One of my favorite aspects of working in tech is how much we all love to “geek out.” Tech professionals (me included) take great pride in—and love to display—our “geekdom” for all to see and enjoy.
And my friends and colleagues working at various Federal agencies certainly aren’t afraid to showcase their inner geek—especially when it comes to science fiction! To find proof of this, one need only to look at some of the clever program names that many of our top agencies take on.
Here are some government program names that prove government technology professionals love to “geek” out over sci-fi.
The Kobayashi Maru cloud-based program was designed to simplify the way the U.S. Air Force – and now the U.S. Space force – track objects in space along with its allies in the “Five Eyes” intelligence sharing alliance. The program serves as a real-time data display of high-interest information pertaining to the global space community.
The Air Force named the program Kobayashi Maru after Captain James T. Kirk’s bending of a program by the same name in Star Trek.
The DoD’s General Purpose Enterprise Cloud, also known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) Cloud, was an initiative to deploy foundational cloud technology, while leveraging commercial parity, to the entire Department. While this program ended in 2021, it created a foundation for efficient data sharing via its evolutionary cross domain solution, advanced data analytics capabilities, and a cutting edge cybersecurity posture for the Department of Defense.
Whether intentional or purely coincidental, the visual of lightsaber wielding knights of the Star Wars universe is called to mind whenever this program is mentioned.
SKYNET is a program by the U.S. National Security Agency that performs machine learning analysis on communications data to extract information about possible terror suspects. The tool is used to identify targets, such as al-Qaeda couriers, who move between GSM cellular networks.
While NSA’s SKYNET is merely a surveillance program, one can’t help but recall the fictionally self-aware defense system by the same name in the Terminator series that goes rogue and launches a nuclear attack that destroys most of humanity.
While not exactly a nod to science fiction, this one is equally worthy of inclusion on our list. Biochronicity and Temporal Mechanisms Arising in Nature and Robustness of Biologically-Inspired Networks, or “BaTMAN” and “RoBIN” for short, were designed by DARPA to turn basic biology into a tool for better situational awareness and decision-making on both a micro and macro-scale, respectively.
Holy Acronyms, that was an impressive nod to the caped crusader and the boy wonder!
The Air Force’s software factory, Kessel Run, encourages service members to innovate and build their own tools and has saved millions of dollars for the Air Force while improving mission effectiveness and established best practices for military software development.
The program’s name is a clever nod to Han Solo’s bragged exploits of “making the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs” in Star Wars: A New Hope.
Operation Warp Speed was a public–private partnership initiated in 2020 by the United States government under the Trump Administration to facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. In 2021, the operation’s name was dissolved, and its operations absorbed into the responsibilities of the White House COVID-19 Response Team under the Biden Administration.
Though the mildly macho choice came with mixed reviews, the nod to Star Trek’s own Warp Speed was memorably noted in Operation Warp Speed’s naming.
Business and Enterprise Systems Product Innovation, or BESPIN, is a recent USAF agile development labs that was launched at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama and focuses on creating mobile and desktop apps for maintenance crew chiefs, aircrew readiness, and ammunition crews.
The initiative was named for the fictional gas planet in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. However, I don’t suspect there are any Ugnaughts on the project’s 60 member coding team.
You can get lost with all the clever sci-fi names adopted by government agencies. Are there any other “geeky” names that come to mind? Share yours in the comments below!