Thiel's Secret Dialog Group Building D.C. Campus

💡 TL;DR - The 30 Seconds Version

🏛️ Peter Thiel's Dialog is buying land in Virginia to build a permanent campus outside D.C., shifting from desert resorts to the capital's suburbs.

🤐 The 20-year-old group caps events at 100 people who surrender phones and agree to total confidentiality—no website, no public member lists.

🤝 Past attendees include Elon Musk, Ted Cruz, Cory Booker, and Tulsi Gabbard discussing everything from AI energy demands to the afterlife.

🎯 The permanent D.C. infrastructure signals tech elites aren't just visiting government anymore—they're setting up shop for the long haul.

Peter Thiel's Dialog wants a campus in Virginia.

Not Silicon Valley. Not Miami. Virginia—specifically, the suburbs outside D.C. The secretive group, which Thiel co-founded with investor Auren Hoffman twenty years ago, is actively negotiating to buy land and build a permanent hub for its off-the-record gatherings, according to an Axios tipster familiar with the plans.

Dialog has operated like a ghost for two decades. Invite-only retreats at places like the Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain—all that Arizona desert stretching beyond the infinity pools—or the San Clemente Palace Venice, where you can smell the Adriatic between sessions. Now it wants a fixed address within commuting distance of the capital. The timing isn't subtle.

The Anti-Davos

Here's how Dialog works: You surrender your phone at check-in. You agree to absolute confidentiality. Then you talk about AI energy demands with Ted Cruz, or the afterlife with Eric Schmidt, or—genuinely—caring for aging parents with whoever happens to be in your discussion group that day.

Dialog positions itself as the anti-establishment establishment. No public website (except one with an email address and nine words). No participant lists. No media coverage by design.

Past attendees include Elon Musk, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Larry Summers, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. Also Tulsi Gabbard and Cory Booker. Grover Norquist and European Commission Vice Chair Kaja Kallas. Pastor Rick Warren and chess champion Garry Kasparov.

One source invited to participate told Axios the group offers "global elites the chance to talk candidly across ideological lines."

Translation: say things you wouldn't dare tweet.

The group caps attendance at 100 people per flagship event. And Dialog's apparently shopping for smaller "like-minded membership organizations" to absorb, according to the Axios source. Scale matters, even for the deliberately obscure.

Frankfurt to Fairfax County

Thiel—born in Frankfurt to two German parents before moving to Cleveland as a toddler—seems to have imported something distinctly European to American power networks. The salon tradition, maybe. Mix intellectual pretension with actual influence, add strict confidentiality rules, and you get Dialog.

Wait, that's not quite right. European salons were semi-public affairs. This is something else.

Simone Collins previously worked as Dialog's managing director. Yes, half of that pronatalist couple who went viral for having kids like it's a startup metric. The same Collins who talks about breeding "elites" and maximizing genetic potential. Make of that what you will.

The topics at Dialog range wildly. In one session, Reid Hoffman, Ted Cruz, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, and Eric Schmidt might debate AI's energy demands. The next discussion? Love. Mental health. Political realignments alongside tips for dealing with elderly parents.

It's Davos meets group therapy meets the Intellectual Dark Web, minus the podcasts.

Power Wants Privacy

Actually, forget Davos. The Bilderberg comparison works better—boring, powerful people making boring, powerful decisions. Except Dialog adds Silicon Valley's obsession with "challenging yourself" and removes any pretense of transparency.

"Seeking truth—even while disagreeing," claims the Axios source.

But there's something particularly 2025 about tech billionaires building a physical compound for secret truth-seeking while simultaneously working with (and within) government. Picture it: a Virginia estate, probably with terrible architecture—that federal contractor aesthetic—where tomorrow's policies get workshopped today. They're not trying to replace institutions anymore. They're colonizing them. Sure, Thiel's associates populate Trump's administration—but Dialog's leaders are apparently thinking beyond this term.

They're buying, not renting.

The D.C. move signals something bigger than Trump 2.0.

Why this matters:

Dialog's cross-partisan guest list suggests elites see more common ground with each other than with their respective bases, even as public polarization reaches new extremes
The shift from West Coast to East Coast marks tech power's migration from disruption to governance—in Washington, the difference between visitors and residents is the difference between influence and empire

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do you get invited to Dialog?

A: Unknown. There's no application process or public website—just an email address and nine words. With a 100-person cap and participants like Musk, Cruz, and Booker, invitations likely come through existing members. The group has never publicly shared its participant list in 20 years.

Q: Who is Auren Hoffman?

A: Hoffman co-founded Dialog with Thiel 20 years ago. He's an entrepreneur and angel investor, though less famous than his co-founder. Axios describes both as "star investors and entrepreneurs." Beyond that, his role in Dialog's operations remains unclear.

Q: What's Dialog's connection to the Trump administration?

A: Several Dialog participants now serve in Trump's government, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The Axios source insists Dialog isn't "kissing Trump's ring"—the D.C. expansion plans suggest they're thinking beyond this administration.

Q: Why Virginia instead of D.C. proper?

A: The Axios tipster says Virginia, "just outside Washington." Likely Northern Virginia—Fairfax or Loudoun counties. Close enough for federal officials to attend easily, far enough for privacy. Virginia also offers more space for a campus-style facility than D.C. proper.

Q: How often does Dialog meet?

A: Unclear, but there's a "flagship" gathering in spring, smaller retreats throughout the year, and a Middle East retreat planned for fall. Past events happened at the Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain in Arizona and San Clemente Palace Venice. Each event caps at 100 attendees.

Q: What exactly do they discuss?

A: Topics range wildly. One session might cover AI's energy demands with Reid Hoffman and Ted Cruz. Another discusses caring for aging parents, love, mental health, or "the afterlife." Participants sit at assigned seats for moderated conversations. Everything's off-the-record.

Q: Has Dialog always been this secretive?

A: Yes. Founded 20 years ago, it's never had a real website or released participant lists. One source told Axios the group's "secretive nature allows participants to share controversial and concerning ideas that they would not be comfortable sharing elsewhere."