Regina Dugan speaking at the EG5 conference The first female director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Dr. Regina Dugan, is stepping down and leaving behind her three years of hard work to join a new team: Google. At DARPA, Dr. Dugan conducted extensive research, developed high-risk yet worthy projects for our country’s combat forces, created prevention strategies for enemy surprises and planned ways to be unpredictable against the enemy. Google, however, has offered Dr. Dugan a senior executive position, but her exact role is still unknown. A DARPA spokesman, Eric Mazzacone, said that Dr. Dugan could not turn down the chance to work for such an innovative company. The affinity is not one-sided as a Google rep told the press, “Regina is a technical pioneer who brought the future of technology to the military during her time at DARPA. She will be a real asset to Google and we are thrilled she is joining the team.”

You can be sure that Dr. Dugan is not your ordinary PhD graduate student as the world’s highest trafficked site has decided to hire her. Discovery Channel, National Public Radio and the AAAS Science Report have invited her on their programs, and The New York Times, Science Times, The New York Times Circuits, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Chemical and Engineering News and Science News have all published articles on her and her growth as a notable technological development leader. ‘Technological development leader.’ What does that mean? What in the world has this woman done to receive such recognition? Well, the list is not short.

Regina Dugan speaking at TED The achievements she is most known for at DARPA are her emphasis on cyber-security, her ability to maintain the agency’s budget even through difficult times in the Pentagon, her outreach to the hacker community and her specific focus on using research cash to tackle immediate battlefield concerns rather than vague, long-term goals. Dr. Dugan once stated, “Darpa is not the place of dreamlike musings or fantasies, not a place for self-indulging in wishes and hopes. Darpa is a place of doing.” Interestingly enough, during an interview with Walt Mossberg last year, she also said that DARPA wants to have relationships with companies like Google and talk to them about new platforms and opportunities. Kind of funny that she’s on the other side of the spectrum now. Will she support a relationship with DARPA? Moreover, Dr. Dugan has several patents of her own. Will those patents be beneficial to Google?

After obtaining her doctorate degree in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology, she co-authored a book called Engineering Thermodynamics in 1996. Only three years later she worked for the Deputy Secretary of Defense and led a counter-terrorism task force. Even the vice chief of staff of the US Army hired her as one of his personal advisers for a couple of years. In 2000, Lieutenant General Joe N. Ballard of the US Army awarded her the Bronze deFleury medal, which is the highest honor in the Army Engineer Regiment. He said, “Without her intensity, dedication, and passion this program would have failed. Through strength of will, she carried disheartened experimenters past points of discouragement and led them to solve seemingly impossible problems. In the highest leadership traditions, she acted as coach, mentor, cheerleader, and taskmaster to achieve the program goals.”

Like most unexpected resignations, Dr. Dugan’s exit does not occur without some drama. In 2001, Dr. Dugan became the co-founder of Dugan Ventures, a niche investment firm. Later, that firm created a defense research company called RedXDefense, which DARPA gave thousands of dollars worth in contracts to. Now, the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General is investigating those deals along with 2000 other research contracts signed during her leadership. The Inspector General’s letter to Ms. Danielle Brian, the executive director of Project on Government Oversight, stated, “With respect to concerns raised in your letter about DARPA Director Regina Dugan’s continued financial and familial relations with DARPA contractor RedXDefense, an inquiry into this matter has been initiated … [and] will also include an examination of the concerns raised about the involvement of the DARPA Director in the sole source contracting matter … .” Nonetheless, all of the spokespeople have reiterated that Dr. Dugan’s leave has nothing to do with these investigations, which are basically routine.

Google Appliance as shown at RSA Expo 2008 in San Francisco Furthermore, with most of her accomplishments acknowledged, Google’s profit from an individual who said she worked for DARPA “to serve [her] country” is still unclear. We can, however, consider a few possibilities. A sector of Google called Google X, which is currently led by Sergey Brin, aims at the technology of autonomous cars. So what? DARPA has been holding a Grand Challenge for driverless cars for several years now, and it is definitely a technology that is receiving more and more popularity. So can Dr. Dugan perhaps assist Google in perfecting their autonomous vehicle project? Another possibility to consider is Google’s probable interest in DARPA’s recent record breaking ‘Cheetah’ robot, created by their M3 (Maximum Mobility and Manipulation) division, that now has the highest land speed for a four-legged robot. Now that Google has pretty much mastered the Internet research platform, is it trying to expand its horizons into completely new territories of innovation?

Although Dr. Dugan’s reputation is dominantly highlighted with national defense executions such as the $50 million “Dog’s Nose Program” she led, which focuses on detecting the explosive contents of landmines, her profound interest in and advocacy for cyber-security will be most advantageous for the nation, as she ventures into the world of Google. Just yesterday, she gave a speech at the DARPA Cyber Colloquium: she stated, “Today the Internet is commerce. It is a communal mind. It is both vulgar and sublime. Cyberspace is but a vast networked mirror that reflects the human race. In cyberspace, the best and the worst occupy the same time. Wisdom and foolishness are of the same age. Light and darkness are seasons. Joy is sorrow unmasked. Wherever we exist, inseparable, contrasting emotions exist, because otherwise, we feel nothing. These are the timeless words of our existence. It is true in cyberspace too.”