed by largesse of the Vietnam War government contracting programs? Eisenhower's famous comments about the military industrial complex are well known, but the later bits of that speech are worth reading (and contrasting to a certain recent spectacle of ignominious incompetence): > "Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present — and is gravely to be regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite." > "It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system — ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society."