The Hidden Debt That Apple Owes to the CIA
Without CIA funding that helped keep NeXT afloat in the ’80s, Steve Jobs might not have made a triumphant return to Apple—and the iPhone might not have its foundational operating code.
When the CIA dropped in unannounced at the headquarters of Steve Jobs’s new computer company, NeXT, the Cold War was in full swing.
The year was 1986, and President Ronald Reagan was sending billions of dollars to the Pentagon, much of it to fund new technology, including missile defense and spy satellites. Within the national security community, some people understood the importance of the computing revolution unfolding in Silicon Valley—and why they needed to tap into it.
Joe Romello and Jeff Harris were two of those people. Working for what was known as the CIA’s “Program B,” a classified initiative to develop satellite reconnaissance, they believed Jobs, who had formed his new company in 1985 after being pushed out of Apple, could help supply crucial technology for the intelligence community.
Romello and Harris said they wanted to speak with him directly about “defense-related issues, specifically intelligence.” They couldn’t provide details, since it was classified, but they wanted to know if Jobs could find time to meet with them.
