I agree with michaelwinser - take out the "D", return it to ARPA - then I'd vote for it.

This is easy, with the right people in charge, thank goodness. What we really need is the Office of Technology Assessment back so that Congress won't always be in the dark as they have been since the Rethugs abolished the OTA.

DARPA is still funding research into next-gen software (semantic web, artificial intelligence) hardware (self-healing chips) and networks (cognitive radio). The most valuable change a new administration could make would be to replace the politically appointed head of DARPA, who the project managers report to (PMs control the purse strings) with a SMALL bipartisan committee along the FCC model.

You are describing *applied* reserach, not 'fundamental' research. Fundamental research is things like particle colliders and molecular biology. There is a place for the DARPAs, but not when basic science is so sparsely funded (and subject to faith-based decisions!).

Merge ARPA and the NSF? Well, I think that DARPA will have to be pulled out of the DoD's cold dead hands...

The reason why DARPA gets to be badass and invent things like the internet, though, is because of that D. The government will _pour_ money into defense research. Get rid of that D, and its scope will be slashes and it'll rapidly vanish from relevance.

Let's take the D out of DARPA. I'll be the first to agree that the D gave it a focus that paradoxically resulted in benefits way beyond the original scenarios. I just think that the time has come for a different primary focus. After all, it's not as if we lack for global sized problems.