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The cover of The Pentagon’s Brain

The Pentagon’s Brain

Annie Jacobsen

How does DARPA, the secretive Pentagon agency charged with keeping America's technological edge over the world, choose and build the weapons of the future?

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At a glance

Author
Annie Jacobsen

Why read it

  • You will understand how DARPA works by hiring contractors and academics rather than doing the research itself
  • You will see how the Cold War and Vietnam drove military research into computing, psychological operations and electronic sensors
  • You will weigh a mission to maintain technological dominance over the rest of the world, carried out in secrecy

Who it is for

  • A reader curious about secret military research and its history
  • A student of technology policy and national security
  • A citizen who wants to know where defense money goes

Contents

  1. Welcome
  2. PROLOGUE
  3. PART I
  4. THE COLD WAR
  5. CHAPTER ONE
  6. The Evil Thing
  7. CHAPTER TWO
  8. War Games and Computing Machines
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. Vast Weapons Systems of the Future
  11. CHAPTER FOUR
  12. Emergency Plans
  13. CHAPTER FIVE
  14. Sixteen Hundred Seconds Until Doomsday
  15. CHAPTER SIX
  16. Psychological Operations
  17. PART II
  18. THE VIETNAM WAR
  19. CHAPTER SEVEN
  20. Techniques and Gadgets
  21. CHAPTER EIGHT
  22. RAND and COIN
  23. CHAPTER NINE
  24. Command and Control
  25. CHAPTER TEN
  26. Motivation and Morale
  27. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  28. The Jasons Enter Vietnam
  29. CHAPTER TWELVE
  30. The Electronic Fence
  31. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  32. The End of Vietnam
  33. PART III
  34. OPERATIONS OTHER THAN WAR
  35. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  36. Rise of the Machines
  37. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  38. Star Wars and Tank Wars
  39. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  40. The Gulf War and Operations Other Than War
  41. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  42. Biological Weapons
  43. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  44. Transforming Humans for War
  45. PART IV
  46. THE WAR ON TERROR
  47. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  48. Terror Strikes
  49. CHAPTER TWENTY
  50. Total Information Awareness
  51. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  52. IED War
  53. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  54. Combat Zones That See
  55. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  56. Human Terrain
  57. PART V
  58. FUTURE WAR
  59. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  60. Drone Wars

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