DANIEL BOGUSLAW, [email protected], @DRBoguslaw
Boguslaw is an investigative reporter at The Intercept. He wrote the just-published piece “The CIA Just Invested in Woolly Mammoth Resurrection Technology.”
He writes: “As a rapidly advancing climate emergency turns the planet ever hotter, the Dallas-based biotechnology company Colossal Biosciences has a vision: ‘To see the Woolly Mammoth thunder upon the tundra once again.’ Founders George Church and Ben Lamm have already racked up an impressive list of high-profile funders and investors, including Peter Thiel, Tony Robbins, Paris Hilton, Winklevoss Capital — and, according to the public portfolio its venture capital arm released this month, the CIA. …
“In-Q-Tel, its new investor, is registered as a nonprofit venture capital firm funded by the CIA. On its surface, the group funds technology startups with the potential to safeguard national security. In addition to its long-standing pursuit of intelligence and weapons technologies, the CIA outfit has lately displayed an increased interest in biotechnology and particularly DNA sequencing. …
“Colossal uses CRISPR gene editing, a method of genetic engineering based on a naturally occurring type of DNA sequence. …
“The embrace of this technology, according to In-Q-Tel’s blog post, will help allow U.S. government agencies to read, write, and edit genetic material, and, importantly, to steer global biological phenomena that impact ‘nation-to-nation competition’ while enabling the United States ‘to help set the ethical, as well as the technological, standards’ for its use. …
“President Joe Biden’s administration signaled its prioritization of related advances earlier this month, when Biden signed an executive order on biotechnology and biomanufacturing.”
See past IPA news releases on CRISPR.