IARPA Retrospective Teaser

Enjoy this preview of IARPA: Disbelief to Doubt Episode 2! In this retrospective episode, you'll hear former IARPA Director Dr. Jason Matheny talk about what it means to be a Force Multiplier as an IARPA Program Manager and discuss lessons learned over a decade of IARPA research breakthroughs. 

Part 1 drops on November 4th followed by Part 2 on November 18th. Learn more and listen in at IARPA.gov/podcast!

What is IARPA: Disbelief to Doubt?

IARPA: Disbelief to Doubt explores the history and accomplishments of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) through the lens of some of the most impactful current and past programs and the people who worked on them in IARPA's technical offices of Collection and Analysis. In each episode, Program Managers (PMs), technical staff, and research performers will offer candid insights into their personal journeys, what led them to IARPA, and how the unique mission of the organization enables them to be force multipliers as they tackle some of the most difficult cross-community scientific challenges.

Jason Matheny: Well, I think the thing that most attracted me to the program manager role at IARPA was that there were problems that I as an individual researcher felt like I couldn't solve. I wasn't smart enough and I didn't have a way of multiplying myself and my hours such that I could accomplish what I wanted to.

So coming to IARPA as a program manager, the attraction was that I could multiply my research effort by funding a hundred scientists and engineers who were smarter than me, who could spend more time working on this problem than I could alone and solve problems that I wouldn't have been able to.