The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency - Hardcover

"As comprehensive as it is critical, this latest expose from Jacobsen is perhaps her most important work to date.... Jacobsen persuasively shows that it in fact happened and aptly frames the dilemma.... Rife with hypocrisy, lies, and deceit, Jacobsen's story explores a conveniently overlooked bit of history." "Publishers Weekly (starred)"" "Important, superbly written.... Jacobsen's book allows us to explore these questions with the ultimate tool: hard evidence. She confronts us with the full extent of Paperclip's deal with the devil, and it's difficult to look away." "Matt Damsker, USA Today (4 stars)"" "With Annie Jacobsen's OPERATION PAPERCLIP for the first time the enormity of the effort has been laid bare. The result is a book that is at once chilling and riveting, and one that raises substantial and difficult questions about national honor and security...This book is a remarkable achievement of investigative reporting and historical writing." "Boston Globe"" "Chilling, compelling, and comprehensive accounting.... Jacobsen's impressive book plumbs the dark depths of this postwar recruiting and shows the historical truths behind the space race and postwar US dominance. Highly recommended for readers in World War II history, espionage, government cover-ups, or the Cold War." "Library Journal (starred)"" Praise for The Pentagon's Brain "Annie Jacobsen's considerable talents as an investigative journalist prove indispensable in uncovering the remarkable history of one of America's most powerful and clandestine military research agencies. And she is a great storyteller, making the tantalizing tale of "The Pentagon's Brain" -- from the depths of the Cold War to present day -- come alive on every page." "Gerald Posner, author of "God's Bankers""" ""The Pentagon's Brain "puts Jacobsen in the company of important writers ... such as Shane Harris and Rajiv Chandrasekran." "Chris Bray, "Bookforum""" "The Pentagon's Brain puts Jacobsen in the company of important writers ... such as Shane Harris and Rajiv Chandrasekran."--Chris Bray, Bookforum "Annie Jacobsen has a gift for unearthing secret, long-buried information."--Mary Ann Gwinn, Seattle Times "A fascinating and sometimes uneasy exploration of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency...."--Dina Temple-Raston, The Washington Post "Jacobsen offers a definitive history of the clandestine agency.... She explores the implications of DARPA work on technology that will not be widely known to the public for generations but will certainly impact national security and concepts of war."--Vanessa Bush, Booklist (starred review) "Filled with the intrigue and high stakes of a spy novel, Jacobsen's history of DARPA is as much a fascinating testament to human ingenuity as it is a paean to endless industrial warfare and the bureaucracy of the military-industrial complex."--Kirkus Reviews "An exciting read that asks an important question: what is the risk of allowing lethal technologies to be developed in secret?"--Ann Finkbeiner, Nature "In this fascinating and terrifying account, Annie Jacobsen regales us with the stories behind the agency's 'consequential and sometimes Orwellian' innovations, including autonomous weapons systems--killer robots that could decide, without human intervention, who lives and who dies."--Bryan Schatz, Mother Jones "Annie Jacobsen's considerable talents as an investigative journalist prove indispensable in uncovering the remarkable history of one of America's most powerful and clandestine military research agencies. And she is a great storyteller, making the tantalizing tale of The Pentagon's Brain -- from the depths of the Cold War to present day -- come alive on every page."--Gerald Posner, author of God's Bankers "Jacobsen's account will serve as the model for histories of military research and development and is likely to lead to more works and articles about DARPA.... Engrossing, conversation-starting read..."--Library Journal "A fascinating and unsettling portrait of the secretive U.S. government agency....Jacobsen walks a fine line in telling the story of the agency and its innovations without coming across as a cheerleader or a critic, or letting the narrative devolve into a salacious tell-all. Jacobsen's ability to objectively tell the story of DARPA, not to mention its murky past, is truly remarkable, making for a terrifically well-crafted treatise on the agency most Americans know next to nothing about." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) Pulitzer Prize Finalist in History One of The Washington Post's Notable Nonfiction Books of 2015 One of The Boston Globe's Best Books of 2015 One of Amazon's Top 100 Books of 2015 "A brilliantly researched account of a small but powerful secret government agency whose military research profoundly affects world affairs."--The Pulitzer Prize Committee Pulitzer Prize Finalist in History One of The Washington Post's Notable Nonfiction Books of 2015 One of The Boston Globe's Best Books of 2015 One of Amazon's Top 100 Books of 2015 "A brilliantly researched account of a small but powerful secret government agency whose military research profoundly affects world affairs." "The Pulitzer Prize Committee"" One of The Washington Post's Notable Nonfiction Books of 2015 One of The Boston Globe's Best Books of 2015 One of Amazon's Top 100 Books of 2015 "Annie Jacobsen's considerable talents as an investigative journalist prove indispensable in uncovering the remarkable history of one of America's most powerful and clandestine military research agencies. And she is a great storyteller, making the tantalizing tale of "The Pentagon's Brain" -- from the depths of the Cold War to present day -- come alive on every page." "Gerald Posner, author of "God's Bankers""" Praise for The Pentagon's Brain "Annie Jacobsen's considerable talents as an investigative journalist prove indispensable in uncovering the remarkable history of one of America's most powerful and clandestine military research agencies. And she is a great storyteller, making the tantalizing tale of "The Pentagon's Brain" -- from the depths of the Cold War to present day -- come alive on every page." "Gerald Posner, author of "God's Bankers""" Praise for Operation Paperclip "The most in depth account yet of the lives of Paperclip recruits and their American counterparts.... Jacobsen deftly untangles the myriad German and American agencies and personnel involved...more gripping and skillfully rendered are the stories of American and British officials who scoured defeated Germany for Nazi scientists and their research." "New York Times Book Review""

No one has ever written the history of the Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military science R&D agency. In this first-ever, in depth account of the organization, New York Times bestselling author Annie Jacobsen draws on inside sources, exclusive interviews, private documents, and declassified memos to paint a picture of DARPA, or "the Pentagon's brain," from its Cold War inception in 1958 to the present. This is the book on DARPA-- a compelling narrative about the clandestine intersection of science and the American military and the often frightening results.