Trump allies, Musk to attend Peter Thiel's secretive retreat
What's the story
A recent leak from the Dialog website has unveiled a list of attendees for its secretive retreats. The annual events, founded by billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel in 2006, have been compared to elite conferences like the Bilderberg Group. The invitation-only gatherings are usually held at luxurious venues across the globe and include organized discussions on global affairs.
Attendee profile
Political figures and tech moguls
The leaked list reveals a diverse mix of government, corporate, and cultural powerhouses. It includes US governors, senators, and congresspeople from both political parties. Among them are White House staff secretary Will Scharf and National Science Foundation nominee and former CDC acting head Jim O'Neill. Others on the list include OpenAI president Greg Brockman, trillionaire Elon Musk, mother of Musk's children Shivon Zilis, writers Sam Harris, Steven Pinker, and New York Times columnists Ezra Klein and Bret Stephens.
Global presence
International attendees
The list also features international figures such as Saudi royal and former intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal; former Keir Starmer adviser Matt Clifford; UK Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat; and Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah, CEO of Kuwait Petroleum. This year's Dialog event will take place in Dublin this August. The discussions are expected to cover a wide range of topics including nuclear power, World War III, sex, and cults.
Responses
Controversies surrounding Dialog's connections
Some individuals on the list were willing to defend Dialog and its mission of promoting non-ideological, non-partisan conversation. However, others distanced themselves from these elite networking gatherings, claiming only brief involvement in past events. The leak also connects with other scandals involving the intersection of wealth and power. Emails released by the House oversight committee show that Dialog's other founder, tech entrepreneur Auren Hoffman, invited deceased financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to the 2014 conference.