The Pentagon’s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America’s Top-Secret Military Research Agency by Annie Jacobsen. Her narrative is certainly compelling, describing the historical launch of ARPA. The name of the organization first changed from its founding name to DARPA in March 1972. Yet it was changing back to ARPA in 1993, only to be reverted back in March 1996.
This book is addressing five categories of time: Cold War, Vietnam War, Operations other than war, War on Terror, and Future War. Researching newly de-classified materials make Annie’s book difficult to put down.
Cold war events beginning with Sputnik led to the formation of ARPA. Without over exaggerating, this group would be changing the world. There are so many brilliant physicists, scientists, and mathematicians, this book is literally a Who’s Who of brilliant minds called upon to drive the Pentagon’s mission.
Annie is a master storyteller. She clearly reveals Eisenhower’s administration was ill prepared for post war technology challenges.
Cold war hysteria in the State Department was certainly ripe after China fell to Mao in 1949. France would be defeated by an Asian guerrilla force in 1954. Certainly Sputnik only added to that hysteria in 1957.
With good reason, scientists expressed concerns over Castle Bravo, a 6 megaton bomb. However due to scientific miscalculations the bomb detonated at over 15 megatons. The force was over 1,000 times the power of Hiroshima’s Fat Man.
DARPA was front and center to the US war effort in Vietnam. Both with creating new weapons and introducing the new role of social science research. Joseph Zasloff led this effort for DARPA. His research is now in the public domain: Viet Cong Motivation and Morale Project Zasloff found the war failures actually revolved around the French failure to understand the Viet Cong. America would certainly stumble as well. France was driving the wrong social approach to the French Indochina War:
The French ordered the South Vietnamese unit to capture the communist soldiers, called Viet Minh, and bring them back to French Expeditionary Corps headquarters for interrogation. The French believed that the Viet Minh soldiers had information that could help them gain a strategic edge.
The ambush was a success but the mission was a failure. In an after-action report, Godel’s colleague Captain Nick Thorpe explained why. “The Vietnamese refused to bring back heads with bodies still attached to them,” Thorpe wrote. To Godel, the ramifications were profound. The French wanted the soldiers’ minds; the South Vietnamese brought them heads. French commanders wanted intelligence; South Vietnamese soldiers wanted revenge.
The way Godel saw it, the French colonialists were trying to fight the Viet Minh guerrillas according to colonial rules of war. But the South Vietnamese, who were receiving weapons and training from the French forces, were actually fighting a different kind of war, based on different rules. Guerrilla warfare was irrational. It was asymmetrical. It was about cutting off the enemy’s head to send a message back home.
When, in the spring of 1950, William Godel witnessed guerrilla warfare firsthand in Vietnam, it shifted his perspective on how the United States would need to fight future wars. Guerrilla warfare involved psychological warfare. To Godel, it was a necessary component for a win.
pp. 135-136.
DARPA’s social sciences would play an emerging role in determining the ‘hearts and minds’ campaign. Fascinating to see DARPA continuing to move social science this forward as revealed by Annie into the 21st century.
The Jasons, Eisenhower’s group of bright young physicists created in 1959 was lead by Marvin Goldberger. This is yet another amazing chapter. This was DARPA’s effort to outthink the Russians. Their 1962 summer retreat in Maine outlined the formation of particle beam weapons. There is no exaggeration that the idea of both Star Wars and SDI was invented created over 50 years ago by this talented group. For this purpose, Jasons were addressing classified problems that the Defense Department cannot solve.
Annie’s unique story of Allen Dulles’ son Marine Corps officer Lt. Allen Macy Dulles proves to be a stark example of elite privilege. While serving on the front lines in Korea, Dulles was severely wounded and permanently disabled from a mortar attack. At the same time, the extraordinary lengths his privilaged family enabled his recovery including access to leading physicians to provide groundbreaking care. Due to the extremely cruel head injury sustained, most officers would not have received such privilege treatments.
Yet, one cannot help but consider the personal impact this made upon his father Director of the CIA and his uncle US Secretary of State. Likewise did these events cause personal emotions to influence actions within the Eisenhower Administration? I recall Graham Martin, the US Ambassador to South Vietnam delayed evacuation of the US Embassy including key South Vietnamese personnel. On the contrary Graham refused to believe US intelligence briefings indicating North Vietnamese troops were preparing to overrun Saigon. Above all Graham’s nephew Lt. Glenn Mann died fighting near Chu Lai in 1965. Above all, losing a family member to war can certainly harden a determination that their child’s death was not in vain.
Finally, the most intriguing character of this book is William Godel. Above all, of all key DARPA leaders through the book, Godel has almost no public sources. His role at DARPA and the involvement in Vietnam of new technologies makes his absence somewhat unusual. Hence, he was convicted of embezzling $16,000.
In conclusion, Annie’s work is stunning. Certainly access to classified material of such a sensitive history would turn heads. Yet her skill writing this book should not be overlooked. As my last book for 2020, I could not have selected a better reading experience.
Talks at Google | An Uncensored History of DARPA
IntSpyMuseum | The Pentagon’s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA with Annie Jacobsen
World Affairs | Inside DARPA: The Pentagon’s Brain
Commonwealth Club of California | Inside The CIA’s Secret History