Gore and the Internet: The Real Story
by Warren Stuart
In March of 1999 while appearing on a CNN program hosted
by Wolf Blitzer, Al Gore briefly alluded to his role in the
development of the Internet. This comment became controversial
overnight and was used to the former Vice President's disadvantage
during the 2000 campaign. However the controversy generated
went beyond political zealotry and calls into question journalistic
as well as scientific ethics.
Because, contrary to what has been commonly assumed, Al Gore
had a valid point, if one were to examine what he actually
said and compare it to what actually happened. Then one is
left to conclude that there is no other logical choice but
Al Gore for this particular achievement.
His exact words were "During my service in the United States
Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet".
The word create has more than one meaning, while it does mean
to invent, this term can be rejected because it did not make
sense in the context of the conversation. The U.S. Congress
is not a research facility, nor is Al Gore an inventor.
The word create also means to produce, and clearly this is
the word form that Al Gore intended. When the Internet was
ready to be built, he took the initiative for appropriating
funding for it. Since this is what Congressmen do, it wasn't
a major point. This is underscored by the fact that Mr. Blitzer
did not follow-up on this statement, instead he switched topics
to discuss Libby Dole's presidential prospects.
When was the Internet ready to be built? According to Vinton
Cerf, a man regarded as one of the founding fathers of the
Internet "The first demonstration of the triple network Internet
took place in July 1977". This was the SATNET experiment of
which Mr. Cerf was the Project Manager. Interestingly, Larry
Roberts (another founding father of the Internet) places the
date for this experiment in October of 1977.
Mr. Cerf referred to this as the "Birth of the Internet"
because it overcame a major obstacle that had stood in the
way of development. This obstacle was known as "The Internet
Problem", Mr. Cerf had been introduced to this problem by
a Mr. Bob Kahn in 1972. The Internet Problem most likely grew
out of the work that Mr. Paul Baran, (a researcher for the
RAND Corp), did in the early sixties. What it required was
that a user should have the capability to send a message anywhere
at anytime without having to be aware of the underlying technology.
So even though researchers had the capability of sending
messages since 1969, it still, required the user to be very
much aware of the underlying technology. And since the requisite
number of links and nodes for an internet to be established
did not exist at all. It meant that researchers had to be
creative in order to solve this problem, which is why in the
early seventies technology shifted from wire to radio to deal
with this limitation. (Once this problem was solved, researchers
immediately went back to wire-based technology).
Which means that the earliest date at which construction
of the Internet could begin was in 1977. And not only was
Al Gore on the committee that would have appropriated funding
for this, but even Newt Gringich has acknowledged that he
was also the one with the strongest interest in this area.
It has been argued that this is irrelevant because the Internet
had been planned out years in advance and was just following
its normal projected growth. As will be shown, this is a mistaken
In order for SATNET to proceed, the military would have had
to field test the equipment first. In 1977 they were at least
3 years away from doing this. However in July of that year
a remarkable thing happened. An Army agency called TACCTA
(Tactical Commanders Terrain Analysis, III Corps and Ft. Hood)
was conducting a preliminary experiment called TOSS (Tactical
Operations System Staff) in which computers were installed
in Combat Infantry Vehicles.
During the course of this experiment participants from the
S2 (Intelligence) Offices of the 2nd Battalion 7th U.S. Cavalry
and the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, took the
initiative to power up the equipment in their vehicles while
engaged in simulated combat maneuvers. And for the first time
sent computerized messages via packet radio transmission,
under combat conditions. These individuals were not aware
of the underlying technology and by demonstrating the capability
of sending messages anywhere at anytime, they not only field
tested the equipment but, in so doing they solved the Internet
It was noted before that there was a discrepancy in dates
for the SATNET experiment, Larry Roberts claimed that it took
place in October, and Vinton Cerf stated that it was in July.
What is unusual about this is that the TOSS exercise also
took place in July. If researchers were given the go-ahead
to conduct the SATNET experiment on short notice, one would
expect that it would take several months for them to assemble
the equipment and manpower to do so.
Field testing this equipment years ahead of schedule amounted
to a technological breakthrough because it pushed up the researchers
timetable as well. Allowing researchers to supplant military
personnel in key areas of development. This civilian presence
is what enabled the Internet to split off from the military
in the early eighties.
Since the Federal Budget is approved on a year to year basis,
and the Internet was not anticipated for years to come, it
would be unrealistic to expect that funding for it would have
existed at the time. It would have to be created.
Had the internet developed according to its projected growth
path, it most likely would still be a classified military
project. Instead in the late seventies, its development skyrocketed
eventually doubling in growth every year. Al Gore would have
had to have a major role in this. Why this wasn't brought
out and fully explained during the past election campaign
is a mystery that speaks volumes about the journalistic ethics
of the present time.
Equally puzzling is the scientific community's inability
to assign credit to those who rightfully deserve it. And unfortunately
there is a pattern that has emerged in this regard as well.
The Internet did not start out as a single research project,
but was instead originally conducted by 3 separate research
facilities, who, (supposedly) had no knowledge of each others
involvement. These were the MIT group, the RAND Corp. and
NPL (National Physical Laboratory of Britain).
Paul Baran, was a researcher at the RAND Corp. whose work
mainly focused on re-establishing communications in the event
of catastrophic losses suffered in nuclear war. He published
"On Distributed Communication" in 1964, which laid the groundwork
for packet switching technology. This was a way of taking
data, disassembling it into discrete packets and transporting
it over a line and reassembling it somewhere else. This was
the culmination of years of research in which he had published
extensively. He chaired numerous seminars to discuss his research.
This information was freely disseminated to anyone who had
an interest in it. Which would have included a Dr. Donald
Davies (or one of his staff) of NPL. Who, despite not having
published a thing beforehand, managed to produce research
in 1965 that bore a striking resemblance to that of Mr. Baran's,
only with different terminology.
The MIT group (and associates) was primarily focused on research
and not nuclear warfare scenarios. They did the research and
are the ones most responsible for inventing the Internet.
However in 1967 they had a conference with the other two groups
to consolidate their research. As a result they decided to
incorporate Dr. Davies work by adopting his terminology. In
effect negating the extensive research conducted by Mr. Baran.
So a pattern has emerged, whether it be a politician like
Mr. Gore, a researcher like Mr. Baran, or the soldiers who
risked their lives field testing dangerous equipment. The
tendency has been to diminish or ignore the accomplishments
of others and not share credit where it is due.