CNet has an interesting story today about DARPA and its two recent high-profile, and highly criticized, projects; the Total Information Awareness (aka Terrorist Information Awareness) and FutureMAP projects.
Now, I'm personally against both of these (I believe the TIA goes to far and can easily be exploited, and FutureMAP is just asking for trouble from foreign nations), but I agree with the author that DARPA itself is a highly regarded and necessary agency.
Read the full story for more thoughts on this.