Hacktivist uncovers names tied to Peter Thiel's invitation-only society

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Alexus Grynkewich, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Representative Jim Himes (D-CT) are among the prominent figures named in a leaked roster of Dialog, Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel's private, invitation-only society. The names were first reported by WIRED after Swiss hacktivist 'maia arson crimew' discovered them hidden in the organisation's own website code.

Thiel, the billionaire conservative libertarian who once declared that freedom and democracy are incompatible, appeared to have built Dialog in that spirit, a network co-founded in 2006 that convenes off-the-record summits featuring people across politics, finance, entertainment, military, and tech, while spending two decades refusing to disclose its members. The organization has frequently been compared to the Bilderberg Group, the secretive forum established in 1954 to facilitate conversations between European and North American leaders.

The leak, if confirmed by more sources, could be significant because the data reveals an unprecedented confluence of power, including sitting Trump administration officials, Silicon Valley founders, powerful businessmen, and former foreign intelligence chiefs, all gathering off the record. 

The organisation has a retreat planned from August 12 to August 16 at the Powerscourt Hotel in Ireland, for which 222 people have already signed up, according to The Ditch. The agenda includes sessions titled “Navigating WWIII," "Bring Back Nuclear," "Disinformation and Deepfakes," "Contrarian AI Takes," "Three Predictions for Iran," "Democracy Under Surveillance," and "It's Fun to Be in Charge," Straight Arrow reported, adding that it is unclear whether the names on the list are members or simply Dialog's guests.

Crimew told Straight Arrow she was struck by how easily the information was left exposed. "It's just wild to me how this once again shows that the people who run the world are so confident in their safety that they don't really bother with any proper operational security," she was quoted as saying, "not even for their 'off the record' secret conventions where they all network and discuss our collective future."

This is not the first time Dialog has drawn media attention. The organisation was mentioned in the Justice Department's release of the Epstein files, which included an invitation sent to Jeffrey Epstein for a 2014 retreat—though it remains unclear whether he attended that or any other Dialog event, according to Cyber News. It is also unclear whether the organisation has formal political interests, but it has begun construction of a permanent campus in the Washington D.C. suburbs, Axios reported.