Great article from Wired discussing the increased use of Open Source technologies within the defense industry. I think its a perfect match. The example in the article mentioned that an entire project failed because a single contractor controlled the system. Seems that an open-source (albeit defense internal) project would have prevented this. Open source software is continuously forked if a single developer/organization fails. The main purpose (or mission) of the software never collapses, but instead evolves.
Link here: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/08/cia-software-developer-goes-open-source-insteadv
