(A Good long read). An Ars Technica history of the Internet, part 1

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

8. ARPA projects changed the world

My late father’s tech/communications firm he worked for did ARPA
Projects

ARPA helped the USA develop new technologies,
New fast track development.

Now, today..Trumo is trashing EVERYTHING in US government that
Made America Great.

ARPA made America Great.

It changed its name to DARPA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA

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.[5] 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.[6]

The Economist has called DARPA "the agency that shaped the modern world",

(………)

ARPA's first director, Roy Johnson, left a $160,000 management job at General Electric for an $18,000 job at ARPA.[14][15] Herbert York from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was hired as his scientific assistant.[16]

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.[17] 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.[18] Ruina, the first scientist to administer ARPA, managed to raise its budget to $250 million.[19] 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.[20]