Secret Club for the Powerful: Big Names Leaked from Peter Thiel's Private Retreat

A secret list of powerful people was accidentally exposed on a website this month. The list showed who has attended a private yearly gathering called Dialog, which was started by billionaire Peter Thiel around 2005–2006. The names on the list include U.S. politicians, tech leaders like Elon Musk, and government officials from countries such as Saudi Arabia and Japan. A hacktivist first spotted the leak on the social media site BlueSky.

Dialog is described as a retreat where invited guests meet to talk about world issues. It has been compared to other secretive elite gatherings like the Bilderberg Group and Bohemian Grove. The meetings are usually held at fancy hotels around the world, and guests are expected to keep what is said private. Very little has been known about the group until now, because it is invitation-only and does not share its guest list with the public.

The leak happened because names were hidden inside the website's source code — the behind-the-scenes text that makes a website work. A copy of the list was saved by the Internet Archive on June 15, and the Guardian newspaper was able to confirm that the information was real. It is not clear exactly when all the names were added to the list, or whether everyone listed attended in the same way.

Peter Thiel is a billionaire tech investor who has become very influential in U.S. conservative politics. He has close ties to former President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, and has helped fund Republican campaigns. Recently, Thiel made headlines for giving lectures about who the antichrist might be and warning that Armageddon — a catastrophic end-of-the-world event — is coming.

The leaked list includes many well-known names from across American life. On the political side, it names Trump administration officials like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. Senators Ted Cruz and Cory Booker, as well as governors Wes Moore and Jared Polis, also appear on the list, even though both governors are Democrats who said they had little or no involvement with the group.

Governor Polis's spokesperson said the governor does not know why his name appeared on the list and does not remember ever attending a Dialog event. Senator Booker's spokesperson said Booker is not involved with the group and may have attended a conference long ago when he was a mayor. Governor Moore posted on social media that he spoke at Dialog once, 13 years ago, and that it was his first and last appearance.

Retired General Stan McChrystal said he attended two Dialog events about ten years ago but does not consider himself a member. He described the gatherings as positive experiences where people from different political views could talk openly and honestly. He said he believes more spaces like that are needed to help people across the country rebuild trust with one another.

From the world of technology and business, the list includes Elon Musk, who also led the Department of Government Efficiency, called DOGE. It also names Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law, and Greg Brockman, president of the AI company OpenAI. These figures represent enormous wealth and influence over technology, finance, and government policy.

The list also reaches beyond the United States. It includes Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal, Kuwait's petroleum chief Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah, and Japan's digital minister Tarō Kōno. From the United Kingdom, the list names Matt Clifford, a former AI adviser to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said he was invited but is not planning to attend the next event.

Experts who study power and politics say gatherings like Dialog raise serious questions about democracy. Professor Janine Wedel of George Mason University said that when financial, tech, and political leaders meet in secret, they can shape public opinion and set agendas without the rest of the public having any say. She warned that it is only through leaks and strong journalism that the public ever finds out about these gatherings at all.

The leak also uncovered a troubling connection to the late Jeffrey Epstein, a financier who was convicted of sex crimes. Emails released by the U.S. House oversight committee show that Dialog's co-founder Auren Hoffman invited Epstein to the group's 2014 retreat. It is not known whether Epstein actually attended, but this adds Dialog to a long list of elite organizations that had contact with him after his criminal conviction.

Dialog is now planning its next retreat for August 12–16 at a hotel near Dublin, Ireland. Topics set for discussion reportedly include nuclear power and the risk of a third world war. The group is also building a permanent home base in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., and whether the public will ever learn what is discussed there may again depend on future leaks.