Based on exclusive interviews with senior Pentagon officials and previously unseen documents, this is the definitive history of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-the most authoritative account of the Pentagon agency that has quietly shaped war and technology for nearly sixty years.
SHARON WEINBERGER is the national security editor at The Intercept and the author of Imaginary Weapons- A Journey Through the Pentagon's Scientific Underworld. She is currently a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She has also held fellowships at MIT's Knight Science Journalism program, the International Reporting Program at Johns Hopkins Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, and Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. She has written on military science and technology for Nature, BBC, Discover, Slate, Wired, and The Washington Post, among others.
"Excellent... A warning worth heeding... Weinberger...has cracked
much of the secrecy that surrounds DARPA. [She] is especially deft
in tracing how drones went from their early days in spotting and
tracking Viet Cong fighters in the jungle to today, where they are
part of the foundation of modern warfare."
--Ray Locker, USA Today
"Groundbreaking.... Provides a glimpse into the history of
war itself through the lens of an agency that bills itself as
trying to 'prevent and create surprise.'.... The best kind of
airport thriller."
--The New Scientist "Deeply researched and briskly
paced."
--Fred Kaplan, the New York Times Book Review "[A] defining
behind-the-scenes look at the confluence of defense politics and
technological prowess. Exploring silly schemes as well as sensible
ideas, distinguished military science and technology expert
Weinberger profiles the crusaders who thought outside the box in
service to their country and their own limitless creativity."
--Carol Haggas, Booklist
"Her account is critical but not mocking...a well-researched
contribution to the history of U.S. military technology."
--Lawrence D. Freedman, Foreign Affairs
"They are the wizards of war, the faceless scientists who fight the
battles of the future in lab coats instead of body armor, turning
insects into remote control cyborgs and designing warships without
crews. In her new book, Sharon Weinberger has placed one of the
government's most secret laboratories, DARPA, under an electron
microscope and discovered a world far beyond anyone's
imagination."
--James Bamford, bestselling author of The Shadow Factory:
The Ultra-Secret NSA, from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on
America. "From the Internet of today to the robots of
tomorrow, DARPA has shaped not just the technology of war, but our
day to day lives. Sharon Weinberger's The Imagineers of War lays
out its untold history in an easy and informative read, along the
way, reshaping the way you will look at events that range from the
Vietnam War to the War on Terror."
--P.W. Singer, author of Ghost Fleet and Wired for War "[A]
fascinating and absorbing history... Weinberger's account, based on
extensive and meticulous research, reveals surprising twists in the
recent history of the age-old entanglement between knowledge and
power."
--David Kaiser, Nature Research "A deep organizational
history rather than a technological chronicle. [Weinberger] scours
reams of archival material and interviews former
officials...revealing a highly secretive organization with a
fittingly mixed legacy."
--Publishers
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