Pentagon's DARPA Director Leaves for Google

The first female head of the Pentagon's research facility has decided to jump ship and take a senior executive position at Google.

Regina Dugan, the director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, was "offered and accepted a senior executive position" at Google, according to Wired.

While the article paints Dugan as bored within the government agency she helmed for three years, it also reports that Dugan was also under investigation.

The Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) is also actively investigating hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of contracts that Darpa gave out to RedX Defense — a bomb-detection firm that Dugan co-founded, and still partially owns. A separate audit is examining a sample of the 2,000 other research contracts Darpa has signed during Dugan’s tenure, to “determine the adequacy of Darpa’s selection, award, and administration of contracts and grants,” according to a military memorandum.

Nonetheless, a government spokesman said the agency wished her the best.

While it's unknown what part of Google she will be working for, it seems as if she's a shoo-in for Google X -- Google's top-secret lab. I mean, who else should be working at a top-secret lab but someone who once worked at a top-secret government lab, right? And if someone might be able to build a space elevator, it's probably someone who built mind-controlled prosthetic limbs or shape-shifting robots.

Contact Us