In-Q-Tel head resigns
Just months after taking the position to lead CIA ventures, Yoran unexpectedly steps down, citing a desire to be home more.
Amit Yoran has resigned as president and chief executive officer at In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s independent venture capital group, according to press reports today.
After holding In-Q-Tel’s top spot since Jan. 2, Yoran said he wanted to spend more time with his family and less time traveling nationwide to visit companies in which the group has invested, according to reports.
Yoran will reportedly continue working with In-Q-Tel as a consultant until the group finds a replacement.
A rock star in the federal information community, Yoran served as national cybersecurity director from September 2003 to September 2004. Previously, he founded and led an information security firm called Riptech, which Symantec bought in 2002.
Some people in the intelligence community complain that the commercial technologies that In-Q-Tel has fostered have not been worth the group’s budget, which is about $60 million this year, reports said.
In-Q-Tel is a private, nonprofit arm of the CIA. It identifies promising new intelligence and espionage technologies and invests in some of the entrepreneurial companies developing them.
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