Terry Bollinger

Who is Terry Bollinger?

Terry Benton Bollinger is an American computer scientist who works at the MITRE Corporation. In 2003 he wrote an influential report for the U.S. Department of Defense in which he showed that free and open source software had already become a vital part of the United States Department of Defense software infrastructure, and that banning or restricting its use would have had serious detrimental impacts on DoD security, research capabilities, operational capabilities, and long-term cost efficiency. His report ended a debate about whether FOSS should be banned from U.S. DoD systems, and in time helped lead to the current official U.S. DoD policy of treating FOSS and proprietary software as equals. The report is referenced on the DoD CIO web site and has been influential in promoting broader recognition of the importance of free and open source software in government circles. Bollinger is also known for his activity in the IEEE Computer Society, where he was an editor for IEEE Software for six years, wrote the founding charter for IEEE Security & Privacy Magazine, and received an IEEE Third Millennium Medal for lifetime contributions to IEEE.