The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is showing deep interest in crypto and blockchain as it rolls out a new research and development arm dubbed as CIA Labs.
The CIA says its new in-house research and development hub is a chartered member of the Federal Laboratory Consortium of Technology Transfer – a nationwide organization of more than 300 federal labs, research centers, and agencies. Under the initiative, CIA Labs will be able to collaborate with experts across industries to conduct research, testing, and engineering to take on novel problems.
CIA Labs highlights distributed ledger and blockchain-enabled technologies as part of the targeted research areas. CIA Labs also plans to conduct research in disciplines spanning from artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented reality, quantum computing, bioscience and technology.
With the CIA Labs, CIA officers will be able, for the first time, file patents on their work and receive a percentage of the profits according to a press release. The CIA’s head of science and technology directorate, Dawn Meyerriecks, hopes these incentives are attractive enough to convince the cream of the crop among innovators to come work for the agency.
“Some phenomenal innovations have come from CIA over the years, and with CIA Labs, we’re now better positioned to optimize developments and further invest in our scientists and technologists. In an evolving threat landscape, CIA Labs will help us maintain our competitive edge and protect our nation.”