Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Strategic Computing Initiative was a United States government program that funded research into advanced computer hardware and artificial intelligence from 1983 to 1993. It was administered by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and directed by the Information Processing Technology Office. The Department of Defense spent a total of $1 billion on the project.
Japan's fifth generation computer project was the direct inspiration. The American government viewed the Japanese program, which set aside billions for computing and AI research, as a challenge to US technological dominance, similar to how it had viewed the Soviet Sputnik launch in 1957.
By 1985, the Strategic Computing Initiative had spent $100 million and supported 92 projects across 60 institutions. Half of those institutions were in industry, and the other half were in universities and government laboratories.
Jack Schwarz, who became head of the Information Processing Technology Office in 1987, cut artificial intelligence funding deeply because he believed DARPA should concentrate resources only on the most promising technologies. He argued that AI was not "the next wave" and that DARPA should "surf" rather than "dog paddle."
DART, the Dynamic Analysis and Replanning Tool, used artificial intelligence to manage military logistics. Introduced in 1991 and used during Desert Storm, it saved the Department of Defense billions of dollars. By 1995, its savings were calculated to equal all DARPA funding directed at AI research over the previous 30 years combined.
The Autonomous Land Vehicle program, developed under the Strategic Computing Initiative, pioneered the combination of video cameras, laser scanners, and inertial navigation units. Working alongside Carnegie Mellon University's Navlab project, it laid the technical foundation for later programs including the DARPA Grand Challenge. These methods form the basis of almost all commercial driverless car developments today.