Pamela,
No areas of the Pentagon are "converted" to time travel. I am one of the Directors of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) within the Department of Defense. Although we have always been responsible for research and development of new technologies, throughout the history of our segment of government, our name has changed from ARPA to DARPA and vice versa (as we became part of the Defense Department working on military projects). We are still heavily involved in military R&D and keep the "D" in our name, however we are not solely dedicated to military projects.
There are only two fully-functioning machines, and as they were developed between the US, EU, and Japan, yes, they are both exactly the same.
The Large Hadron Collider does not play a role in travel itself, but a handful of scientists involved with CERN were also involved in the travel technology.
The International Time Initiative was formed between countries who are allies of the United States. At the same time, an agreement was signed in Belgium (the Ostend Convention) which provided obligations and liabilities regarding use of the technology.
No, there have been no travels back to find life on Mars, however after traces of frozen water were found on Mars, further exploration led to the discovery of microscopic organisms frozen within the canyons on Mars. To date, there have been no discoveries of "living" life on Mars.
The only countries actually participating in travel are the US, Japan, and member countries of the EU. There have only been three travels (missions) up until now. We are planning for a future travel during which we will send two travelers back to a time in the past (one from the US location and one from the Brussels location) and have them attempt to meet in the past, however this has not yet been done. Outside of the International Time Initiative, there are a couple of nations who are pursuing their own travel technology but have not been successful as of yet. Russia and North Korea are examples. We estimate that they are decades from creating a functional program.
I apologize for my typing error on spelling. Deval Patrick is the correct spelling.
The training is not too rigorous if you have already attained an SAP level clearance (a component of Top Secret Clearance), and have served in a handful of positions that have provided a majority of the physical, psychologoical and logistical training associated with the ITI program. If you have not completed any of this previous training/experience, then the training to become a traveler is in fact very difficult and the success rates of applicants is less than 1% for those beginning training from the very beginning. The training program follows strict guidelines and is the same throughout the EU member countries and Japan. Yes, we are able to converse with other travelers.
I will be 44 years old in February on next year. The Female-Male ratio in the program is about 1-6. I am the first female traveler-candidate to partcipate as a traveler in a mission within the program.
The unit does not have any windows in it and therefore you cannot see outside of it. The amount of time it takes to travel has been measured between 10-27 seconds taking all three travels into consideration. This travel to 2008 is the furthest we have traveled. Travel to the future is something the ITI has not yet completely developed.
L. Grummond