Top Pentagon Geek Caught in Shady Deal

The head of the Pentagon’s premier research division used her position to peddle her own company’s wares. That’s the conclusion of a three-year investigation by the Department of Defense’s Inspector General, who ruled that former DARPA Director Regina Dugan “violated” the Pentagon’s Joint Ethics Regulation prohibition “against using her government position for the stated or implied endorsement of a product, service, or enterprise.” During her DARPA tenure, the agency handed out $1.75 million in contracts to the bomb-detection firm RedX Defense, the firm she founded and co-owned. Dugan today serves as an executive at Google. “At no time did Dr. Dugan use her position as the director of DARPA to make any endorsement—explicit or implied,” a company spokesperson told Military Times. The Defense Department Inspector General begs to differ.