What is IARPA?

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What is IARPA?
IARPA means Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity. It is tasked by the government to invest in high risk with high payoff research or gather new intelligence. It also aims to develop new technology for use by the 16 agencies of the intelligence community.

IARPA was modeled from a similar agency called DARPA or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DARPA was created in 1957 to keep up with the Russians who launched Sputnik in the same year. DARPA has been credited with its successes in the internet and Global Positioning Systems. IARPA meanwhile will operate on a smaller budget compared to DARPA and will be involved mostly in sponsoring research programs by different organizations and universities. It won’t be limited to hard sciences though, as it will also be involved in privacy protection, better usage of foreign intelligence information, and finding tools for research in language.

IARPA has three programs. ‘Smart collection’ is the first and it involves information gathering on specific people, governments, or organizations. ‘Smart’ means new ways must be employed to obtain information and quality of info must be high. The next program is “Incisive Analysis” which will shorten the time it takes to go through all available information. “Safe and Secure Operations” is the last program and this pertains to safeguarding of information from the investigated targets.

Most of IARPA’s funding is simply taken from intelligence programs which are already in place. Part of IARPA’s purpose is to work with all intelligence agencies, especially those items that can be “missed” or considered “too far out” to be taken cared of. IARPA’s recent director is Lisa Porter, who previously worked for NASA. She is said to have a support team of 56 people, including 35 from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

With the advent of technology and easy access to Internet tools, IARPA would like to go one notch higher to gain intelligence over future enemies.

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