Happy 50th Anniversary, DARPA

You may have missed the celebration this week, but 50 years ago then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in response to Russia's surprise launch of the first man-made satellite, Sputnik. At the time, President Eisenhower's guidance was clear: Find and quickly develop advanced technologies for the Armed Forces so that the United States would never again suffer a technological surprise from another nation.

While a Russian threat is not prevalent today, DARPA continues its work with advanced technologies and systems that give advantages to the U.S. military, according to the American Forces Press Service.

When first formed, DARPA made no reference to "defense" in its name, focusing instead on accelerating the development of the space program. DARPA concentrated on space projects and developed the Saturn V rocket, which launched the United States' Apollo mission to the moon and created the first surveillance satellites for intelligence-gathering on Russia's missile program and activities.

In addition to its military work, DARPA formed an entity, ARPANET, which led to today's Internet. The system began by interconnecting computers at four university research centers in the 1960s. By 1972, the number of computers had grown to 37. Now there are more than 1 billion computers connected to the Internet, according to DARPA's Web site.

DARPA changed the face of warfare, as well, by developing stealth aircraft, advanced precision munitions and the Predator and Global Hawk unmanned aircraft.

A conference held last week at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., included presentations by Anthony J. Tether, the agency's director since 2001.

Do you think we are better off for having DARPA? I look forward to your thoughts.