Career
In 2003 he wrote an influential report for the United States. Department of Defense (United States Department of Defense ) in which he showed that free and open source software (FOSS) 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 Department of Defense security, research capabilities, operational capabilities, and long-term cost efficiency. His report ended a debate about whether FOSS should be banned from United States. Department of Defense systems, and in time helped lead to the current official United States. Department of Defense policy of treating FOSS and proprietary software as equals. The report is referenced on the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer web site and has been influential in promoting broader recognition of the importance of free and open source software in government circles.
He has written about a wide range of software issues including effective development processes, cyber security, and distributed intelligence.
He has had a lifelong interest in multi-component (crowd) intelligence as an aspect of artificial intelligence, as well as a strong interest in the hard sciences, including the possible relevance of quantum theory to faster but fully classical, energy-efficient information processing in biological systems His metaphors for understanding quantum entanglement and encryption have been quoted in the Russian technical press
From 2004 to 2010, Bollinger was the chief technology analyst for the United States. Department of Defense Defense Venture Catalyst Initiative (DeVenCI), an effort created by the Secretary of Defense after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. DeVenCI selects qualified applicants from leading venture capital firms to contribute voluntary time and expertise to finding emerging commercial companies and technologies that could be relevant to Department of Defense technology needs.
Bollinger currently works full-time for the Office of Naval Research (Office of Naval Research) research arm of the Marine Corps, where he helps assess and support research into the science of autonomy, robotics, and artificial intelligence.