DARPA renames two technical offices to broaden research scope and tackle urgent problems

Tom Shortridge, host of the podcast Voices from DARPA, said the agency recently changed two office names to reflect shifts in mission and mind‑set: the Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) has expanded into the MultiX Office (MXO), and the Information Innovation Office (ISWO) will be known again as the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO).

Jonathan Hoffman, deputy director of MXO, said the change is intended to free program managers to make broader bets. "If our name is inhibiting them and telling us that we can't work on something that is the thing that the department needs, then we have a problem," Hoffman said, arguing the label should not constrain projects aimed at strategic needs.

Whitney Mason, introduced in the episode as a former MTO director, described a concrete example that helped crystallize the shift: the SMASH program’s ambition to "take any ore that you have and extract every single element out of it at high purity" and to do so "at exactly the same efficiency that you're able to do one material right now." Mason said a staff comment that such work "isn't a microsystem" highlighted the need to broaden what the office could pursue and prompted the redefinition to MXO.

Leaders said MXO will preserve MTO’s legacy strengths — sensors, communications and compute — while treating silicon as "a tool in the toolbox, not the core tool of the toolbox." Mason said MXO will embrace multidisciplinary, multiscale approaches that include physics, chemistry and biology in addition to photonics, quantum sensors and batteries to enable new discovery at interfaces between fields.

On the computing and information side, JF Mergin, identified as deputy director of the office now called IPTO, described a "period of great technological ferment" driven by advancements such as artificial intelligence and ubiquitous, high‑bandwidth sensing. Pat Lincoln, introduced as director of the office, said reviving the IPTO name recalls the office’s 1960s legacy in AI, networking and complex systems and signals an intent to "reconsider the foundations of artificial intelligence and other areas."

Lincoln outlined three technical thrusts for IPTO: exploiting AI toward smaller, lower‑power algorithms that can operate at the edge rather than requiring large server rooms; building inherent cybersecurity and privacy protections into systems that handle sensitive data; and studying resilient "megasystems" — extremely large, highly interconnected systems such as power grids or very large UAV swarms — to understand emergent behaviors and methods for control.

Leaders emphasized that the renames are intended to drive a mindset shift rather than replace DARPA’s culture of risk taking. "The name's not gonna change us, but the name may change how we think about what our responsibilities are," Mergin said. Panelists also said the offices will seek to broaden the performer base and transition partners to include startups and non‑defense companies in sectors such as agriculture and pharmaceuticals, and to recruit problem solvers from a wider set of disciplines.

The episode closes with host Tom Shortridge noting that MXO and IPTO are the latest examples of DARPA "pulling up the floorboards and reshaping itself to make sure it's always ready to drive whatever comes next," and refers listeners to show notes for links to more information on the offices.