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Annie Jacobsen

The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency Hardcover – September 22, 2015

by Annie Jacobsen (Author)

619 ratings

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A Pulitzer Prize Finalist and the definitive history of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, from the author of the New York Times bestseller Area 51.

No one has ever written the history of the Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military science R&D agency. In the first-ever history about the organization, New York Times bestselling author Annie Jacobsen draws on inside sources, exclusive interviews, private documents, and declassified memos to paint a picture of DARPA, or "the Pentagon's brain," from its Cold War inception in 1958 to the present.

This is the book on DARPA -- a compelling narrative about this clandestine intersection of science and the American military and the often frightening results.

Print length

560 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Little, Brown and Company
Publication date

September 22, 2015
Dimensions

6.5 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

0316371769
ISBN-13

978-0316371766
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of September 2015: If you’re searching for an obtuse, synapse-dulling book on DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and its mission to create breakthrough military technologies, look elsewhere. Jacobsen’s nimble account of the ultra-secret R&D arm of the Defense Department engagingly details the shrouded history of the organization, starting with its genesis during the nuclear arms race and covering its efforts up through today. In her final section, Jacobsen offers solid but chilling conjectures on what covert programs DARPA is focused on now. Jacobsen (a journalist and the author of Operation Paperclip and Area 51) strikes a balance between lauding the technology leaps driven by DARPA and pointing out that the ultimate goal is to create wartime tools to guarantee U.S. dominance. DARPA’s successes include lighter machine guns (developed for slighter-bodied soldiers during the Vietnamese war and now standard U.S. issue), the Internet, GPS, and drones. Says Jacobsen, “DARPA creates, DARPA dominates, and when sent to the battlefield, DARPA destroys.” But, Jacobsen also asks, “what if some of these ‘dramatic new capabilities’ are not such a great idea?”

Hawks will find plenty of meat in here to fuel their arguments for the value of top-secret U.S. military programs. At the same time, doves will be well bolstered to pose uncomfortable questions about the worthiness of such activities in a free country. Thoughtful and nuanced, The Pentagon’s Brain will ask you to use your brain as well.--Adrian Liang

Review

Pulitzer Prize Finalist in History

One of The Washington Post's Notable Nonfiction Books of 2015

One of The Boston Globe's Best Books of 2015

One of Amazon's Top 100 Books of 2015

"A brilliantly researched account of a small but powerful secret government agency whose military research profoundly affects world affairs."―The Pulitzer Prize Committee

"Filled with the intrigue and high stakes of a spy novel, Jacobsen's history of DARPA is as much a fascinating testament to human ingenuity as it is a paean to endless industrial warfare and the bureaucracy of the military-industrial complex."

―Kirkus Reviews

"A fascinating and unsettling portrait of the secretive U.S. government agency....Jacobsen walks a fine line in telling the story of the agency and its innovations without coming across as a cheerleader or a critic, or letting the narrative devolve into a salacious tell-all. Jacobsen's ability to objectively tell the story of DARPA, not to mention its murky past, is truly remarkable, making for a terrifically well-crafted treatise on the agency most Americans know next to nothing about."
―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Jacobsen offers a definitive history of the clandestine agency.... She explores the implications of DARPA work on technology that will not be widely known to the public for generations but will certainly impact national security and concepts of war."

―Vanessa Bush, Booklist (starred review)

"Jacobsen's account will serve as the model for histories of military research and development and is likely to lead to more works and articles about DARPA.... Engrossing, conversation-starting read..."

―Library Journal

"Annie Jacobsen's considerable talents as an investigative journalist prove indispensable in uncovering the remarkable history of one of America's most powerful and clandestine military research agencies. And she is a great storyteller, making the tantalizing tale of The Pentagon's Brain -- from the depths of the Cold War to present day -- come alive on every page."―Gerald Posner, author of God's Bankers

"A fascinating and sometimes uneasy exploration of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency...."

―Dina Temple-Raston, The Washington Post

"In this fascinating and terrifying account, Annie Jacobsen regales us with the stories behind the agency's 'consequential and sometimes Orwellian' innovations, including autonomous weapons systems--killer robots that could decide, without human intervention, who lives and who dies."

―Bryan Schatz, Mother Jones

"Annie Jacobsen has a gift for unearthing secret, long-buried information."

―Mary Ann Gwinn, Seattle Times

"An exciting read that asks an important question: what is the risk of allowing lethal technologies to be developed in secret?"

―Ann Finkbeiner, Nature

Publisher : Little, Brown and Company; 1st Edition (September 22, 2015)
Language : English
Hardcover : 560 pages
ISBN-10 : 0316371769
ISBN-13 : 978-0316371766
Item Weight : 1.8 pounds
Dimensions : 6.5 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #939,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #47 in Engineering Research
- #170 in Biological & Chemical Warfare History (Books)
- #687 in Nuclear Weapons & Warfare History (Books)

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619 ratings

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Fullmetalbebop

Not good or evil. Somewhere in between

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2019

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I was very engaged when the book went into world war 2 history and some interesting concepts developed during Vietnam. The only issue I had was the tone. It is alarming, some of the things dealing with the military industrial complex. At the same time, we aren’t speaking Japanese or German in the us and saluting the fuhrer or bowing to the emperor thanks to innovations by this complex. Should they be monitored? Absolutely. Are they evil incarnate? No. She did a good job of making clear that we should arm ourselves with knowledge of their actions to stay ahead. The problem with that is what do you do about it once you know. Great history/science read, but come to your own conclusions. DARPA isn’t the devil, and they aren’t saints, they’re just an organization.

24 people found this helpful

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A brilliant and much-needed example of investigative journalism

Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2015

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If you’re familiar with the history of the computer industry, you’re no doubt aware that the Internet was conceived and developed by a U.S. Government agency called DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).

Chances are that you don’t know that DARPA also invented drones both big and tiny, Agent Orange, the M16 Assault Rifle, sophisticated sensor technology, the F117A stealth fighter jet, MIRVs (Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicles) that carry nuclear weapons, the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, robotic soldiers — and a slew of other military weapons systems, most of them still top secret.

Remember Total Information Awareness, the predecessor to the massive data collection programs of the NSA that Edward Snowden revealed? DARPA was responsible for that one, too. The agency’s work also gave birth to less lethal technologies, including “real-time video processing, noise reduction, image enhancement, and data compression.” It’s difficult to exaggerate the impact of this little-known agency.

All this comes to light in the pages of journalist Annie Jacobsen’s The Pentagon’s Brain, the first full-length study of America’s secretive military research agency.
DARPA’s mission

DARPA was created by President Dwight D. Eisenhower over the strenuous objections of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and just about everyone else in the military establishment. “Its mission is to create revolutions in military science and to maintain technological dominance over the rest of the world.” No doubt there are many in the military and in conservative circles who are thrilled at how successful the agency has been in fulfilling its mission, their original unhappiness notwithstanding. The rest of us should be scared. Very scared.

With its origins in the debates over the use of the hydrogen bomb and the policy of Mutual Assured Destruction in the 1950s, DARPA’s R&D programs have consistently been found on the far frontiers of military science. Among its least savory efforts (among a great many) were a project in 1958 to shield the United States from Soviet attack by exploding nuclear weapons in the upper atmosphere and the use of the herbicide Agent Orange to defoliate the South Vietnamese forests sheltering Vietcong troops. DARPA scientists actually did detonate nuclear weapons in the atmosphere — and you know the story of Agent Orange.
Unpleasant surprises

The Pentagon’s Brain was the product of exhaustive research. Much of the book is based on formerly classified materials that have only lately come to light. Author Annie Jacobsen turned up startling new information in the course of her research. For example, she learned that the world came even closer to Armageddon during the Cuban Missile Crisis than anyone outside top government and military circles was aware: “four nuclear weapons were detonated in space” during those tense days, when the U.S. and the Soviet Union stood on the brink of total nuclear war. (Two of those were the aforementioned bombs sired by DARPA.)

Though born in the grimmest days of the Cold War, DARPA’s work for more than a decade focused on the war in Vietnam. (The agency was originally called just ARPA until Congress got into the act.) That conflict led to the development of the M16 rifle and many other, less celebrated weapons of war. But much of the work involved the social sciences, subcontracted to the RAND Corporation, a name that will be familiar to anyone who lived through those times. ARPA contractors working for RAND helped to justify the notorious Strategic Hamlets program in which South Vietnamese peasants were forcibly removed from their villages and their lands and moved into heavily guarded new settlements. In fairness, the first round of ARPA social scientists found that the Strategic Hamlets were alienating peasants, but their findings were simply rejected by Pentagon leaders and more amenable researchers hired. Similarly, “the agency did not want to hear that the Vietcong could not be defeated. [Administrators] took the position that [the social scientists] had gone off the rails.”
The electronic battlefield

The high profile of many DARPA inventions notwithstanding, what may be its most significant creation was a “system of systems” that is known today as the electronic battlefield. Jacobsen calls it “the most revolutionary piece of military technology of the twentieth century, after the hydrogen bomb.” This concept encompasses the use of remotely piloted attack drones and technology that enhances the ability of individual soldiers. Ultimately, DARPA research is expected to extend the concept into “transhumanism — the notion that man can and will alter the human condition fundamentally by augmenting humans with machines and other means.” One such effort is the DARPA exoskeleton, which bears an uncanny resemblance to The Terminator and Robocop. Another is an effort to “allow future ‘soldiers [to] communicate by thought alone.”

The Pentagon’s Brain is crammed with chilling examples of the brave new world envisioned by DARPA scientists. I would like to think that every member of Congress would read this book — and then take a much more careful look at funding for the Pentagon. Fat chance, eh?
About the author

Annie Jacobsen is the author of three previous nonfiction books about the Pentagon. One relates the story of Operation Paperclip that brought Werner von Braun and other Nazi scientists to the U.S. following World War II. Another is a history of Area 51, which may be the best known and most notorious American military base in existence.

73 people found this helpful

Helpful

Ranger Book Reviews

An instant classic of investigative research; a definitive history and new standard reference work on DARPA

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2017

Verified Purchase

The Pentagon's Brain is investigative reporter Annie Jacobsen's masterpiece, a brilliant tour-de-force that led to her being a 2016 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. It is the history of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon's military and technology think tank that has been helping the US maintain military dominance on the battlefield since the post-WWII glory days of nuclear weapons development. Thoroughly researched, yet eminently readable, Jacobsen writes history with the pacing and character development of a suspense thriller. You won't soon forget the people or the places described in this book (which is the key to compelling history). The subtitle, "An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency" lives up to the reader's expectations. The truth is, no author has ever tackled DARPA quite like this. Building from research in her previous books as well as her past careers as an LA Times Magazine historical reporter and a PJMedia investigative reporter, Jacobsen covers what is for her familiar ground. She follows it up with impeccable research and then brings together all the seemingly disjointed pieces into a cognitive whole. The effect is a book that is as thorough as it is fascinating. Will better books about DARPA be written in the future? Undoubtedly, but only because future journalists will have Jacobsen to thank for showing them the way. Jacobsen writes with the puritan objectivity that sometimes gets her in trouble with readers and subjects that have strong biases but it works well in this book. Some readers may disagree with some of her conclusions (her battle of Mogadishu assessment misses the mark). But it's nearly impossible for an outsider to thoroughly capture all of the right stuff when researching classified history. And she closes the book with her signature personal appearance in the last chapter. Because after all, good writers not only write history, they sometimes become a part of it. Highly recommended. Especially for those interested in Cold War history, intelligence operations, technology, US government secret programs, government conspiracy, futurism, research and development, military affairs, and scientific innovations. Read this book.

24 people found this helpful

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GiGi

I loved this book

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

I loved this book. I purchased it in KIndle form and then recently purchased the hard copy to reread with notes.
The book gives you a history of the Pentagon, inception of alphabet agencies of the government and the origins of psychological warfare as well as past and some contemporary research into weaponry. The portion on the Vietnam war was very enlightening.
I recommend this book as well as her Area 51 book.

12 people found this helpful

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M. Tavares

Military Technology

Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2018

Verified Purchase

A very good book for those people interested in scientific research, development and military applications of the new systems. A couple of systems such as the AR 15/M-16 rifle, drone aircraft, night vision goggles, and robotics are in use today and have been updated since the book was written. I highly recommend the book.

13 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

T. Burkard

Clueless

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 9, 2017

Verified Purchase

After a superb review in the London Reviw of Books, I thought this would provide some useful insights into how the arms industry soaks the American taxpayer--in other words, why Eisenhower warned us about the 'military-industrial complex'. Alas, it is about as objective and knowledgeable as a CND propaganda piece.

One area where I have a fair amount of inside knowledge is Reagan's 'Star Wars' programme; one of my old college friends played a key role in developing the laser technology which made it possible to distinguish dummy warheads in MIRVs from the real ones. Jacobsen's coverage of this was lamentable: it didn't even come close to understanding what was going on either from a technical or a political standpoint. She didn't even mention that Hughes Aircraft was the major contractor involved.

7 people found this helpful

BWB

Badly written. Plodding.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 26, 2018

Verified Purchase

Great idea: should have been a great book. In fact was boring: badly written. Stopped about half-way through. This is is what gets Pulitzer Prize shortlisted?

2 people found this helpful

John A Coughlan

Intriguing, illuminating, and some of the facts revealed ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 17, 2017

Verified Purchase

Intriguing, illuminating, and some of the facts revealed infuriating. Some of the human-scale highlights were fascinating... such as Rip Jacobs etc. Thoroughly interesting book and writing in the light of history, present and future.

3 people found this helpful

Panda

DARPA Revealed!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2021

Verified Purchase

I like this ebook, it exposes the goings on at DARPA, some of their most closely guarded secrets. Recommended!

coached88

Great

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2016

Verified Purchase

There is a lot of detail and reading regarding the large amounts of areas covered . The author is awesome and a Bettie ! Sometimes she goes into too much detail on areas which can be skimmed over in a less repetitive way !!

One person found this helpful

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