The Network Working Group maintains its open system of discussion via RFCs and e-mail lists. Discomfort grows with the bureaucratic style of DCA.
The Department of Energy creates its own net to support its own research. This net operates over dedicated lines connecting each site to the computer centers at the National Laboratories.
NASA begins planning its own space physics network, SPAN. These networks have connections to the ARPANET so the newly developed TCP protocol begins to get a workout. Internally, however, the new networks use such a variety of protocols that true interoperability is still an issue.