The following is a letter from Dr. Valarie Browning, the Office Director in the Defense Science Office (DSO) at the Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). See the full summer 2018 newsletter here.
Earlier this year, on February 7, 2018, DARPA quietly celebrated 60 years of innovation in support of national security. The Defense Sciences Office (DSO), the oldest of the current DARPA Tech Offices, has been identifying and creating scientific discovery to fuel innovation throughout the Agency for much of DARPA’s history. With the upcoming formal DARPA 60th Anniversary Symposium just around the corner, it’s a good time to reflect on where DSO has been and where we are going.
DSO was created in 1980 out of what had formerly been the Materials Science Office (MSO), an office that was established in 1960 during the very early days of DARPA. While materials have been and continue to be an important focus of the DSO portfolio, the Office has consistently grown in scope through its pioneering research in emerging disciplines. In fact, DSO’s early portfolios in electronics and biology ultimately grew to a point where they formed the foundations of new DARPA offices. The Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) and the Biological Technologies Office (BTO) were created out of DSO in 1991 and 2014, respectively.
Today, DSO continues to expand into new frontiers with the growth of our portfolios in social science, alternative computing, and WMD detection. Clear direction from Secretary Mattis’ 2018 National Defense Strategy provide the motivation for DSO to “Deliver performance at the speed of relevance” and “Harness and protect the National Security Innovation Base.” This means we will continue to aggressively pursue the next generation of scientific discovery and innovation but will do so with a renewed focus on mission impact. DSO investments today should be laying a solid foundation for future innovation throughout the Agency. To ensure this is the case, we are working to provide other offices greater visibility and accessibility to DSO program and seedling research results. Of course, we will be balancing an increased focus on mission in a way that does not compromise or diminish the fundamental and foundational DSO culture of taking risks and pushing boundaries.
We hope you enjoy this edition of our newsletter. It is an exciting time for our program managers (PMs) who are committed, excited, and energized to move forward with an investment strategy that will address a number of future national security challenges. You will see some of this strategy reflected in the different section of the newsletter. If you are interested in hearing more about our priorities over the coming year, please take the opportunity to reach out to myself, DSO Deputy Director Mark Rosker, or one of our PMs.
On a personal note, I am thrilled and quite humbled to be back in DSO in a leadership role. If you had told me a year ago I would be in this position, I would not have believed you. Eight months into the job, I can’t imagine being anywhere else! I truly free that there is great opportunity ahead to continue the longstanding tradition of DSO innovation and am grateful for the opportunity to be working with the entire DSO leadership, PM and SETA support team!
Respectfully yours,
Dr. Valerie Browning
DSO Director
