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Dana Rohrabacher

Dana Tyrone Rohrabacher (born June 21, 1947) is an American former politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989 to 2019. A Republican, he represented CA's 48th congressional district for the last three terms of his House tenure. Rohrabacher was defeated by Democrat Harley Rouda in 2018. Rohrabacher has expressed strong pro-Russia and pro-Putin opinions which have raised questions about his relationship with Vladimir Putin and the Russian government. Politico dubbed him as "Putin's favorite congressman".

Early life, education, and early career
Dana Tyrone Rohrabacher was born on June 21, 1947, in Coronado, California, the son of Doris M. (née Haring) and Donald Tyler Rohrabacher. Rohrabacher graduated from Palos Verdes High School in Palos Verdes Estates, California, attended Los Angeles Harbor College, and earned a bachelor's degree in history at California State University, Long Beach in 1969. He received his master's degree in American Studies at the University of Southern California. While in graduate school and during the early 1970s, Rohrabacher had a side activity as a folk singer. He was also a writer for the Orange County Register.

Rohrabacher served as assistant press secretary to Ronald Reagan during his 1976 and 1980 presidential campaigns. Rohrabacher then worked as a speechwriter and special assistant to President Reagan from 1981 to 1988. During his tenure at the White House, Rohrabacher played a leading role in the formulation of the Reagan Doctrine.

Elections
Rohrabacher left the Reagan administration in 1988 to pursue Dan Lungren's recently vacated House seat. With his friend Oliver North's fundraising help, Rohrabacher won the Republican primary with a plurality of 35%. He won the general election with 64% of the vote. He twice experienced serious primary competition, in 1992 and 1998. After redistricting, he won a three-candidate primary election in 1992 with a plurality of 48%. In 1998, he won an open primary with 54% of the vote.

2008
In 2008, Rohrabacher defeated Democratic nominee Debbie Cook, 53–43%.

2010
In 2010, Rohrabacher defeated Democratic nominee Ken Arnold, 62–38%.

2012
After redistricting, Rohrabacher announced in 2012 that he would run in the newly redrawn 48th Congressional district. He said "The new 48th District is a good fit and something that will enable me to serve my constituents and the country well." He won election in the 48th district with 61% of the vote.

2014
Rohrabacher won re-election with 64% of the vote.

2016
Rohrabacher won re-election with 59% of the vote.

2018
In March 2018, CNN reported that Erik Prince, a former intern of Rohrabacher while he was freshman congressman in 1990 and very close ally of Rohrabacher, hosted a fundraiser at Prince's Virginia home with expected attendees including Oliver North on March 18, 2018. On October 12, 2018, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Congressional Leadership Fund, a Super PAC closely associated with House Speaker Paul Ryan, had passed over Rohrabacher in its initial round of broadcast television advertising across Southern California. Rohrabacher's campaign denied this, saying that CLF had spent "about $2.4 million and they have an additional $1 million in media buys scheduled" for Rohrabacher.

Democrat Harley Rouda defeated Rohrabacher on Election Day.

Election fraud and conviction
Rohrabacher was charged with improper use of campaign contributions in connection with a 1995 state assembly election. Rohrabacher provided some of his campaign funds to his campaign manager (and future wife), Rhonda Carmony, to promote a decoy Democratic candidate to draw away votes from another Democratic candidate. Rohrabacher was found guilty and fined $50,000.

Payment for 30-year-old screenplay
On November 4, 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported that Rohrabacher was paid $23,000 for a 30-year-old screen play he had written. At issue was whether the producer paid him for the screenplay or for introductions to congressional and federal officials. Rohrabacher said that the introductions were made in good faith, were nothing that was not done regularly for legitimate causes, and that the introductions had only become an issue because of Joseph Medawar's alleged misdeeds. In May 2006, Rohrabacher announced through his press secretary that he would return the $23,000 (~$ in ). The decision was made public shortly before Medawar took responsibility in a United States District Court for bilking $3.4 million from about 50 investors.

2011 visit to Iraq
During a trip to Iraq in June 2011, Rohrabacher said that when Iraq becomes a wealthy nation, it should pay back the US for all the money it had spent since the Iraq invasion. Rohrabacher also commented that he would be holding a hearing with the Sub-Committee on Oversight and Investigations into whether Iraq committed "crimes against humanity" during an attack on Camp Ashraf in April 2011. The incident left 34 residents killed and over 300 wounded. The delegation was denied access to the camp by Iraqi government, citing their sovereignty. Rohrabacher's delegation was subsequently asked to leave the country.

2012 FBI warning
Rohrabacher was warned in 2012 in a secure room at the Capitol building by an agent from the FBI that Russian spies may have been trying to recruit him to act on Russia's behalf as an "agent of influence", after he met with a member of the Russian foreign ministry privately in Moscow. Following the ISIS terrorist attacks in Tehran on June 7, 2017, in which 17 innocent civilians were killed, he suggested that the attack could be viewed as 'a good thing', and surmised that President Trump might have been behind the coordination of this terrorist attack. An article in The Atlantic suggested that there was serious concern in the State Department of ties between Rohrabacher and the Russian government.

Jack Wu
In June 2015, Rohrabacher released a statement accusing former treasurer of his reelection committee, Jack Wu, of embezzling more than $170,000 from his campaign. Rohrabacher's attorney, Charles H. Bell Jr., stated that the congressman had filed criminal charges against Wu with the Orange County district attorney and state attorney general.

2016 consideration for Secretary of State
Following the election of Donald Trump in 2016, Rohrabacher was on the shortlist for Secretary of State along with Mitt Romney and eventual pick Rex Tillerson.

Committee assignments

 * Committee on Foreign Affairs
 * Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia
 * Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations (Chairman)
 * Committee on Science, Space and Technology
 * Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics
 * Subcommittee on Energy and Environment

Rohrabacher chaired the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee of the House Science Committee from 1997 until January 2005; he received a two-year waiver to serve beyond the six-year term limit.

As a senior member of the International Relations Committee, Rohrabacher led the effort to deny Most Favored Nation trading status to the People's Republic of China, citing that nation's dismal human rights record and opposition to democracy. His subcommittee assignments were East Asia and Pacific, and Middle East and South Asia.

Caucus memberships

 * Congressional Cannabis Caucus
 * Congressional Human Rights Caucus
 * United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus
 * Congressional Taiwan Caucus
 * Sportsmen's Caucus
 * Freedom Caucus
 * House Baltic Caucus

Foreign and security policy positions
In foreign policy, Rohrabacher supported withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, called for Trump to punish Turkish President Erdoğan on embassy violence, sided with Russia in the Russia–Georgia war, and gave a qualified defense of the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Russia
Rohrabacher has expressed strong pro-Russia and pro-Putin opinions which have raised questions about his relationship with Vladimir Putin and the Russian government. Politico  and others    have dubbed him "Putin's favorite congressman".

Early in Rohrabacher's congressional career in 1990 or 1991, KGB agent and deputy mayor of Saint Petersburg Vladimir Putin and two other Russians entered Rohrabacher's congressional office in Washington, D.C. In a 2013 interview, Rohrabacher asserted that he and Putin later became close friends.

According to Erik Prince, Prince, as an intern on Rohrabacher's staff, travelled around the world on fact finding missions to support Rohrabacher's interests.

Rohrabacher called the Russian banker Aleksandr Torshin, a Putin ally, "sort of the conservatives' favorite Russian".

On September 8, 2008, at a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee meeting, Rohrabacher argued that the Georgians had initiated a recent military confrontation in the ongoing Russia–Georgia war.

In 2012, the FBI warned Rohrabacher that his support for Russia's interests was allowing Russia to cultivate him for its purposes.

In February 2013, Rohrabacher gave a speech urging the right to self-determination for the Baloch people in Pakistan at an UNPO conference in London.

In April 2014, he tweeted that "If majority of people legally residing in Alaska want to be part of Russia then its OK with me."

In April 2016, Rohrabacher and a member of his staff, Paul Behrends, traveled to Russia and returned with Yuri Chaika's confidential talking points memo about incriminating information on Democratic donors. The talking points paper used at the Trump Tower meeting on June 9, 2016 by Natalia Veselnitskaya was very similar to the document Rohrabacher had obtained from Chaika in April.

Rohrabacher is known for his longtime friendship with Putin and for his defense of "the Russian point of view". On June 15, 2016, then-House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told a group of Republicans, "'There's two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump. Swear to God'". Then-House Speaker Paul Ryan ended the conversation by saying "'No leaks. This is how we know we're a real family here'". The Republicans present were sworn to secrecy. Brendan Buck, counselor to Paul Ryan, initially denied these reports, but was then told that The Washington Post had a recording. After the recording was leaked by the Post in May 2017, McCarthy said the comment was intended as a joke.

Around that time, Rohrabacher planned--in his capacity as chair of the Europe subcommittee--to hold a hearing on the Magnitsky Act, which bars certain Russian officials from entering the United States or holding any financial assets in American banks. Rohrabacher reportedly wanted Bill Browder, the American-born investor who had lobbied for the act's passage after what he claims was the illegal appropriation of his hedge fund's assets and the subsequent murder of his Russian lawyer, to testify. Rohrabacher planned to subject him to what was described as a "show trial". In addition to questioning Browder closely and skeptically about his claims, Rohrabacher intended to show a feature-length documentary film critical of the Magnitsky claims. Another scheduled witness was Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, a longtime lobbyist against the Magnitsky Act who attended the June 9 Trump Tower meeting. In July 2017, Browder testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that persons supporting the interests of foreign governments or acting on their behalf, especially Russia, must comply with Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) requirements, and that no one behind the screening of the Andrei Nekrasov film had met the disclosure filings under FARA.

When Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce learned of Rohrabacher's plans, he canceled the hearing and forbade Rohrabacher from showing the film. In its stead, he held a full committee hearing on U.S.-Russia relations at which Rohrabacher was allowed to submit some of the pro-Russian claims into evidence. The film was ultimately shown at the Newseum, and an intern in Rohrabacher's office who later worked for the Trump transition team sent emails promoting the film from the subcommittee offices.

After Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, Rohrabacher defended his approach to improving Russian–American relations. He had previously met at least twice with Rinat Akhmetshin, a former Soviet spy "who met with President Trump's son, son-in-law and campaign manager in June 2016", to discuss Russian sanctions.

In a May 2017 interview with CNN, Rohrabacher said, "'We have a huge double standard with Russia when it comes to prisoners and other things'". Rohrabacher added that interference by the Russian intelligence services' in the 2016 U.S. election was the same as the National Security Agency (NSA) bugging German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone.

In July 2017, Rohrabacher voted to impose sanctions on Iran, North Korea, and Russia.

On 16 August 2017, Rohrabacher visited Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and told him that Trump would pardon him on the condition that he would agree to say that Russia was not involved in the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leaks. At his extradition hearings in 2020, Assange's defense team alleged in court that this offer was made "on instructions from the president". Trump and Rohrabacher subsequently said they had never spoken about the offer, and Rohrabacher said he had made the offer on his own initiative.

In October 2017, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs placed restrictions on Rohrabacher's ability to use committee money to pay for foreign travel due to concerns over his interest in Russia.

On November 21, 2017, The New York Times reported that Rohrabacher had come under scrutiny from special counsel Robert Mueller and the Senate Intelligence Committee for his close ties to the Kremlin.

In an interview with Fox Business Channel on August 24, 2018, Rohrabacher attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions because Sessions had refused to fire Robert Mueller and shut down the Russia collusion investigation. He said: "'The fact that Jeff Sessions has not quit is a disloyalty to this president and to the country, the fact is, if he disagrees with what the president wants him to do, he should resign'".

In February 2020, Rohrabacher told Yahoo News that his goal during his 2017 meeting with Julian Assange was to find evidence for a widely debunked conspiracy theory that WikiLeaks' real source was not Russian intelligence agents for the DNC emails but former DNC staffer Seth Rich. Stephanie Grisham, a White House spokesperson for President Trump, stated that Trump barely knew Rohrabacher and had not spoken with Rohrabacher "'on this subject or almost any subject'".

On February 19, 2020, Edward Fitzgerald, Julian Assange's barrister, asserted at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London that Rohrabacher had been sent on behalf of President Trump in August 2017 to offer Assange a pardon from Trump if Assange could release material to show that Russian intelligence were not involved in the 2016 United States election interference.

Terrorism
In 2006, Rohrabacher chaired the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the U.S. House Committee on International Relations, which investigated whether the Oklahoma City bombers had assistance from foreign sources; the committee determined there was no conclusive evidence of a foreign connection. In the 113th Congress, Rohrabacher was chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats.

Speaking about Islam, he said during a hearing in April 2013, "I hope we all work together against a religion that will motivate people to murder children and other threats to us as a civilization."

In the wake of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, Rohrabacher put out a press release stating that he felt "outrage" and a "renewed commitment to defeat and destroy the radical Islamic movement that fosters such mayhem." He stressed that Americans must "be sure not to label all Muslims as terrorist murderers." Rohrabacher met Seddique Mateen, the father of the shooter, in 2014 during routine meetings with constituents. He called Mateen an "estranged individual."

In a statement to clarify his position, Rohrabacher wrote that he opposes "the use of force against unarmed civilians no matter who is the victim or who is doing the killing" but he is also against "Iran's vicious Mullah monarchy" and "when it comes to Sunni terrorists or Shiite terrorists, I prefer them to target each other rather than any other victims, especially innocent civilians and Americans." He added that it will "require support for those proud Iranians who want to win their freedom and heritage from Mullahs and are willing to fight for it. That does not include Isis, but it may include a lot of Iranians who see blowing up Khomeini's mausoleum as an expression of freedom from the yolk [sic] of Islamic terror."

Defense of interrogation techniques and extraordinary rendition
On April 17, 2007, during a House hearing on trans-Atlantic relations, Rohrabacher defended the Bush administration's program of extraordinary rendition. He said that the unfair treatment of one innocent suspect is an acceptable "unfortunate consequence" of holding others who would otherwise be free to commit terror acts. After he received boos and groans from the gallery, Rohrabacher responded, "Well, I hope it's your families, I hope it's your families that suffer the consequences," and "I hope it's your family members that die." Rohrabacher was subsequently interrupted by protesters wearing orange jumpsuits who were removed from the gallery. For his comment that imprisoning and torturing one innocent person was a fair price to pay for locking up 50 terrorists who would "go out and plant a bomb and kill 20,000 people", on April 25 Rohrabacher was named Countdown with Keith Olbermann's "Worst Person in the World".

Afghanistan
Rohrabacher's interest in Afghanistan extends back at least to the late 1980s, before his time in office, when he entered the country in the company of Afghan mujahideen fighters who were fighting Soviet occupation forces. Reportedly, these fighters "actually engaged Soviet troops in combat near the city of Jalalabad during the two months Rohrabacher was with them." In the years after the Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989), Rohrabacher said his "passion" was to bring back the country's exiled king, Muhammad Zahir Shah.

In 2003, Rohrabacher defended the new Afghan constitution against those who saw in it mainly empowerment of warlords, saying:

"I've heard a lot of negative posturing about ... these people who happened to have been the guys who sided with the United States ... Dostam, Atta, Khan ... these were the people who defeated the Taliban ... Just keep that in mind if you're an American. They came to help us defeat people who slaughtered our own people [September 11, 2001]. And I'm grateful for that. And I'm not about to label them in these pejorative terms [as warlords], especially when the Taliban are still on the border. ... I would admonish [you] not to go so quickly in getting rid of people who helped us defeat the Taliban."

Rohrabacher has since become a proponent of withdrawing from Afghanistan. He protested against the troop build-up in Afghanistan by President Obama, saying "If the Taliban is going is be defeated, it's got to be by the Afghan people themselves, not by sending more U.S. troops, which could actually be counterproductive." When Congressman Jim McGovern offered an amendment in 2011 requiring the Pentagon to draw up an exit plan from Afghanistan, Rohrabacher was just one of six Republicans to sign on. Rohrabacher voted for McGovern's Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, requiring an exit plan from Afghanistan. The bill failed by a 204–215 margin.

Rohrabacher was against former President Obama's gradual drawdown of troops, instead supporting a full withdrawal. Saying "If we're going to leave, we should leave." Rohrabacher has said that "The centralized system of government foisted upon the Afghan people is not going to hold after we leave." And "So let's quit prolonging the agony and inevitable. Karzai's regime is corrupt and non representative of Afghanistan's tribal culture. This failed strategy is not worth one more drop of American blood. Under the current strategy, our military presence alienates more Afghans that it pacifies. So if you're going to pull the plug, then we need to get the hell out now." Rohrabacher has repeatedly raised high-level concerns in the US Congress and Washington, D.C., about the significant corruption in Afghanistan, including the Kabul Bank scandal, where hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayers' dollars allegedly disappeared in a short period of time at the apparent hands of close Karzai family members, including brothers Mahmoud Karzai (a.k.a. Mahmood Karzai) and Ahmed Wali Karzai. Rohrabacher worked to bring attention to the systemic corruption in the Karzai government and cut U.S. taxpayers' funding for these wasteful projects and programs, involving corruption within the Hamid Karzai government.

In April 2012, CNN reported that "A top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs committee was asked by the State Department not to go to Afghanistan because President Hamid Karzai objected to the visit. ... Dana Rohrabacher, R-California, told Security Clearance he was readying to travel with five other Republicans from Dubai to Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, when the State Department requested he stay behind."

Bosnia and Kosovo independence
Rohrabacher was opposed to the involvement of American ground troops in the Yugoslav Wars. He advocated for the direct bombing of the military on Yugoslav soil, criticizing the ineffectiveness of western forces against the Bosnian Serbs. (NATO was limited to small fixed attacks, as these Serbs penetrated UN safe areas and attacked Bosniak forces.) Rohrabacher said they "should bomb Serbia's military infrastructure, in Serbia – get that, in Serbia – rather than dropping a couple of duds on tents, which only proves the West's gutlessness, and emboldens Serbian cutthroats." Rohrabacher considered the events in Bosnia to constitute genocide. In 1995, Rohrabacher personally visited Sarajevo in Bosnia, criticizing the devastation Serb forces inflicted on the city, saying "This is a loss to all mankind, not just to the people of Sarajevo." He also encountered vagabond children asking for money.

In 2001, the leader of the Albanian American Civic League ethnic lobby group, Joseph J. DioGuardi, praised Rohrabacher for his support to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a militia that was once labeled by Bill Clinton's special envoy to the Balkans Robert Gelbard as a terrorist organization, saying "He was the first member of Congress to insist that the United States arm the Kosova Liberation Army, and one of the few members who to this day publicly supports the independence of Kosova." Also in 2001, Rohrabacher gave a speech in support of American equipping the KLA with weaponry, comparing it to French support of America in the Revolutionary War, saying "Based on our own experience, the Kosova Liberation Army should have been armed. ... If the U.S. had armed the KLA in 1998, we would not be where we are today. The 'freedom fighters' would have secured their freedom and Kosova would be independent."

China
After a reconnaissance flight over the Spratly Islands in 1998, Rohrabacher said, "We can't ignore this bullying by the Communist Chinese in the Spratlys. The presence of the Chinese military troops...is not only a concern of the Philippines. It is also a concern of the U.S. and other democratic countries in the world."

In July 1999, Rohrabacher led the House floor in opposition to legislation normalizing trade ties between the United States and China. The following year, as the House weighed another China trade bill, Rohrabacher said the trade bill was a giveaway to a select number of American billionaires and the Beijing regime, adding that President Bill Clinton could call "communist China 'our strategic partner' until his face turns blue, but it won't make them any less red."

In 2011 interviews, Rohrabacher described the Chinese government under the leadership of Hu Jintao as "a gangster regime that murders its own people" and described the Chinese government as Nazis.

In December 2016, after President-elect Trump had a phone call with President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen, Rohrabacher said the call had "showed the dictators in Beijing that he's not a pushover" and that China "has had an enormously aggressive foreign policy".

Organ harvesting in China
In 2012 Rohrabacher stated,

"The CCP and its state security machine uses a wide range of repression techniques including, not only limited to, censorship, beatings, home imprisonment, forced labor camps, those labor camps called the Laogai of course. And the most ghoulish manifestation of this gangsterism is the forced harvesting of organs of the political prisoners and religious followers that it arrests, particularly of the Chinese religious movement known as the Falun Gong."

and

"to rip open the body of someone who is simply involved in a religious or personal or political idea that is contrary to the wishes of the ruling elite, to rip a body open of someone like that especially if that person's religious or political beliefs are pacifistic and not a physical threat to the regime, this is about the most monstrous crime that I can conceive of."

Iraq War
Rohrabacher voted in support of the Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq in 2002, a position that he later said was "a mistake".

Iran
In August 2012, Rohrabacher noted on his official website that he had written a letter addressed to the U.S. State Department, noting his support of U.S. sponsorship of separatist movements in Iran. This elicited criticism from the Iranian-American community, which included challenging Rohrabacher's understanding of the historical background alluded to in his letter to the Department of State.

In June 2017, a day after an ISIL attack in Tehran, during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Rohrabacher stated: "Isn't it a good thing for us to have the United States finally backing up Sunnis who will attack Hezbollah and the Shiite threat to us, isn't that a good thing?" This comment was strongly criticized by the National Iranian American Council, which wrote, "Rohrabacher has a long history of bizarre and offensive statements on Iran, but his callousness toward the Iranian victims of ISIS terror might be his most callous and extreme thus far."

Rohrabacher supported removing the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) from the United States State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations; it was included on the list from 1997 to 2012.

Aid to Pakistan
In May 2011, in the wake of Osama Bin Laden's death, Rohrabacher introduced a bill to stop aid to Pakistan, stating that members of the government and of Pakistan's security force, the ISI, were either sheltering Bin Laden or completely incompetent. "We can no longer afford this foolishness. ... The time has come for us to stop subsidizing those who actively oppose us. Pakistan has shown itself not to be America's ally." Rohrabacher also demanded the return of the US helicopter that crashed in the operation to kill Bin Laden, stating "If this is not done immediately, it is probable, given Pakistan's history, that our technology has already found its way into the hands of the Communist Chinese military that is buying, building, and stealing the necessary military technology to challenge the United States."

In June 2017, while speaking to Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Tina Kaidanow, Rohrabacher said, "We need to go on the record here, in this part of our government, to say that we're not going to be providing weapons systems to Pakistan that we're afraid are going to shoot down our own people. And we know they're engaged in terrorism."

Support for Mohiuddin Ahmed
In 2007, Rohrabacher supported Mohiuddin Ahmed, a detainee in the U.S., who was said to be involved in an attempted coup in Bangladesh, during which several people were murdered. He was convicted of the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first President of Bangladesh. Bangladesh's extradition request was halted as Rohrabacher voiced concern about his legal rights, saying that he should be sent somewhere with no death penalty. His support was applauded by both Amnesty International and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Mohiuddin Ahmed was found guilty of being a participant in the assassinations and was executed on January 28, 2010.

Taiwan
After President-elect Donald Trump answered a congratulatory phone call from democratically elected President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen on December 2, 2016,   Rohrabacher said Trump's phone call with Taiwan's president was "terrific" because of the diplomatic warning it sent to China. "He showed the dictators in Beijing that he's not a pushover." He emphasized, "China has had an enormously aggressive foreign policy and by him actually going to Taiwan, he's showing the people in Beijing that they cannot have this aggressive foreign policy and expect to be treated just the same by an American president."

Ukraine
Rohrabacher gave a "qualified defense" of the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014. On March 6, 2014, he was one of 23 members of the House of Representatives to vote against a $1 billion loan guarantee to support the new government of Ukraine. On March 11, 2014, Rohrabacher voted "present", the only member to do so, on a resolution condemning Russian military actions in Ukraine; the resolution passed 402-7. Commenting on the issue, he stated, "Starting with our own American Revolution, groups of people have declared themselves, rightfully, to be under a different government or a government of their choosing. People forget that's what our Declaration of Independence is all about." He also said, "The sanctions are an abomination of hypocrisy. This is ridiculous: What we were doing with the violence and military action we took to secure the Kosovars' right to self-determination was far more destructive and had far more loss of life than what Putin's done trying to ensure the people of Crimea are not cut off from what they would choose as their destiny with Russia."

Uzbekistan
During a US Congressional delegation's visit to Uzbekistan in February 2013, Rohrabacher made several controversial statements. The chief among those statements was that the United States should treat Uzbekistan like Saudi Arabia by disregarding the former's human rights abuses in achieving America's national interests, particularly in selling armaments and drones to Uzbekistan.

North Macedonia
In 2017, in an interview for an Albanian TV channel Vizion Plus Rohrabacher suggested that Macedonia "is not a country" and that the "Kosovars and Albanians from Macedonia should be part of Kosovo and the rest of Macedonia should be part of Bulgaria or any other country to which they believe they are related", which provoked a response from the Macedonian foreign ministry which accused him of inflaming "nationalistic rhetoric".

Turkey
In the wake of the clashes at the Turkish Ambassador's Residence in May 2017, Rohrabacher called Donald Trump to never invite Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan again to the United States, and to bar Americans from purchasing Turkish government debt.

Eritrea
In August 2017, Rohrabacher proposed amending the Department of Defense budget whereby the United States would establish military ties with Eritrea. Rohrabacher suggested that the two countries should cooperate in fighting the War on Terror, curbing Iranian influence in the Yemeni Civil War, and securing the Red Sea region. At the time of Rohrabacher's proposal, Eritrea was subject to international sanctions due to its alleged support of Al-Shabaab in Somalia, and to U.S. sanctions against the Eritrean Navy following an alleged shipment of North Korean military hardware to Eritrea.

Julian Assange
In August 2017, Rohrabacher attended a meeting in London with Julian Assange organized and attended by right-wing political activist Charles C. Johnson. Rohrabacher said that the discussion was about the possibility of a presidential pardon in exchange for Assange supplying information on the theft of emails from the Democratic National Committee, which were published by WikiLeaks before the 2016 presidential election. In October 2017, Rohrabacher and Johnson met with Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) to discuss Assange supplying information about the source of leaked emails. However, Assange responded to news accounts of the meeting, tweeting, "WikiLeaks never has and never will reveal a source. Offers have been made to me—not the other way around. I do not speak to the public through third parties."

Other foreign policy
In March 2005, Rohrabacher introduced HR 1061, the American Property Claims Against Ethiopia Act, which would "prohibit United States assistance to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia until the Ethiopian government returns all property of United States citizens". The bill was introduced by Rohrabacher at the behest of Gebremedhin Berhane, a former Eritrean national and friend of the Rohrabacher family, after his business was expropriated by the Ethiopian government.

On March 7, 2006, Rohrabacher introduced HR 4895, an amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, "to limit the provision of the United States military assistance and the sale, transfer, or licensing of United States military equipment or technology to Ethiopia".

During an appearance on MSNBC's The Ed Show, Rohrabacher accused Barack Obama of allowing violence in Iran to get out of hand because he did not speak forcefully enough against the country's leadership. He also said that Gorbachev tore down the Berlin Wall because Reagan told him to ("Tear down this wall").

In early 2010, he went to Honduras to commend the election of the new president. His entourage included a group of Californian property investors and businessmen, a dealer in rare coins, and CEOs from San Diego biofuels corporation (which is headed by a family friend).

Domestic political positions
Rohrabacher voted to repeal Obamacare, disputed evidence of man-made global warming, was a staunch opponent of illegal immigration, and favored the legalization of cannabis.

Rohrabacher had drawn public criticism for some of his positions. His controversial statements included the conspiracy theory, first promoted by the politically-biased conspiracy theory website InfoWars, that Democrats secretly organized the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville to provoke violence by the alt-right to discredit President Trump.

He had been a staunch supporter of Donald Trump.

National Endowment for the Arts
In 1990, Rohrabacher opposed the National Endowment of the Arts and joined Mel Hancock in demanding its abolition. In a February letter to other members of Congress, Rohrabacher sent a photograph by artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz.

In April, liberal constitutional rights group People for the American Way announced its intent to launch a newspaper advert campaign against Rohrabacher. Western vice president of the organization Michael Hudson stated, "'Americans overwhelmingly reject censorship of the arts and support the NEA'". Rohrabacher welcomed the announcement, stating that his constituents "don't want federal dollars to go to sacrilegious or obscene art'" and that it would help voters to understand the issue. Explaining his position, Rohrabacher stated that he did not believe "'anyone should be prevented from seeing what they want to see or painting what they want to paint...on their own time and their own dime. But if you get a government subsidy, that's another question'".

In October, the House passed a bill to reauthorize funds for the NEA with the directive that the organization could not fund obscene art. Rohrabacher introduced an amendment that would include specific guidelines on the kind of art projects that could not be funded, such as works that were sexually explicit or denigrated the American flag or religions; the amendment was rejected by a vote of 249-175. Rohrabacher stated his amendment was supposed to ensure that the federal government was ""not subsidizing obscenity, child pornography, attacks on religion, desecration of the American flag or any other of the outrages we have seen in the past'". By the time the House passed the bill, Rohrabacher had become known as " the House's most outspoken critic of the NEA".

Race quotas
In October 1991, Rohrabacher wrote a letter to the civil rights division of the Education Department after seven Filipino students complained to the media that they were denied admission to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Rohrabacher requested the department conduct a federal civil rights investigation on what seemed to be "a quota based upon race that illegally discriminates against Filipino-Americans and possibly applicants of other races". UCSD vice chancellor for undergraduate affairs Joseph Watson refuted the letter, dismissing Rohrabacher as "wrong when he says that 40% of admissions are reserved for certain races". He stated that the school ranks all applicants using a grade-based formula. Watson charged Rohrabacher with fanning hysteria over discrimination: "The Rohrabacher approach is to play to public fears that something fishy is going on. We don't want anyone to feel we're not giving everyone a fair and equitable review that can stand up to any scrutiny."

Impeachment of Bill Clinton
In November 1997, Rohrabacher was one of eighteen Republicans in the House to co-sponsor a resolution by Bob Barr that sought to launch an impeachment inquiry against President Bill Clinton. The resolution did not specify any charges or allegations. This was an early effort to impeach Clinton, predating the eruption of the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. The eruption of that scandal would ultimately lead to a more serious effort to impeach Clinton in 1998. On October 8, 1998, Rohrabacher voted in favor of legislation that was passed to open an impeachment inquiry. On December 19, 1998, Rohrabacher voted in favor of all four proposed articles of impeachment against Clinton (only two of which received the majority of votes needed to be adopted).

Firearms
In 2018, Sacha Baron Cohen's television program Who Is America? premiered, showing Rohrabacher supporting a hoax "kinderguardians program" which supported training toddlers with firearms. Rohrabacher claims that he never spoke to Cohen, that he was taken out of context, and that he spoke, "broadly of making sure young people could get training in self-defense".

Global warming
Rohrabacher doubts the scientific consensus that global warming is caused by humans. During a congressional hearing on climate change on February 8, 2007, Rohrabacher mused that previous warming cycles may have been caused by carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by "dinosaur flatulence": Politico and The New York Times reported that on May 25, 2011, Rohrabacher expressed further skepticism regarding the existence of man-made global warming and suggested that, if global warming is an issue, a possible solution could be clear-cutting rain forests, and replanting. These reports sparked strong criticism by some scientists, including Oliver Phillips, a geography professor at the University of Leeds. They noted the consensus that intact forests act as net absorbers of carbon, reducing global warming.

Rohrabacher does not believe that global warming is a problem. At a town hall meeting with the Newport Mesa Tea Party in August 2013, Rohrabacher said "global warming is a total fraud" and part of a "game plan" by liberals to "create global government".

Healthcare
On May 4, 2017, Rohrabacher voted in favor of repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and passing the American Health Care Act. During his 2018 re-election campaign, Rohrabacher pledged to protect protections for individuals with preexisting conditions. Rohrabacher voted for his party's Obamacare replacement bill that included state waivers from rules that prohibit charging higher prices to people with pre-existing conditions.

Immigration
Rohrabacher was an advocate for the state of California's Proposition 187, which prohibited illegal immigrants from acquiring government services. In 2004, he sponsored an amendment that would have prohibited federal reimbursement of hospital-provided emergency care and certain transportation services to undocumented aliens unless the hospital provided information about the aliens' citizenship, immigration status, financial data, and employer to the Secretary of Homeland Security. Aliens who were in the country illegally would receive reimbursement only after they were deported. The proposed bill was defeated, 331–88.

In 2005, Rohrabacher opined that the Republican Party was split on the issue of immigration: "There are those of us who identify with the national wing and patriotic wing of the party who have always been adamant on the illegal immigration issues. And, on the other side, you have those people who believe in the business and global marketplace concept. So, you have a party with two different views on one of the major issues of the day."

In early 2008, Rohrabacher endorsed Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential primary, citing his positions on stemming illegal immigration and criticizing John McCain. About McCain, he said: "He's been the enemy of those of us who have stemmed the flow of illegals into our country, whereas Romney has made some very tough commitments."

In 2011, Rohrabacher proposed the bill H.R. 787 known as the "No Social Security for Illegal Immigrants Act of 2011". The bill: "Amends title II of the Social Security Act to exclude from creditable wages and self-employment income any wages earned for services by aliens performed in the United States, and self-employment income derived from a trade or business conducted in the United States, while the alien was not authorized to be so employed or to perform a function or service in such a trade or business."

In 2013, an 18-year-old student visited Rohrabacher's office to discuss immigration reform. At some point their conversation became disagreeable, and the student said the congressman yelled at her: "I hate illegals!" He also allegedly threatened to deport her family. Rohrabacher's spokesperson has disputed both statements, averring that it was actually the student who started the confrontation by yelling at the spokesperson and telling her to "butt out".

In September 2017, Rohrabacher supported the Trump administration's rescinding of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, saying that those "in Congress must work to prevent such cynical loopholes from being created again by executive fiat" despite their possible empathy for the immigrants.

The organization NumbersUSA has given Rep. Rohrabacher an A+ rating in accordance to his stance on illegal immigration.

LGBT issues
Rohrabacher has drawn controversy over his views on LGBT rights. He opposed same-sex marriage and endorsed Proposition 8, the ballot initiative in 2008 that would have prohibited same-sex marriage in California, during a debate at Orange Coast College, stating he "would suggest not changing the definition of marriage in our society to make a small number of people feel more comfortable".

Rohrabacher voted in favor of the Federal Marriage Amendment in both 2004 and 2006, a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and forbade states from recognizing or legalizing same-sex marriage. After the Supreme Court issued its decision in Hollingsworth v. Perry in 2013, that legalized same-sex marriage in California, Rohrabacher criticized the decision, stating that the decision was "not based on the merits of the issue but on a technicality". However, Rohrabacher has appeared to have endorsed the idea of leaving marriage to religious institutions only, stating on Twitter that churches should be solely responsible for conducting marriages but that the government should only recognize them.

In May 2018, Rohrabacher provoked severe criticism after telling a meeting of the Orange County Association of Realtors that homeowners "should be able to make a decision not to sell their home to someone (if) they don't agree with their lifestyle." Though the statement did not explicitly refer to LGBT people, it was widely interpreted as such. LGBT groups denounced Rohrabacher for the remarks, and the National Association of Realtors, which had previously donated to Rohrabacher's re-election campaigns, condemned Rohrabacher, halted all of its financial support for him and repudiated its past donations to him. After Rohrabacher's constituents unseated him in favor of Harley Rouda, The Advocate praised the results and condemned Rohrabacher.

Despite criticism from the LGBT community later in his career, early in his political career, Rohrabacher supported a proposal by gays to move to a rural California county and take leadership roles. Rohrabacher's "California Libertarian Alliance endorsed the project. 'Your main resources are the freedom you offer plus the environment you are locating in,' Dana Rohrabacher, one of the libertarian group’s founders and later speechwriter to then-President Reagan, wrote in a letter to GLF. 'The economic goods are perfect for some kind of a combination ski gambling resort.'"

Cannabis
Rohrabacher supported the legalization of cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes. He spoke against the policy of cannabis prohibition as early as May 2013, calling it a "colossal failure" in an op-ed penned for the Orange County Register. He further outlined his views in a May 2014 op-ed in National Review, arguing that the prohibition of cannabis has incurred a number of undesirable costs upon free society, such as an increase in gang violence, soaring incarceration rates, unconstitutional seizure of private property through civil forfeiture, corruption and militarization of police forces, and negative impacts on minority communities and relationships with Latin-American countries. Rohrabacher has called on fellow Republicans to reconsider their stance towards cannabis, citing core conservative principles such as limited government, individual liberty, respect for the Tenth Amendment, and respect for the doctor–patient relationship that Rohrabacher says lend support to loosening current laws. He also notes conservative leaders such as Milton Friedman, William F. Buckley, and Grover Norquist that have espoused similar drug policy views. In April 2016, Rohrabacher announced his endorsement of California's Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act.

Rohrabacher is a strong proponent of states' rights when it comes to cannabis policy. He has introduced the Rohrabacher–Farr amendment for a number of years beginning in 2003, to prohibit the Justice Department from spending funds to interfere with the implementation of state medical cannabis laws. The amendment passed the House for the first time in May 2014, becoming law in December 2014 as part of an omnibus spending bill. Additional legislation that Rohrabacher has introduced includes the Respect State Marijuana Laws Act and the Veterans Equal Access Act. Rohrabacher has called on the DEA / DOJ to remove cannabis from the list of Schedule I drugs. In February 2017, Rohrabacher co-founded the Congressional Cannabis Caucus – along with Reps. Don Young (R–AK), Jared Polis (D–CO), and Earl Blumenauer (D–OR) – to help advance policy change regarding cannabis at the federal level. Rohrabacher earned an "A+" rating from NORML for his voting record regarding cannabis-related matters.

Patent reform
Rohrabacher was an opponent of the America Invents Act, a bill that is attempting to change the current Patent System. Rohrabacher opposes changing from a "first to invent system" to a "first to file system" saying it "hurts the little guy". Rohrabacher commented: "Make no mistake, 'first to file' weakens patent protection. It is likely to make vulnerable individual and small inventors, who don't have an army of lawyers on retainer. These 'little guys' have been the lifeblood of American progress and competitiveness for more than 200 years. Our system was designed to protect individual rights, and it has worked for all – not just the corporate elite." Rohrabacher went on to comment in a Politico op-ed: "We're told this is necessary to harmonize with Japanese and European patent law. But those systems were established by elitists and economic shoguns interested in corporate power, not individual rights."

Space
Rohrabacher was chairman of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics from 1997 to January 2005 and has been active on space-related issues. In 2000, Space.com described Rohrabacher as "a strident advocate for supremacy in space, a philosophy shaped along a winding road from libertarian activist to White House speech writer in the Reagan administration". In 2007, Rohrabacher introduced a bill that would direct NASA to develop a strategy "for deflecting and mitigating potentially hazardous near-Earth objects". Rohrabacher has applauded the Apollo astronauts, calling them unofficial ambassadors. Rohrabacher stated "I applaud their efforts and accomplishments over the past fifty years. And I encourage all Americans to join with me in thanking them for their accomplishments and for the international role they have played in serving as unofficial Ambassadors to the world on our behalf."

On July 18, 2017, Rohrabacher asked a panel of space experts testifying before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology if civilizations could have existed on Mars in the past. Kenneth Farley, a project scientist on NASA's Mars Rover 2020 Project, said: "I would say that is extremely unlikely."

Tax reform
Rohrabacher voted against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Despite efforts made by Republicans to change the bill to be more generous regarding cap deductions on new home mortgages, Rohrabacher remained staunch at voting nay on the bill, as the more than half of the new mortgages in his district are above the $750,000 cap. He stated on his Facebook page that "Due to the pressure of several members like me, the bill was improved, but not enough for my constituents."

2020 presidential election
After leaving office, Rohrabacher participated in "Stop the Steal" rallies in support of Donald Trump. On January 6, 2021, Rohrabacher was filmed breaching a United States Capitol Police barricade during the January 6 United States Capitol attack, although he was not charged with an offense.

Post-congressional endeavors
In May 2019, Rohrabacher announced his appointment to the advisory board of BudTrader.com, a company that provides cannabis-related advertising services.

Personal life
Rohrabacher has been married to his wife, Rhonda Carmony, since 1997. In 2004, they became parents of triplets.

Rohrabacher is Protestant. He was described by the Los Angeles Times as "an avid surfer".

Rohrabacher revealed in May 2016 that he uses a cannabis-infused topical rub to treat his arthritis pain, allowing him to sleep through the night. The product is legal under California state law, but remains a banned substance under federal law.

In December 2018, a month after losing his bid for re-election, Rohrabacher announced that he intended to move to Maine and to write film scripts.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Dana Rohrabacher


text:
DARPA

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.

Originally known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), the agency was created on February 7, 1958, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in response to the Soviet launching of Sputnik 1 in 1957. By collaborating with academia, industry, and government partners, DARPA formulates and executes research and development projects to expand the frontiers of technology and science, often beyond immediate U.S. military requirements. The name of the organization first changed from its founding name, ARPA, to DARPA, in March 1972, changing back to ARPA in February 1993, then reverted to DARPA in March 1996.

The Economist has called DARPA the agency that shaped the modern world, with technologies like "weather satellites, GPS, drones, stealth technology, voice interfaces, the personal computer and the internet on the list of innovations for which DARPA can claim at least partial credit." Its track record of success has inspired governments around the world to launch similar research and development agencies.

DARPA is independent of other military research and development and reports directly to senior Department of Defense management. DARPA comprises approximately 220 government employees in six technical offices, including nearly 100 program managers, who together oversee about 250 research and development programs. The agency's current director, appointed in March 2021, is Stefanie Tompkins.

Mission
, their mission statement is "to make pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies for national security".

Early history (1958–1969)
The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was suggested by the President's Scientific Advisory Committee to President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a meeting called after the launch of Sputnik. ARPA was formally authorized by President Eisenhower in 1958 for the purpose of forming and executing research and development projects to expand the frontiers of technology and science, and able to reach far beyond immediate military requirements. The two relevant acts are the Supplemental Military Construction Authorization (Air Force) (Public Law 85-325) and Department of Defense Directive 5105.15, in February 1958. It was placed within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and counted approximately 150 people. Its creation was directly attributed to the launching of Sputnik and to U.S. realization that the Soviet Union had developed the capacity to rapidly exploit military technology. Initial funding of ARPA was $520 million. ARPA's first director, Roy Johnson, left a $160,000 management job at General Electric for an $18,000 job at ARPA. Herbert York from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was hired as his scientific assistant.

Johnson and York were both keen on space projects, but when NASA was established later in 1958 all space projects and most of ARPA's funding were transferred to it. Johnson resigned and ARPA was repurposed to do "high-risk", "high-gain", "far out" basic research, a posture that was enthusiastically embraced by the nation's scientists and research universities. ARPA's second director was Brigadier General Austin W. Betts, who resigned in early 1961 and was succeeded by Jack Ruina who served until 1963. Ruina, the first scientist to administer ARPA, managed to raise its budget to $250 million. It was Ruina who hired J. C. R. Licklider as the first administrator of the Information Processing Techniques Office, which played a vital role in creation of ARPANET, the basis for the future Internet.

Additionally, the political and defense communities recognized the need for a high-level Department of Defense organization to formulate and execute R&D projects that would expand the frontiers of technology beyond the immediate and specific requirements of the Military Services and their laboratories. In pursuit of this mission, DARPA has developed and transferred technology programs encompassing a wide range of scientific disciplines that address the full spectrum of national security needs.

From 1958 to 1965, ARPA's emphasis centered on major national issues, including space, ballistic missile defense, and nuclear test detection. During 1960, all of its civilian space programs were transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the military space programs to the individual services.

This allowed ARPA to concentrate its efforts on the Project Defender (defense against ballistic missiles), Project Vela (nuclear test detection), and Project AGILE (counterinsurgency R&D) programs, and to begin work on computer processing, behavioral sciences, and materials sciences. The DEFENDER and AGILE programs formed the foundation of DARPA sensor, surveillance, and directed energy R&D, particularly in the study of radar, infrared sensing, and x-ray/gamma ray detection.

ARPA at this point (1959) played an early role in Transit (also called NavSat) a predecessor to the Global Positioning System (GPS). "Fast-forward to 1959 when a joint effort between DARPA and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory began to fine-tune the early explorers' discoveries. TRANSIT, sponsored by the Navy and developed under the leadership of Richard Kirschner at Johns Hopkins, was the first satellite positioning system."

During the late 1960s, with the transfer of these mature programs to the Services, ARPA redefined its role and concentrated on a diverse set of relatively small, essentially exploratory research programs. The agency was renamed the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 1972, and during the early 1970s, it emphasized direct energy programs, information processing, and tactical technologies.

Concerning information processing, DARPA made great progress, initially through its support of the development of time-sharing. All modern operating systems rely on concepts invented for the Multics system, developed by a cooperation among Bell Labs, General Electric and MIT, which DARPA supported by funding Project MAC at MIT with an initial two-million-dollar grant.

DARPA supported the evolution of the ARPANET (the first wide-area packet switching network), Packet Radio Network, Packet Satellite Network and ultimately, the Internet and research in the artificial intelligence fields of speech recognition and signal processing, including parts of Shakey the robot. DARPA also supported the early development of both hypertext and hypermedia. DARPA funded one of the first two hypertext systems, Douglas Engelbart's NLS computer system, as well as The Mother of All Demos. DARPA later funded the development of the Aspen Movie Map, which is generally seen as the first hypermedia system and an important precursor of virtual reality.

Later history (1970–1980)
The Mansfield Amendment of 1973 expressly limited appropriations for defense research (through ARPA/DARPA) only to projects with direct military application.

The resulting "brain drain" is credited with boosting the development of the fledgling personal computer industry. Some young computer scientists left the universities to startups and private research laboratories such as Xerox PARC.

Between 1976 and 1981, DARPA's major projects were dominated by air, land, sea, and space technology, tactical armor and anti-armor programs, infrared sensing for space-based surveillance, high-energy laser technology for space-based missile defense, antisubmarine warfare, advanced cruise missiles, advanced aircraft, and defense applications of advanced computing.

Many of the successful programs were transitioned to the Services, such as the foundation technologies in automatic target recognition, space-based sensing, propulsion, and materials that were transferred to the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO), later known as the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), now titled the Missile Defense Agency (MDA).

Recent history (1981–present)
During the 1980s, the attention of the Agency was centered on information processing and aircraft-related programs, including the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) or Hypersonic Research Program. The Strategic Computing Program enabled DARPA to exploit advanced processing and networking technologies and to rebuild and strengthen relationships with universities after the Vietnam War. In addition, DARPA began to pursue new concepts for small, lightweight satellites (LIGHTSAT) and directed new programs regarding defense manufacturing, submarine technology, and armor/anti-armor.

In 1981, two engineers, Robert McGhee and Kenneth Waldron, started to develop the Adaptive Suspension Vehicle (ASV) nicknamed the "Walker" at the Ohio State University, under a research contract from DARPA. The vehicle was 17 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 10.5 feet high, and had six legs to support its three-ton aluminum body, in which it was designed to carry cargo over difficult terrains. However, DARPA lost interest in the ASV, after problems with cold-weather tests.

On February 4, 2004, the agency shut down its so called "LifeLog Project". The project's aim would have been, "to gather in a single place just about everything an individual says, sees or does".

On October 28, 2009, the agency broke ground on a new facility in Arlington County, Virginia a few miles from The Pentagon.

In fall 2011, DARPA hosted the 100-Year Starship Symposium with the aim of getting the public to start thinking seriously about interstellar travel.

On June 5, 2016, NASA and DARPA announced that it planned to build new X-planes with NASA's plan setting to create a whole series of X planes over the next 10 years.

Between 2014 and 2016, DARPA shepherded the first machine-to-machine computer security competition, the Cyber Grand Challenge (CGC), bringing a group of top-notch computer security experts to search for security vulnerabilities, exploit them, and create fixes that patch those vulnerabilities in a fully automated fashion. It is one of DARPA prize competitions to spur innovations.

In June 2018, DARPA leaders demonstrated a number of new technologies that were developed within the framework of the GXV-T program. The goal of this program is to create a lightly armored combat vehicle of not very large dimensions, which, due to maneuverability and other tricks, can successfully resist modern anti-tank weapon systems.

In September 2020, DARPA and the US Air Force announced that the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) are ready for free-flight tests within the next year.

Victoria Coleman became the director of DARPA in November 2020.

In recent years, DARPA officials have contracted out core functions to corporations. For example, during fiscal year 2020, Chenega ran physical security on DARPA's premises, System High Corp. carried out program security, and Agile Defense ran unclassified IT services. General Dynamics runs classified IT services. Strategic Analysis Inc. provided support services regarding engineering, science, mathematics, and front office and administrative work.

Current program offices
DARPA has six technical offices that manage the agency's research portfolio, and two additional offices that manage special projects. All offices report to the DARPA director, including:
 * The Defense Sciences Office (DSO): DSO identifies and pursues high-risk, high-payoff research initiatives across a broad spectrum of science and engineering disciplines and transforms them into important, new game-changing technologies for U.S. national security. Current DSO themes include novel materials and structures, sensing and measurement, computation and processing, enabling operations, collective intelligence, and global change.
 * The Information Innovation Office (I2O) aims to ensure U.S. technological superiority in all areas where information can provide a decisive military advantage.
 * The Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) core mission is the development of high-performance, intelligent microsystems and next-generation components to ensure U.S. dominance in Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR), Electronic Warfare (EW), and Directed Energy (DE). The effectiveness, survivability, and lethality of systems that relate to these applications depend critically on microsystems and components.
 * The Strategic Technology Office (STO) mission is to focus on technologies that have a global theater-wide impact and that involve multiple Services.
 * The Tactical Technology Office (TTO) engages in high-risk, high-payoff advanced military research, emphasizing the "system" and "subsystem" approach to the development of aeronautic, space, and land systems as well as embedded processors and control systems
 * The Biological Technologies Office (BTO) fosters, demonstrates, and transitions breakthrough fundamental research, discoveries, and applications that integrate biology, engineering, and computer science for national security. Created in April 2014 by then Director Arati Prabhakar, taking programs from the MTO and DSO offices.

Former offices
A 1991 reorganization created several offices which existed throughout the early 1990s:
 * The Adaptive Execution Office (AEO) was created in 2009 by the DARPA Director, Regina Dugan. The office's four project areas included technology transition, assessment, rapid productivity and adaptive systems. AEO provided the agency with robust connections to the warfighter community and assisted the agency with the planning and execution of technology demonstrations and field trials to promote adoption by the warfighter, accelerating the transition of new technologies into DoD capabilities.
 * Information Awareness Office: 2002–2003
 * The Advanced Technology Office (ATO) researched, demonstrated, and developed high payoff projects in maritime, communications, special operations, command and control, and information assurance and survivability mission areas.
 * The Special Projects Office (SPO) researched, developed, demonstrated, and transitioned technologies focused on addressing present and emerging national challenges. SPO investments ranged from the development of enabling technologies to the demonstration of large prototype systems. SPO developed technologies to counter the emerging threat of underground facilities used for purposes ranging from command-and-control, to weapons storage and staging, to the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction. SPO developed significantly more cost-effective ways to counter proliferated, inexpensive cruise missiles, UAVs, and other platforms used for weapon delivery, jamming, and surveillance. SPO invested in novel space technologies across the spectrum of space control applications including rapid access, space situational awareness, counterspace, and persistent tactical grade sensing approaches including extremely large space apertures and structures.
 * The Office of Special Development (OSD) in the 1960s developed a real-time remote sensing, monitoring, and predictive activity system on trails used by insurgents in Laos, Cambodia, and the Republic of Vietnam. This was done from an office in Bangkok, Thailand, that was ostensibly established to catalog and support the Thai fishing fleet, of which two volumes were published.  This is a personal recollection without a published citation.  A report on the ARPA group under which OSD operated is found here.
 * The Electronic Systems Technology Office combined areas of the Defense Sciences Office and the Defense Manufacturing Office. This new office will focus on the boundary between general-purpose computers and the physical world, such as sensors, displays and the first few layers of specialized signal-processing that couple these modules to standard computer interfaces.
 * The Software and Intelligent Systems Technology Office and the Computing Systems office will have responsibility associated with the Presidential High-Performance Computing Initiative. The Software office will also be responsible for "software systems technology, machine intelligence and software engineering."
 * The Land Systems Office was created to develop advanced land vehicle and anti-armor systems, once the domain of the Tactical Technology Office.
 * The Undersea Warfare Office combined areas of the Advanced Vehicle Systems and Tactical Technology offices to develop and demonstrate submarine stealth and counter-stealth and automation.

A 2010 reorganization merged two offices:
 * The Transformational Convergence Technology Office (TCTO) and the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO) were combined in 2010 to form the Information Innovation Office (I2O).
 * TCTO's mission was to develop new crosscutting capabilities from a broad range of emerging technological and social trends, particularly in areas related to computing and computing-reliant subareas of the life sciences, social sciences, manufacturing, and commerce.
 * IPTO focused on inventing the sensing, networking, computing, and software technologies vital to ensuring DOD military superiority.

Projects
A list of DARPA's active and archived projects is available on the agency's website. Because of the agency's fast pace, programs constantly start and stop based on the needs of the U.S. government. Structured information about some of the DARPA's contracts and projects is publicly available.

Active projects

 * AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And RecoverY X-Plane (ANCILLARY) (2022): The program is to develop and demonstrate a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) plane that can launch without the supporting infrastructure, with low-weight, high-payload, and long-endurance capabilities. In June 2023, DARPA selected nine companies to produce initial operational system and demonstration system conceptual designs for an uncrewed aerial system (UAS).
 * AI Cyber Challenge (AIxCC) (2023): It is a two-year competition to identify and fix software vulnerabilities using AI in partnership with Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI which will provide their expertise and their platforms for this competition. There will be a semifinal phase and the final phase. Both competitions will be held at DEF CON in Las Vegas in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
 * Air Combat Evolution (ACE) (2019): The goal of ACE is to automate air-to-air combat, enabling reaction times at machine speeds. By using human-machine collaborative dogfighting as its challenge problem, ACE seeks to increase trust in combat autonomy. Eight teams from academia and industry were selected in October 2019. In April 2024, DARPA and U.S. Air Force announced that ACE conducted the first-ever in-air dogfighting tests of AI algorithms autonomously flying an F-16 against a human-piloted F-16.
 * Air Space Total Awareness for Rapid Tactical Execution (ASTARTE) (2020): The program is conducted in partnership with the Army and Air Force on sensors, artificial intelligence algorithms, and virtual testing environments in order to create an understandable common operating picture when troops are spread out across battlefields
 * Atmospheric Water Extraction (AWE) program
 * Biomanufacturing: Survival, Utility, and Reliability beyond Earth (B-SURE) (2021): This program aims to address foundational scientific questions to determine how well industrial bio-manufacturing microorganisms perform in space conditions. International Space Station (ISS) announced in April 2023 that Rhodium-DARPA Biomanufacturing 01 investigation was launched on SpaceX, and ISS crew members are carrying out this project which examines gravity's effect on production of drugs and nutrients from bacteria and yeast.
 * Big Mechanism: Cancer research. (2015) The program aims to develop technology to read research abstracts and papers to extract pieces of causal mechanisms, assemble these pieces into more complete causal models, and reason over these models to produce explanations. The domain of the program is cancer biology with an emphasis on signaling pathways. It has a successor program called World Modelers.
 * Binary structure inference system: extract software properties from binary code to support repository-based reverse engineering for micro-patching that minimizes lifecycle maintenance and costs (2020).
 * Blackjack (2017): a program to develop and test military satellite constellation technologies with a variety of "military-unique sensors and payloads [attached to] commercial satellite buses. ...as an 'architecture demonstration intending to show the high military utility of global LEO constellations and mesh networks of lower size, weight, and cost spacecraft nodes.' ... The idea is to demonstrate that 'good enough' payloads in LEO can perform military missions, augment existing programs, and potentially perform 'on par or better than currently deployed exquisite space systems.'" Blue Canyon Technologies, Raytheon, and SA Photonics Inc. were working on phases 2 and 3 as of fiscal year 2020. On June 12, 2023 DARPA launched four satellites for a technology demonstration in low Earth orbit on the SpaceX Transporter-8 rideshare.
 * broadband, electro-magnetic spectrum receiver system: prototype and demonstration
 * BlockADE: Rapidly constructed barrier. (2014)
 * Captive Air Amphibious Transporter (CAAT)
 * Causal Exploration of Complex Operational Environments ("Causal Exploration") – computerized aid to military planning. (2018)
 * Clean-Slate Design of Resilient, Adaptive, Secure Hosts (CRASH), a DARPA Transformation Convergence Technology Office (TCTO) initiative
 * Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment (CODE): Modular software architecture for UAVs to pass information to each other in contested environments to identify and engage targets with limited operator direction. (2015)
 * Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (CRANE) (2019): The program seeks to demonstrate an experimental aircraft design based on active flow control (AFC), which is defined as on-demand addition of energy into a boundary layer in order to maintain, recover, or improve aerodynamic performance. The aim is for CRANE to generally improve aircraft performance and reliability while reducing cost. In May 2023, DARPA designated the experimental uncrewed aircraft the X-65 which will use banks of compressed air nozzles to execute maneuvers without traditional, exterior-moving flight controls.
 * Computational Weapon Optic (CWO) (2015): Computer rifle scope that combines various features into one optic.
 * DARPA Triage Challenge (DTC) (2023): The DTC will use a series of challenge events to spur development of novel physiological features for medical triage. The three-year competition focuses on improving emergency medical response in military and civilian mass casualty incidents.
 * DARPA XG (2005) : technology for Dynamic Spectrum Access for assured military communications.
 * Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) (2021): The program is to demonstrate a nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) in orbit by 2027 in collaboration with NASA (nuclear thermal engine) and U.S. Space Force (launch).
 * Detection system consisting of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)-based assays paired with reconfigurable point-of-need and massively multi-plexed devices for diagnostics and surveillance
 * Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI) (2019): Started in 2019, the initiative aims at both national security capabilities and commercial economic competitiveness and sustainability. These programs emphasize forward-looking partnerships with U.S. industry, the defense industrial base, and university researchers. In 2023, DARPA expanded ERI's focus with the announcement of ERI 2.0 seeking to reinvent domestic microelectronics manufacturing.
 * Experimental Spaceplane 1 (formerly XS-1): In 2017, Boeing was selected for Phases 2 and 3 for the fabrication and flight of a reusable unmanned space transport after it completed the initial design in Phase 1 as one of the three teams. In January 2020, Boeing ended its role in the program.
 * Fast Lightweight Autonomy: Software algorithms that enable small UAVs to fly fast in cluttered environments without GPS or external communications. (2014)
 * Fast Network Interface Cards (FastNICs): develop and integrate new, clean-slate network subsystems in order to speed up applications, such as the distributed training of machine learning classifiers by 100x. Perspecta Labs and Raytheon BBN were working on FastNICs as of fiscal year 2020.
 * Force Application and Launch from Continental United States (FALCON): a research effort to develop a small satellite launch vehicle. (2008) This vehicle is under development by AirLaunch LLC.
 * Gamma Ray Inspection Technology (GRIT) program: research and develop high-intensity, tunable, and narrow-bandwidth gamma ray production in compact, transportable form. This technology can be utilized for discovering smuggled nuclear material in cargo via new inspection techniques, and enabling new medical diagnostics and therapies. RadiaBeam Technologies LLC was working on a phase 1 of the program, Laser-Compton approach, in fiscal year 2020.
 * Glide Breaker program: technology for an advanced interceptor capable of engaging maneuvering hypersonic vehicles or missiles in the upper atmosphere. Northrop Grumman and Aerojet Rocketdyne were working on this program as of fiscal year 2020.
 * Gremlins (2015): Air-launched and recoverable UAVs with distributed capabilities to provide low-cost flexibility over expensive multirole platforms. In October 2021, two X-61 Gremlin air vehicles were tested at the Army's Dugway Proving Ground, Utah.
 * Ground X-Vehicle Technology (GXV-T) (2015): This program aims to improve mobility, survivability, safety, and effectiveness of future combat vehicles without piling on armor.
 * High Productivity Computing Systems
 * High Operational Temperature Sensors (HOTS)(2023): The program is to develop sensor microelectronics consisting of transducers, signal conditioning microelectronics, and integration that operate with high bandwidth (>1 MHz) and dynamic range (>90 dB) at extreme temperatures (i.e., at least 800 °C).
 * HIVE (Hierarchical Identify Verify Exploit) CPU architecture. (2017)
 * Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC). This program is a joint DARPA/U.S. Air Force effort that seeks to develop and demonstrate critical technologies to enable an effective and affordable air-launched hypersonic cruise missile.
 * Hypersonic Boost Glide Systems Research
 * Insect Allies (2017–2021)
 * Integrated Sensor is Structure (ISIS): This was a joint DARPA and U.S. Air Force program to develop a sensor of unprecedented proportions to be fully integrated into a stratospheric airship.
 * Intelligent Integration of Information (I3) in SISTO, 1994–2000 – supported database research and with ARPA CISTO and NASA funded the NSF Digital Library program, that led. a.o. to Google.
 * Joint All-Domain Warfighting Software (JAWS): software suite featuring automation and predictive analytics for battle management and command & control with tactical coordination for capture ("target custody") and kill missions. Systems & Technology Research of Woburn, Massachusetts, is working on this project, with an expected completion date of March 2022. Raytheon is also working on this project, with an expected completion date of April 2022.
 * Lasers for Universal Microscale Optical Systems (LUMOS): integrate heterogeneous materials to bring high performance lasers and amplifiers to manufacturable photonics platforms. As of fiscal year 2020, the Research Foundation for the State University of New York (SUNY) was working to enable "on-chip optical gain" to integrated photonics platforms, and enable complete photonics functionality "on a single substrate for disruptive optical microsystems."
 * LongShot (2021): The program is to demonstrate an unmanned air-launched vehicle (UAV) capable of employing air-to-air weapons. Phase 1 design work started in early 2021. In June 2023, DARPA awarded a Phase 3 contract to General Atomics for the manufacturing and a flight demonstration in 2025 of an air-launched, flying and potentially recoverable missile carrier.
 * Manta Ray: A 2020 DARPA program to develop a series of autonomous, large-size, unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) capable of long-duration missions and having large payload capacities. In December 2021, DARPA awarded Phase 2 contracts to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation and Martin Defense Group to work on subsystem testing followed by fabrication and in-water demonstrations of full-scale integrated vehicles.
 * By May 2024, Manta Ray was not only the descriptor for the DARPA R&D program, but was also the name of a specific prototype UUV built by Northrup Grumman, with initial tests conducted in the Pacific Ocean during 1Q2024. Manta Ray has been designed to be broken down and fit into 5 standard shipping containers, shipped to where it will be deployed, and be reassembled in the theatre of operations where it will be used. DARPA is working with the US Navy to further test and then transition the technology.

 * Media Forensics (MediFor): A project aimed at automatically spotting digital manipulation in images and videos, including Deepfakes. (2018). MediFor largely ended in 2020 and DARPA launched a follow-on program in 2021 called the semantic forensics, or SemaFor.
 * MEMS Exchange: Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) Implementation Environment (MX)
 * Millimeter-wave GaN Maturation (MGM) program: develop new GaN transistor technology to attain high-speed and large voltage swing at the same time. HRL Laboratories LLC, a joint venture between Boeing and General Motors, is working on phase 2 as of fiscal year 2020.
 * Modular Optical Aperture Building Blocks (MOABB) program (2015): design free-space optical components (e.g., telescope, bulk lasers with mechanical beam-steering, detectors, electronics) in a single device. Create a wafer-scale system that is one hundred times smaller and lighter than existing systems and can steer the optical beam far faster than mechanical components. Research and design electronic-photonic unit cells that can be tiled together to form large-scale planar apertures (up to 10 centimeters in diameter) that can run at 100 watts of optical power. The overall goals of such technology are (1) rapid 3D scanning using devices smaller than a cell-phone camera; (2) high-speed laser communications without mechanical steering; (3) and foliage-penetrating perimeter sensing, remote wind sensing, and long-range 3-D mapping. As of fiscal year 2020, Analog Photonics LLC of Boston, Massachusetts, was working on phase 3 of the program and is expected to finish by May 2022.
 * Multi- Azimuth Defense Fast Intercept Round Engagement System (MAD-FIRES) program: develop technologies that combine advantages of a missile (guidance, precision, accuracy) with advantages of a bullet (speed, rapid-fire, large ammunition capacity) to be used on a medium-caliber guided projectile in defending ships. Raytheon is currently working on MAD-FIRES phase 3 (enhance seeker performance, and develop a functional demonstration illuminator and engagement manager to engage and defeat a representative surrogate target) and is expected to be finished by November 2022.
 * Near Zero Power RF and Sensor Operations (N-ZERO): Reducing or eliminating the standby power unattended ground sensors consume. (2015)
 * Neural implants for soldiers. (2014)
 * Novel, nonsurgical, bi-directional brain-computer interface with high spacio-temporal resolution and low latency for potential human use.
 * Open, Programmable, Secure 5G (OPS-5G) (2020): The program is to address security risks of 5G networks by pursuing research leading to the development of a portable standards-compliant network stack for 5G mobile that is open source and secure by design. OPS-5G seeks to create open source software and systems that enable secure 5G and subsequent mobile networks such as 6G.
 * Operational Fires (OpFires): developing a new mobile ground-launched booster that helps hypersonic boost glide weapons penetrate enemy air defenses. As of 17 July 2020, Lockheed Martin was working on phase 3 of the program (develop propulsion components for the missile's Stage 2 section) to be completed by January 2022. The system was successfully tested in July 2022.
 * Persistent Close Air Support (PCAS): DARPA created the program in 2010 to seek to fundamentally increase Close Air Support effectiveness by enabling dismounted ground agents—Joint Terminal Attack Controllers—and combat aircrews to share real-time situational awareness and weapons systems data.
 * PREventing EMerging Pathogenic Threats (PREEMPT)
 * QuASAR: Quantum Assisted Sensing and Readout
 * QuBE: Quantum Effects in Biological Environments
 * QUEST: Quantum Entanglement Science and Technology
 * Quiness: Macroscopic Quantum Communications
 * QUIST: Quantum Information Science and Technology
 * RADICS: Rapid Attack Detection, Isolation and Characterization Systems
 * Rational Integrated Design of Energetics (RIDE): developing tools that speed up and facilitate energetics research.
 * Remote-controlled insects
 * Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites program (RSGS): a telerobotic and autonomous robotic satellite-servicing project, conceived in 2017. In 2020, DARPA selected Northrop Grumman's SpaceLogistics as its RSGS partner. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory designed and developed the RSGS robotic arm with DARPA funding. The RSGS system is anticipated to start servicing satellites in space in 2025.
 * Robotic Autonomy in Complex Environments with Resiliency (RACER) (2020): This is a four-year program and aims to make sure algorithms aren't the limiting part of the system and that autonomous combat vehicles can meet or exceed soldier driving abilities. RACER conducted its third experiment to assess the performance of off-road unmanned vehicles March 12-27, 2023.
 * SafeGenes: a synthetic biology project to program "undo" sequences into gene editing programs (2016)
 * Sea Train (2019): The program goal is to develop and demonstrate ways to overcome range limitations in medium unmanned surface vessels by exploiting wave-making resistance reductions. Applied Physical Sciences Corp. of Groton, Connecticut, is undertaking Phase 1 of the Sea Train program, with an expected completion date of March 2022. Sea Train, NOMARS and Manta Ray are the three programs that could significantly impact naval operations by extending the range and payloads for unmanned vessels on and below the surface.
 * Secure Advanced Framework for Simulation & Modeling (SAFE-SiM) program: build a rapid modeling and simulation environment to enable quick analysis in support of senior-level decision-making. As of fiscal year 2020, Radiance Technologies and L3Harris were working on portions of the program, with expected completion in August and September 2021, respectively.
 * Securing Information for Encrypted Verification and Evaluation (SIEVE) program: use zero knowledge proofs to enable the verification of capabilities for the US military "without revealing the sensitive details associated with those capabilities." Galois Inc. of Portland, Oregon, and Stealth Software Technologies of Los Angeles, California, are currently working on the SIEVE program, with a projected completion date of May 2024.
 * Semantic Forensics (SemaFor) program: develop technologies to automatically detect, attribute, and characterize falsified media (e.g., text, audio, image, video) to defend against automated disinformation. SRI International of Menlo Park, California, and Kitware Inc. of Clifton, New York, are working on the SemaFor program, with an expected completion date of July 2024.
 * Sensor plants: DARPA "is working on a plan to use plants to gather intelligence information" through DARPA's Advanced Plant Technologies (APT) program, which aims to control the physiology of plants in order to detect chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats. (2017)
 * Synthetic Hemo-technologIEs to Locate and Disinfect (SHIELD) (2023): The program aims to develop prophylaxes and prevent bloodstream infections (BSI) caused by bacterial/fungal agents, a threat to military and civilian populations.
 * SIGMA: A network of radiological detection devices the size of smart phones that can detect small amounts of radioactive materials. The devices are paired with larger detector devices along major roads and bridges. (2016)
 * SIGMA+ program (2018): by building on concepts theorized in the SIGMA program, develop new sensors and analytics to detect small traces of explosives and chemical and biological weaponry throughout any given large metropolitan area. In October 2021, SIGMA+ program, in collaboration with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD), concluded a three-month-long pilot study with new sensors to support early detection and interdictions of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats.
 * SoSITE: System of Systems Integration Technology and Experimentation: Combinations of aircraft, weapons, sensors, and mission systems that distribute air warfare capabilities across a large number of interoperable manned and unmanned platforms. (2015)
 * SSITH: System Security Integrated Through Hardware and Firmware - secure hardware platform (2017); basis for open-source, hack-proof voting system project and 2019 system prototype contract
 * SXCT: Squad X Core Technologies: Digitized, integrated technologies that improve infantry squads' awareness, precision, and influence. (2015)
 * SyNAPSE: Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics
 * Tactical Boost Glide (TBG): Air-launched hypersonic boost glide missile. (2016)
 * Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (Tern)(2014): The program seeks to develop ship based UAS systems and technologies to enable a future air vehicle that could provide persistent ISR and strike capabilities beyond the limited range and endurance provided by existing helicopter platforms.
 * TransApps (Transformative Applications), rapid development and fielding of secure mobile apps in the battlefield
 * ULTRA-Vis (Urban Leader Tactical Response, Awareness and Visualization): Heads-up display for individual soldiers. (2014)
 * underwater network, heterogeneous: develop concepts and reconfigurable architecture, leveraging advancement in undersea communications and autonomous ocean systems, to demonstrate utility at sea. Raytheon BBN is currently working on this program, with work expected through 4 May 2021, though if the government exercises all options on the contract then work will continue through 4 February 2024.
 * Upward Falling Payloads: Payloads stored on the ocean floor that can be activated and retrieved when needed. (2014)
 * Urban Reconnaissance through Supervised Autonomy (URSA) program: develop technology for use in cities to enable autonomous systems that U.S. infantry and ground forces operate to detect and identify enemies before U.S. troops come across them. Program will factor in algorithms, multiple sensors, and scientific knowledge about human behavior to determine subtle differences between hostiles and innocent civilians. Soar Technology Inc. of Ann Arbor, Michigan, is currently working on pertinent vehicle autonomy technology, with work expected completed by March 2022.
 * Warrior Web: Soft exosuit to alleviate musculoskeletal stress on soldiers when carrying heavy loads. (2014)
 * Waste Upcycling for Defense (WUD) (2023): to turn scrap wood, cardboard, paper, and other cellulose-derived matter into sustainable materials such as building materials for re-use.

Past or transitioned projects

 * 4MM (4-minute mile): Wearable jetpack to enable soldiers to run at increased speed.
 * Air Dominance Initiative: a 2015 program to develop technologies to be used in sixth-generation jet fighters. The Air Dominance Initiative study led to the U.S. Air Force's sixth-generation air superiority initiative, the Next Generation Air Dominance.
 * Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) (2010): A project to build an unmanned anti-submarine warfare vessel.
 * AGM-158C LRASM: Anti-ship cruise missile.
 * Adaptive Vehicle Make: Revolutionary approaches to the design, verification, and manufacturing of complex defense systems and vehicles.
 * ARPA Midcourse Optical Station (AMOS), a research facility that now forms part of the Haleakala Observatory.
 * ArcLight: Ship-based weapon system capable of striking targets nearly anywhere on the globe, based on the Standard Missile 3.
 * ARPANET, earliest predecessor of the Internet.
 * Assault Breaker: technology integration to defeat armored attacks
 * ASTOVL, precursor of the Joint Strike Fighter program
 * The Aspen Movie Map allowed one to virtually tour the streets of Aspen, Colorado. Developed in 1978, it is the earliest predecessor to products like Google Street View.
 * Atlas: A humanoid robot.
 * Battlefield Illusion
 * BigDog/Legged Squad Support System (2012): legged robots.
 * Boeing Pelican
 * Boeing X-37 (2004): The X-37 program was transferred from NASA to DARPA in September 2004.
 * The Boeing X-45 unmanned combat aerial vehicle refers to a mid-2000s concept demonstrator for autonomous military aircraft.
 * Boomerang (mobile shooter detection system): an acoustic gunfire locator developed by BBN Technologies for detecting snipers on military combat vehicles.
 * CALO or "Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes": software
 * Combat Zones That See (CTS): "track everything that moves" in a city by linking up a massive network of surveillance cameras
 * Cognitive Technology Threat Warning System (CT2WS) (2011)
 * Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS) (2017).
 * CPOF: the command post of the future—networked information system for Command control.
 * DAML
 * ALASA: (Airborne Launch Assist Space Access): A rocket capable of launching a 100-pound satellite into low Earth orbit for less than $1 million.
 * FALCON
 * DARPA Grand Challenge: driverless car competitions
 * DARPA GXV-T: Ground X Vehicle
 * Hydra: Undersea network of mobile unmanned sensors. (2013)
 * DARPA Network Challenge (before 2010)
 * DARPA Shredder Challenge 2011 – Reconstruction of shredded documents
 * DARPA Silent Talk: A planned program attempting to identify EEG patterns for words and transmit these for covert communications.
 * DARPA Spectrum Challenge (2014)
 * DEFENDER
 * Defense Simulation Internet, a wide-area network supporting Distributed Interactive Simulation
 * Discoverer II radar satellite constellation
 * EATR
 * EXACTO: Sniper rifle firing guided smart bullets.
 * GALE: Global Autonomous Language Exploitation
 * High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP): An ionospheric research program jointly funded by DARPA, the U.S. Air Force's AFRL and the U.S. Navy's NRL. The most prominent area during this research was the high-power radio frequency transmitter facility, which tested the use of the Ionospheric Research Instrument (IRI).
 * High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS) The goal of the HELLADS program was to develop a 150 kilowatt (kW) laser weapon system. In 2015, DARPA's contractor, General Atomics, successfully demonstrated a prototype. In 2020, General Atomics and Boeing announced to develop a 100 kW liquid laser system, with plans to scale it up to 250 kW.
 * High Performance Knowledge Bases
 * HISSS
 * Human Universal Load Carrier: battery-powered human exoskeleton.
 * Hypersonic Research Program
 * Luke Arm, a DEKA creation produced under the Revolutionizing Prosthetics program.
 * MAHEM: Molten penetrating munition.
 * MEMEX (2014-2017): an online search tool to fight human trafficking crimes on the dark web. In 2016, DARPA Memex program received the 2016 Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons for the development of the anti-trafficking technology tool. The program was named and inspired by the Vannevar Bush's hypothetical device described in his 1945 article.
 * MeshWorm: an earthworm-like robot.
 * Mind's Eye: A visual intelligence system capable of detecting and analyzing activity from video feeds.
 * MOSIS
 * MQ-1 Predator
 * Multics
 * Next Generation Tactical Wearable Night Vision: Smaller and lighter sunglass-sized night vision devices that can switch between different viewing bands.
 * NLS/Augment: the origin of the canonical contemporary computer user interface
 * Northrop Grumman Switchblade: an unmanned oblique-wing flying aircraft for high speed, long range and long endurance flight
 * One Shot: Sniper scope that automatically measures crosswind and range to ensure accuracy in field conditions.
 * Onion routing, a technique developed in the mid-1990s and later employed by Tor to anonymize communications over a computer network.
 * Passive radar
 * Phoenix: A 2012–early-2015 satellite project with the aim to recycle retired satellite parts into new on-orbit assets. The project was initiated in July 2012 with plans for system launches no earlier than 2016. At the time, Satlet tests in low Earth orbit were projected to occur as early as 2015.
 * Policy Analysis Market, evaluating the trading of information futures contracts based on possible political developments in several Middle Eastern countries. An application of prediction markets.
 * POSSE
 * Project AGILE, a Vietnam War-era investigation into methods of remote, asymmetric warfare for use in conflicts with Communist insurgents.
 * Project MAC
 * Proto 2: a thought-controlled prosthetic arm
 * Rapid Knowledge Formation
 * Sea Shadow
 * SIMNET: Wide area network with vehicle simulators and displays for real-time distributed combat simulation: tanks, helicopters and airplanes in a virtual battlefield.
 * System F6—Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated Free-flying Spacecraft United by Information Exchange—technology demonstrator: a 2006–2012
 * I3 (Intelligent Integration of Information), supported the Digital Library research effort through NSF
 * Strategic Computing Program
 * Synthetic Aperture Ladar for Tactical Applications (SALTI)
 * XOS: powered military exoskeleton $226 million technology development program. Cancelled in 2013 before the notionally planned 2015 launch date.
 * SURAN (1983–87)
 * Project Vela (1963)
 * UAVForge (2011)
 * Vertical Take-Off and Landing Experimental Aircraft (VTOL X-Plane) (2013)
 * Viet Cong Motivation and Morale Project (1964-1968)
 * Vulture: Long endurance, high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle.
 * VLSI Project (1978) – Its offspring include BSD Unix, the RISC processor concept, many CAD tools still in use today.
 * Walrus HULA: high-capacity, long range cargo airship.
 * Wireless Network after Next (WNaN), advanced tactical mobile ad hoc network
 * WolfPack (2010)
 * XDATA: Processing and analyzing vast amounts of information. (2012)
 * Rockwell-MBB X-31
 * Grumman X-29

Notable fiction
DARPA is well known as a high-tech government agency, and as such has many appearances in popular fiction. Some realistic references to DARPA in fiction are as "ARPA" in Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X (DARPA consults on a technical threat), in episodes of television program The West Wing (the ARPA-DARPA distinction), the television program Numb3rs, and the Netflix film Spectral.

title: DARPA