John Key’s Palo Alto business partners include In-Q-Tel (owned by the CIA) who are also investors in Rocket Lab New Zealand. WTF!

Thirty days after the Christchuch Mosque shootings Palo Alto Networks the global cybersecurity leader, announced the appointment of the Right Honorable Sir John Key, former member of Parliament and prime minister of New Zealand, to the company’s board of directors. The announcement barely made the papers as the country remained in shock from the March 15th 2019 attack as the whole of New Zealand experienced it own kind of 9/11.

Which is interesting because Palo Alto Networks Inc announced on March 14, 2018, almost a year to the day, its plans to acquire CIA-backed cloud services firm Evident Inc. for $300 million in cash. Evident provides cybersecurity services for cloud infrastructure run by governments and corporations and has raised $49.1 million in venture cash to date, including an undisclosed amount from the Central Intelligence Agency’s venture capital arm known as In-Q-Tel Inc., according to FactSet.  Through Evident Palo Alto, the firm John Key introduced to New Zealand inn 2020, was now in bed with the CIA.

In-Q-Tel Inc directors include a host of spooks such as A.B. Buzzy Kongrad who retired from the Central Intelligence Agency on November 30, 2004 where he had served as executive director since March 2001.

In-Q-Tel Inc also seems to have shares in New Zealand’s Rocket Lab.

In 2016, Rocket Lab chief executive Beck was among the speakers at a summit for chief executives of companies associated with In-Q-Tel. A programme from the summit indicated Rocket Lab was among the firm’s portfolio companies at the time. Rocket Lab is not currently listed as a portfolio company on In-Q-Tel’s website. Stuff reported “A Rocket Lab spokeswoman would not say whether the company remained on In-Q-Tel’s books”.

On the 12 August 2020 – Rocket Lab welcomed to its board of directors, former Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin. Griffin joins Rocket Lab’s board “with more than 35 years of space industry experience spanning roles in the Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the commercial sector. Griffin has also previously held numerous executive positions in industry, including President and Chief Operating Officer of In-Q-Tel”.

But as the ad goes wait their is more.

In-Q-Tel also invested in Palantir Technologies, a highly secretive software developer of spying and tracking cyber software, whose name is derived from a magical all seeing crystal ball in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel, has being buying up real estate in down town Palo Alto California. Up to 50 percent of Palantir’s business is tied to the public sector with In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture arm an early investor. Palantir more than doubled in value since it listed on the New York Stock Exchange on October 2 2016v when the CIA brought in.

The deal made its CEO, the Lord of the Rings obsessed, Peter Thiel’s the richest New Zealand citizen in Middle Earth after Thiel brought his citizenship and then brought a mansion in Queenstown New Zealand This led to Thiel making local headlines in 2017 when it was revealed he had been made a New Zealand citizen since 2011 – despite spending just 11 days in the country. Theil’s passport was fast-tracked as he invested millions in local start ups including Xero and Vend.

Thiel became a prolific buyer of property around Queenstown and Wanaka, as featured in the Vice documentary, Hunt for the Bunker People. In 2019 Thiel had talks with the government about combating Covid-19 by using Palantir  who set up the Covid-19 tracker data-crunching capabilities which then sat with the government for more than a month unused during the lockdown period. The government however told RNZ it had no plans to use Palantir’s services. In the UK the government gave Palantir access to sensitive patient data. Health data is highly sought after by tech firms and has being at the front of target attacked by Cyber hackers on New Zealand and around the world.

Palantir New Zealand client’s also include the New Defence Force who spent $7.2m with the firm in 2012 while John Key was Prime Minister. Key also borrowed 20 billion for defence, much of which was then spent on cyber security technology and services. Palo Alto Networks state “they are world leaders in cyber security. Palo Alto provides next-generation firewalls and cloud security with an integrated approach to threat detection and prevention. They are used in all levels of the New Zealand Government”.

And the relationship gets cosier.

Ombud, located in Denver, shareholder is also include In-Q-Tel portfolio. Ombud’s function is to invests in and help develop technologies that might be useful for U.S. intelligence and defence agencies. The partnership with In-Q-Tel (IQT) is anticipated to lead to Ombud doing 20 percent of its business with U.S. intelligence agencies. Ombud makes software that tracks how client organizations — especially clients in businesses involving lots of data — respond to requests and learns what decisions led to good outcomes. Ombud clients include Palo Alto Networks.

On December 2019 In-Q-Tel opened an office in Sydney for its IQT International Australia subsidiary, which collaborates with that country’s own office of national intelligence whose stated goal is to support collaborations between the U.S, Australia and the U.K that are all members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance alongside Canada and New Zealand.

I wonder who Five Eyes will call and who stands to make billions when the next 911 strikes especially if its a Cyber based 9/11