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In-Q-Tel

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In-Q-Tel
Company typePrivately held not-for-profit corporation
GenreTechnology research, Venture capital
FoundedSeptember 29, 1999 (1999-09-29)
FounderNorm Augustine[1]
HeadquartersArlington, Virginia[2]
Key people
Christopher Darby, CEO[3]
ServicesInvestment in information technology supporting U.S. intelligence capability
Websitehttp://www.iqt.org/

In-Q-Tel (IQT), formerly Peleus and known as In-Q-It, is an American not-for-profit venture capital firm based in Arlington, Virginia. It invests in high-tech companies for the sole purpose of keeping the Central Intelligence Agency, and other intelligence agencies, equipped with the latest in information technology in support of United States intelligence capability.[4] The name, "In-Q-Tel" is an intentional reference to Q, the fictional inventor who supplies technology to James Bond.[5]

The firm is seen as a trend-setter in the information technology industry, with the average dollar invested by In-Q-Tel in 2012 attracting nine dollars of investment from other companies.[5]

History

Originally named Peleus and known as In-Q-It, In-Q-Tel was founded by Norm Augustine, a former CEO of Lockheed Martin and by Gilman Louie, who was In-Q-Tel's first CEO.[4][5][6] In-Q-Tel’s mission is to identify and invest in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve United States national security interests. Origins of the corporation can be traced to Dr. Ruth A. David, who headed the Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science & Technology in the 1990s and promoted the importance of rapidly advancing information technology for the CIA.[5] In-Q-Tel now 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.[7] In-Q-Tel concentrates on three broad commercial technology areas: software, infrastructure and materials sciences.

Former CIA director George Tenet says,

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.[8]

In-Q-Tel sold 5,636 shares of Google, worth over $2.2 million, on November 15, 2005.[9] The stocks were a result of Google’s acquisition of Keyhole, the CIA funded satellite mapping software now known as Google Earth.

As of August 2006,[needs update] In-Q-Tel had reviewed more than 5,800 business plans, invested some $150 million in more than 90 companies, and delivered more than 130 technology solutions to the intelligence community.[4][10] In 2005 it was said to be funded with about $37 million a year from the CIA.[11][needs update]

Governance

In-Q-Tel is a Virginia-registered corporation, 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 and relationships between In-Q-Tel and government intelligence organizations. While In-Q-Tel is a nonprofit corporation, it differs from IARPA and other models in that its employees can profit from its investments. According to public records, In-Q-Tel's current[when?] principals include:

Investments

Many companies listed on In-Q-Tel's investment website page[12] are secret. In-Q-Tel functions partially in public; however, what products it has and how they are used is strictly secret.[11] According to the Washington Post, "virtually any U.S. entrepreneur, inventor or research scientist working on ways to analyze data has probably received a phone call from In-Q-Tel or at least been Googled by its staff of technology-watchers."[11]

Software

Material science

Biotech
Electricity
Electronics
Video

Infrastructure

Hardware
Sensor networks
  • ThingMagic – RFID
  • Dust Networks – low-power wireless mesh networking systems
  • Ember Corporation – ZigBee – wireless semiconductor
  • Gainspan – low power Wi-Fi
  • Tendril Networks – software for wireless sensor and control networks
  • TenXsys – telemetry systems for remote monitoring, NASA
  • StreamBase – real-time data in government/military, RFID/sensor networks
  • Thetus – software for remote sensing instruments
  • Soflinx defender – a Wireless Sensor Network for fences
  • PlateScan – automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) sensor network
Data centers
Security testing

Numerous noteworthy business and intelligence community professionals have been involved with In-Q-Tel at various times, including the following:[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ A new partnership between the CIA and the private sector
  2. ^ Contact Us
  3. ^ List of the Board of Trustees
  4. ^ a b c "In-Q-Tel, Inc. Company Information". Hoover's. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  5. ^ a b c d Powers, Shawn M; Jablonski, Michael (April 2015). The Real Cyber War. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press. pp. 63–69. ISBN 978-0-252-09710-2.
  6. ^ Yannuzzi, Rick E. (2007). "In-Q-Tel: A new partnership between the CIA and the private sector". Central Intelligence Agency.
  7. ^ "Technology Focus". In-Q-Tel. Retrieved 14 August 2014. IQT is focused on new and emerging commercial technologies that have the potential to give the CIA and broader U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) mission-advantage today and in the future. As a strategic partner, we work with the IC...
  8. ^ George Tenet (1997), At The Center Of The Storm: My Years at the CIA, Harper Press, p. 26
  9. ^ "CIA sells Google shares". November 15, 2005.
  10. ^ In-Q-Tel website: Investing in our National Security. Obtained August 2006.
  11. ^ a b c n-Q-Tel, CIA's Venture Arm, Invests in Secrets
  12. ^ In-Q-Tel website. In-Q-Tel — Portfolio.
  13. ^ [1] Magnet Forensics Press Release Dec 8 2015
  14. ^ Dan Geer leaves Verdasys for In-Q-Tel, by Ryan Naraine, ZDNet, May 28, 2008. Accessed 2008-07-09.
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