Tech Entrepreneur Joins CIA's Venture Capital Arm

In-Q-Tel will name Amit Yoran as CEO. (Courtesy Of In-q-tel. - Courtesy Of In-q-tel.)

In-Q-Tel, the nonprofit venture-capital arm of the Central Intelligence Agency, plans to name local entrepreneur Amit Yoran its chief executive today.

Yoran, who previously served as the Department of Homeland Security's cyber-security chief, replaces Gilman Louie, who has run the organization since its 1999 launch. Louie resigned to spend more time with his family on the West Coast.

In-Q-Tel was established to help the CIA tap into private-sector technology companies with products that could be useful to intelligence agencies.

Yoran, 35, who started his new job yesterday, is a familiar face in local tech circles. The West Point graduate founded Riptech Inc., an Alexandria network-security firm, in 1998 and sold it to Symantec Corp. four years later for $145 million -- making it one of the biggest deals for Washington's emerging computer-security sector.

After a stint with Symantech, Yoran was replaced Howard A. Schmidt as the chief of cyber-security at the Homeland Security Department. Yoran stepped down in October 2004 after giving one day's notice, making him the third person to quit that post in two years.

For the past year, Yoran has been an adviser and angel investor to young technology companies, a role he was content to continue until a headhunter from In-Q-Tel invited him to an interview with the organization's board of directors.

"Some might consider my career schizophrenic, but now it looks like it was all planned," Yoran said. "It feels like a natural career progression for me, having worked for start-ups, invested in start-ups, worked in government and having a personal interest in national security."

In-Q-Tel invests in start-up companies with technologies relevant to the CIA's mission, from data-mining and text-analysis software to advanced video surveillance systems. In its six years, In-Q-Tel has invested in about 90 companies, and for its current fiscal year it has a $60 million budget. Its local investments include Convera Inc., a Vienna firm with search technology; Agent Logic Inc., an Arlington firm that sells computer-security software; and Paratek Microwave Inc., a Columbia firm that makes antennas that can improve wireless networks.

In-Q-Tel officials say about 70 percent of the companies they have invested in are doing business with intelligence agencies within a year of the investment.

Louie, a longtime technology and gaming executive with two young children, said he decided it was time to move on about a year ago and helped lead the six-month search for his replacement.

Lee Ault, In-Q-Tel's chairman, said Louie did "as extraordinary a job as anyone could do" in the position. He said Yoran's familiarity with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and government officials made him the best choice to take over the 64-person organization.

"We are involved with dealing with a lot of constituencies, and that's a big challenge for whoever is going to be CEO," Ault said. Yoran was a fit, he added, because "he was clearly a strong leader." Ault said: "He had the ability to attract and retain very good people. He was a successful entrepreneur and had a deep knowledge of technology."

Yoran said he wants to continue expanding the relationships In-Q-Tel has with other agencies. Already the organization has formal agreements with the Defense Intelligence Agency, the FBI and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

"We're at this historic point where the intelligence community is going through a transformation, and technology can represent the greatest threat or the greatest opportunity," Yoran said.