Rohit Jain’s Reviews > The Imagineers of War: The Untold Story of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency That Changed the World > Status Update

This is one book I would be definitely wanting to read again!

After quitting Google ATAP, Regina E Dugan joined Facebook Building 8, which she was asked to lead. After almost a year, she decided to quit Facebook too, to establish & lead her endeavor. What she does now is unknown and quite surreptitious.

Nothing big about Regina E Dugan serving as director for only 3 years, I later thought. She had served previously as a Program Manager, too. No big deal! But later on, I noticed that she quit Google ATAP, too, and not long after she quit, Google announced that it will discontinue Project Ara. (A sister project from ATAP - Project Tango, was also discontinued later). Made me wonder if she could not lead ATAP properly.

Obviously, I was thinking highly of Regina E Dugan for being an accomplished Engineer and as a Tech innovator. But even back then, given the easily impressionable person that I was, I was smart enough to figure out some discrepancies in her career moves, and that too only after reading Wikipedia page. She served as Director of DARPA for only about 3 years, whereas normally directors finish a tenure of 5 years.

If my memory serves correctly, I read about Regina E Ducan in 2013, when Project Ara was making its way into the news of technophile pubs like Wired et al. I went through her Wikipedia as well and impressed to know that she carries PhD in Mechanical Engg from one of the finest edu institutions. Furthermore, I had a gist of her thesis which appeared quite groundbreaking to me.

I have reached the epilogue, and the book has been a THRILL to read. Having just finished reading the part where Regina E Dugan moves on from DARPA to join Google's ATAP (Advanced Technology and Projects, the group that was the fountainhead of Project Ara), it makes me wonder if Ms Regina has exhibited astute leadership qualities.

If my memory serves correctly, I read about her in 2013, when Project Ara was in news

Sharon Weinberger definitely has a knack at story telling. I would place her among the likes of Walter Isaacson

Even though I am aware of most of the intricate details of how it all began, like Have Blue, Hopeless Diamond, unsung Russian scientist Pter Ufimtsev’s paper “Method of Edge Waves in the Physical Theory of Diffraction”, the F117 Nighthawk et al., it was an interesting and indulging retelling of one of the most innovative tech, and the management process that made it all happen.

I have finally reached the part where real action begins viz. Stealth revolution, or Low Observables in Engineering terms.

Started chapter 13 - The Bunny, the Witch and the War Room. Finally excited, coz from here onwards the writers gonna elaborate on how JCR Licklider's vision of Man Machine symbiosis bore fruition, and how ARPAnet first made its transmission based on packet switched network at Stanford Research Institute.