t the end of World War II, U.S. military officials knew they had a problem: Military communication was a mess. Communiqués about Japanese landings would get mixed up with messages about what officers had for breakfast. Politics plagued the military branches. Meanwhile, the U.S. faced a new and imposing threat from the Soviet Union. ✕ So, like any entrepreneur, President Eisenhower set to work finding a solution. In 1958, his administration created, within the Defense Department, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, or ARPA, and sought the brightest minds in academia to solve its communication problems. They envisioned a future when computers talked to one another through a network— one that would enable military officials to trade tactical updates and scientists to share research. The project was called the Arpanet. ✕ That network, the precursor to today's internet, inspired years of debate between military officials and academics about what its purpose should be and who should have access to it. Along the way, its pioneers designed the technology that now links, well, everything—and ensures the
