Gabbard Plans To Shift Coveted, Cia-backed High-tech Fund To Her Office

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is finalizing a plan to become the primary federal steward of a CIA-backed venture capital firm that funds high-tech gadgets and software for U.S. spies, according to six people with knowledge of the effort.

If approved, the move would shift intelligence community oversight of the firm, In-Q-Tel, away from the CIA, which chartered the tech innovation fund more than 25 years ago, and nest it under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, whose office oversees the U.S. spy community.

But there are those in the intel community and Congress who oppose the idea, setting up a bureaucratic tussle that would test Gabbard’s standing inside the Trump administration and with Congress.

Supporters of the change argue that In-Q-Tel caters too much to the tech needs of the CIA over other defense and intelligence agencies, such as the National Reconnaissance Office and the FBI.

Congress funds In-Q-Tel through the CIA, which also hosts a liaison office that helps set In-Q-Tel’s investment priorities. ODNI — which was founded to improve coordination across the expansive network of federal spy agencies after 9/11 — did not exist at the time of In-Q-Tel’s founding in 1999.

The CIA and some key Democratic lawmakers oppose the idea, according to four of the six people. Republicans, for their part, appear uncommitted thus far on the plan.

“Taking something that works and giving it to Tulsi is not a recipe for success,” said one Congressional aide. The person, like others in this report, was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the discussions.

The CIA declined to comment. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence didn't respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for In-Q-Tel, a not-for-profit that is legally independent of the government, declined to comment.

For decades, In-Q-Tel has worked with partners across the U.S. government to identify and grow commercial software and hardware projects that fit a wide range of national security needs, from satellites and biotechnology to artificial intelligence. Its name is inspired by the fictional British gadgeteer who supplies explosive pens and slick, missile-toting convertibles to James Bond.

Talks about the changeover have been ongoing between ODNI and the CIA for months, according to one current administration official and one former national security official. The plans are in an advanced stage, said the two people, and ODNI officials recently circulated a memo outlining the details of the transition to some senior members of the intelligence community.

The administration official, who favors the move, argued that much of the intelligence community supports the plan. This person added that the CIA only started “throwing a fit” when it learned the proposal was nearing completion.

While many of the fund’s investments are confidential, In-Q-Tel has backed some of the country’s most successful defense-technology firms, including data analytics giant Palantir; the predecessor to Google’s satellite mapping technology Google Earth; and cybersecurity company Recorded Future.

For skeptics, a major concern overshadowing the plan is whether something as valuable as In-Q-Tel should be entrusted to Gabbard’s office.

Lawmakers and former intelligence officials have repeatedly raised questions about the size, mission and effectiveness of ODNI in recent years, which they see as bloated and ineffective.

Gabbard last August pledged to slash ODNI by just under 50 percent, a move she said would save taxpayer moneyand return the intelligence community to its “core mission.” Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) later helped codify further reductions in ODNI’s size.

Some of those interviewed raised questions about Gabbard’s grasp of the intelligence community’s needs. 

She has been increasingly sidelined within the Trump administration over her anti-interventionist views — particularly after she posted a video last spring warning about a nuclear holocaust. Recently, Gabbard has been left out of planning for high-profile military operations in Iran and Venezuela.

Democrats, for their part, have accused Gabbard of politicizing her role by targeting current and former U.S. analysts she alleges skewed their judgments to undermine Trump, and of improperly injecting herself into domestic investigations of election security issues that are outside her office’s mandate.

“There is a lot of concern from folks I’ve talked to,” warned one former national security official. “If In-Q-Tel goes to ODNI, it’s just going to die.”

Those interviewed say the move would likely require some support from Congress to be successful, which Gabbard may not have.

In a statement, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that In-Q-Tel has a strong track record of success as is, and suggested that moving the fund under ODNI would only complicate its ability to execute its mission.

“At a time when winning the technology race is critical to our economic and national security, I do not support moving In-Q-Tel further away from day-to-day missions and subjecting it to even more bureaucracy that will only slow the pace of innovation and support to our warfighters,” Warner said.

Others who spoke with POLITICO shared a similar sentiment: that the CIA has a better sense of what cutting-edge technology the U.S. national security community really needs, because it not only analyzes the plans and capabilities of foreign powers like Russia and China — but also conducts operations to steal their secrets.

ODNI, by contrast, is more broadly a coordinating body for information gathered by other spy agencies.

Cotton and Reps. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) and Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the top Republican and Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, did not respond to requests for comment on whether they support the plan.

Some suggested that the real reason Gabbard wants to oversee In-Q-Tel, at least in part, is to provide her outcast office with greater influence and credibility.

In-Q-Tel is “a shiny object,” said the former national security official.