Episode 405: In-Q-Tel: The CIA's Silicon Valley Venture
Nearly 3 decades ago, the CIA became a venture capitalist. One of its early bets was a surveillance company named after an all-seeing stone from Lord of the Rings. That company's founder now hosts an annual secret gathering of the most powerful people in the world. And, of course, an infamous dead sex trafficker had the invitation. This week’s episode is In-Q-Tel: The CIA's Silicon Valley Venture.
SOURCES
Alex Karp's War for the West, The New Republic: https://newrepublic.com/article/191786/alex-karps-war-west-palantir
Anduril and Palantir to Accelerate AI Capabilities for National Security, Anduril Industries: https://www.anduril.com/news/anduril-and-palantir-to-accelerate-ai-capabilities-for-national-security
Beauty Secrets of the Spies: CIA Begins Investing in Skin Care Products That Collect DNA, Democracy Now: https://www.democracynow.org/2016/4/12/beauty_secrets_of_the_spies_cia
CIA's Venture Capital Arm is Funding Skin Care Products That Collect DNA, The Intercept: https://archive.is/3MnwT
Epstein Called Peter Thiel a Great Friend, The Stanford Daily: https://stanforddaily.com/2026/02/05/epstein-peter-thiel-a-great-friend/
Epstein Files Show Palantir's Israel Partnership Began at Convicted Sex Offender's Dinner Table, Daily Kos: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/6/14/800051374/community/peter-thiel-part-8-epstein-files-show-palantirs-israel-partnership-began-at-convicted-sex-offenders-dinner-table/
Epstein Orbited Peter Thiel for Years Over Money, Connections and Advice, Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-12/epstein-courted-peter-thiel-for-years-with-banker-political-connections
Exclusive: In-Q-Tel pivots strategy for "forward-deployed" warfare, Axios: https://archive.is/eA0Z3
Exploiting Physiological Intelligence, In-Q-Tel Quarterly - July 2013 (Archived): https://web.archive.org/web/20130704121843/http://www.iqt.org/portfolio/on-our-radar/Physiological_Intelligence.pdf
In-Q-Tel: The Central Intelligence Agency as Venture Capitalist by John T. Reinert, 33 Nw. J. Int'l L. & Bus. 677 (2013):
https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njilb/vol33/iss3/4
In-Q-Tel: The CIA's Tax-Funded Player In Silicon Valley, NPR: https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2012/07/16/156839153/in-q-tel-the-cias-tax-funded-player-in-silicon-valley
IQT's Look at the Year Ahead: What 2026 Could Have in Store for Strategic Technologies, In-Q-Tel: https://www.iqt.org/library/iqts-look-at-the-year-ahead-what-2026-could-have-in-store-for-strategic-technologies
Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Thiel Co-Owned Venture Fund as Thiel's Palantir Entered UK Government, Byline Times: https://bylinetimes.com/2026/02/04/jeffrey-epstein-and-peter-thiel-co-owned-venture-fund-as-thiels-palantir-entered-uk-government/
Jeffrey Epstein Encouraged Peter Thiel's Political Journey, Jacobin: https://jacobin.com/2026/04/epstein-thiel-tech-finance-trump
Key Trump Allies and Musk on Leaked List for Secretive Peter Thiel Retreat, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/20/trump-elon-musk-peter-thiel-retreat
Palantir's Israel Partnership Began with Epstein Introductions, Boing Boing: https://boingboing.net/2026/03/10/palantirs-israel-partnership-began-with-epstein-introductions.html
Peter Thiel and Jeffrey Epstein Had a Yearslong Relationship, Jacobin: https://jacobin.com/2026/03/thiel-epstein-barak-ai-israel
Peter Thiel's Secretive Retreats Bring Attention to Dialog Group and Influential Members, NewsNation: https://www.newsnationnow.com/politics/peter-thiel-dialogue-retreats-leak/
Silicon Valley And The Intelligence Agencies, Fast Company: https://www.fastcompany.com/3012725/silicon-valley-and-the-intelligence-agencies
The CIA’s Venture-Capital Firm, Like Its Sponsor, Operates in the Shadows, Wall Street Journal: https://web.archive.org/web/20160831020609/https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cias-venture-capital-firm-like-its-sponsor-operates-in-the-shadows-1472587352
The CIA Is Investing in Firms That Mine Your Tweets and Instagram Photos, The Intercept: https://archive.is/nsaPr
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For reference
