LWN.net: DARPA Cancels OpenBSD Funding

[Anonymous <cripto_(_at_)_ecn_(_dot_)_org>]

http://lwn.net/Articles/29186/

LWN.net Weekly Edition for April 24, 2003

[LWN subscriber-only content]

DARPA Cancels OpenBSD Funding

[This article was contributed by Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

If you follow the news at all, you've probably already heard about the 
OpenBSD project losing the funding from the U.S. Defense Advanced 
Research Projects Agency (DARPA). What's less than clear is why the 
funding has been pulled. In fact, it's quite a test to figure out who's 
actually responsible for pulling the plug, much less the reason. DARPA 
is, essentially, just an intermediate agency for the funding, which is 
passed on to the University of Pennsylvania. The funds themselves come 
from the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Most speculation has gone to comments made by OpenBSD project leader 
Theo de Raadt. The comments in question come from an interview in The 
Globe and Mail, where de Raadt is quoted as saying he's "uncomfortable" 
about the source of the grant. De Raadt also told the Globe and Mail 
that, "I try to convince myself that our grant means a half of a cruise 
missile doesn't get built," which might not sit well with U.S. military 
types. A few days after the comment appeared in the Globe and Mail, de 
Raadt was contacted by University of Pennsylvania professor Jonathan 
Smith. According to de Raadt, Smith objected to the comment, but 
wouldn't give a specific reason why. The funding was pulled on Thursday 
of last week.

If that is the reason for the cancellation, it's not the official story 
from DARPA, in as much as DARPA has or will give an official story. A 
statement forwarded to LWN by de Raadt, attributed to DARPA 
spokesperson Jan Walker, claims that the funding is under review. As a 
result of the DARPA review of the project, and due to world events and 
the evolving threat posed by increasingly capable nation-states, the 
Government [sic] on April 21 advised the University to suspend work on 
the "security fest" portion of the project.

Walker did not respond to e-mails or phone calls requesting 
confirmation of this statement or requests to elaborate on or clarify 
the statement.

The most immediate consequence is that the OpenBSD project has had the 
rug pulled out from under them with regards to the upcoming hackathon 
in Canada. 60 OpenBSD developers are scheduled to travel to Canada for 
the event, almost all of whom have already purchased tickets based on a 
go-ahead given in January. The hotel was contacted and told to cancel 
the reservation, despite the fact that an 80% cancellation fee is in 
effect. According to de Raadt, this amounts to about $24,000 Canadian. 
De Raadt also reports that the hotel was instructed not to allow anyone 
to pay the remaining balance to keep the reservation. However, de Raadt 
said that the hotel has agreed to cut the OpenBSD project a deal for 
the hackathon, even if they cannot apply the cancellation fee to the 
bill.

Fernando Pereira, chairman of the Department of Computer and 
Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania sent this 
statement to the OpenBSD "misc" mailing list to explain why the 
cancellation fee cannot be used towards the hotel costs:

When the contracting agency requested that work be stopped on the 
security fests component of POSSE, the only expenses that they would 
still allow are documented losses to the conference hotel due to 
cancellation. Any other use of funds, including use of the cancellation 
costs in partial support of conference accommodation, would not be an 
allowable contract expense. Contrary to a widespread misconception, the 
University of Pennsylvania could not have "allowed" that use of US 
Government funds. The funds belong to the US Government, not to the 
University.

Apparently, quite a few people in the OpenBSD community have already 
sent letters of protest to the University of Pennsylvania, newspapers 
and other sources. If you'd like to write a letter to complain or 
comment on the decision to official sources, de Raadt notes that it's 
helpful to have the contract number. The contract was granted by the 
Air Force Research Lab, Material Command, and is DARPA contract number 
F30602-01-2-0537.

With the exception of the hackathon, the loss of funding may not be as 
dramatic as it sounds. On Monday, de Raadt said that the OpenBSD 
project had already received about $7,000 in donations, and more was 
"in the mail." The OpenBSD project has been around for eight years, and 
has done just fine without the DARPA funding. In addition, the funding 
was set to run out within four months anyway and de Raadt noted that he 
works through a Canadian contracting company that should ensure that he 
receives the rest of his pay for the next four months. The major losers 
appear to be the University of Pennsylvania grad students who were also 
receiving money from the grant, as well as the 60 OpenBSD developers 
who are wondering whether there will be a place for them to stay when 
they arrive at the hackathon.

Copyright (c) 2003, Eklektix, Inc.