DARPA, the Pentagon's research arm which until recently was under the direction of John Poindexter, and which was responsible for the outrageous Total Information Awareness (TIA) Program-- has had its budget slashed by more than $100 million dollars by the Senate. Noah Shachtman at Wired News has the details of what gets cut.

The Senate bill eliminates $103 million from the Information Awareness Office's $169 million requested budget, wiping out controversial programs like Human Identification at a Distance, Darpa's effort to identify potential suspects by the way they walk.

Other projects have been shelved in the Senate bill, as well. Funds from Darpa helped launch Duke University's Center for Neuroengineering, where Craig Henriquez was one of a team of researchers developing techniques to control mechanical limbs using brain power alone. In a widely cited paper in Nature, Henriquez's colleagues showed how a monkey, implanted with a series of electrodes in its brain, could move a robotic arm -- just by thinking about it.

Some DARPA programs may be worthwhile, such as one to study the effects of sleep deprivation and ways to combat it. But, it looks like the baby will be thrown out with the bath water. In our view, Poindexter tarnished the reputation of the agency, making Congress skeptical of just about everything bearing its name. Good riddance, Admiral.