As a PhD student in computer science, I would rather give up computers for the rest of my life and work on a farm rather than have my work help kill or torture more people. At least in my research community, working for DARPA is thought of as selling out to work for conservative bastards. Sure, you get lots of funding and the coolest toys, but for most people it's about hot ideas, not gear. If instead we were talking about major government programs to develop massive renewable energy resources, provide clean water or more food, I think the application process would quickly become very competitive. Oh, and it would probably increase American security, both physical and economic, an order of magnitude faster as well. Put the money into the NSF, the NIH and the part of the department of energy that actually does renewable energy research.