History
Logo as of 2010
Originally named Peleus and known as In-Q-It, In-Q-Tel was "the brainchild" of former Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet. [11] Gilman Louie was In-Q-Tel's first CEO [2] [10] and Norm Augustine, a former CEO of Lockheed Martin, led the board of directors. [12] In-Q-Tel's mission is to identify and invest in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve United States national security interests. Congress approved funding for In-Q-Tel, which was increased in later years. [13] Origins of the corporation can also be traced to Ruth A. David, who headed the Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Science & Technology in the 1990s and promoted the importance of rapidly advancing information technology for the CIA. [10]
The organization was created in part to provide the intelligence community with access to commercially developed technologies rather than relying solely on classified internal research and development. [14] [15] [16]
In-Q-Tel engages with entrepreneurs, growth companies, researchers, and venture capitalists to deliver technologies that provide superior capabilities for the CIA, DIA, NGA, and the wider intelligence community. [17] Other U.S. government agencies also work with [18] The Department of Homeland Security's Science & Technology Directorate has described its collaboration with In-Q-Tel as a means of identifying emerging technologies for DHS partners. [19]
In-Q-Tel concentrates on three broad commercial technology areas: software, infrastructure and materials sciences.
Former CIA director George Tenet said,
We [the CIA] decided to use our limited dollars to leverage technology developed elsewhere. In 1999 we chartered ... In-Q-Tel. ... While we pay the bills, In-Q-Tel is independent of CIA. CIA identifies pressing problems, and In-Q-Tel provides the technology to address them. The In-Q-Tel alliance has put the Agency back at the leading edge of technology ... This ... collaboration ... enabled CIA to take advantage of the technology that Las Vegas uses to identify corrupt card players and apply it to link analysis for terrorists [ cf. the parallel data-mining effort by the SOCOM-DIA operation Able Danger], and to adapt the technology that online booksellers use and convert it to scour millions of pages of documents looking for unexpected results. [20]
In-Q-Tel sold 5,636 shares of Google, worth over US$2.2 million, on November 15, 2005. [21] The share transfer was a result of Google's acquisition of Keyhole, Inc, the CIA-funded satellite mapping software now known as Google Earth. [22]
In August 2006, In-Q-Tel reviewed more than 5,800 business plans and invested approximately $150M in more than 90 companies. [2] [23]
As of 2016, In-Q-Tel listed 325 investments, but more than 100 were secret, according to the Washington Post. [13]
In 2018 and 2019, In-Q-Tel expanded its activities internationally with the establishment of offices in London and Sydney. [24] [25] In December 2023, the organization announced the opening of a Singapore office to support engagement in the Asia-Pacific region. [26] According to the company’s own milestones record, a further office was added in Munich in 2023. [27]
Governance
In-Q-Tel is a Virginia-registered corporation, [28] legally independent of the CIA or any other government agency. The corporation is bound by its Charter agreement and annual contract with the CIA, which set out the relationship between the two organizations. In-Q-Tel's mission (to support the Intelligence Community's technical needs) is promoted by the In-Q-Tel Interface Center (QIC), an office within the CIA that facilitates communication between In-Q-Tel and government intelligence organizations. [29] While In-Q-Tel is a nonprofit corporation, it differs from IARPA and other models in that its employees and trustees can profit from its investments. A Wall Street Journal investigation found that in 2016, nearly half of In-Q-Tel's trustees had a financial connection with a company the corporation had funded. [13]
In-Q-Tel's current president and CEO is Steve Bowsher.
Original members of the board include Lee A. Ault, III, Norman R. Augustine, John Seely Brown, Stephen Friedman, Paul G. Kaminski, Jeong H. Kim, Alex J. Mandl, John N. McMahon, and William J. Perry. [30]
Christopher A. Darby was appointed president and chief executive officer in 2006, a position he held until December 2023. On 14 December 2023, Steve Bowsher, formerly the organisation's president, was appointed to succeed him as CEO, [31] [32] [33] while Darby transitioned to vice chair of the board. As of 2025, the chairman of the board is Michael M. Crow, [34] president of Arizona State University. [35] [36]
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