Top officials from both the Trump and Biden administrations have quietly slipped into northwest Austin this week for a private, invite-only retreat focused on boosting American technological and industrial muscle. The three-day Endless Frontiers gathering has drawn roughly 200 policymakers, founders, and university leaders to a secluded Lake Austin campus for candid, off-the-record conversations.
Who’s In The Room
As reported by Axios, the guest list mixes Trump administration veterans and Biden-era national security heavyweights. Trump-side attendees include Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Rick Switzer, U.S. International Development Finance Corp. CEO Ben Black, and Under Secretary Jacob Helberg. From the Biden orbit, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines are on the program.
The speaker lineup also features Kennedy Space Center director Janet Petro, former Defense Secretary James Mattis, former NASA chief Dan Goldin, and ex-lawmakers Will Hurd and Kay Bailey Hutchison, with organizers expecting roughly 200 invite-only attendees in total, according to Axios. Organizers quoted in the outlet frame the event as a broad, national effort. Jordan Blashek said they felt it needed to be a whole-nation push to renew the foundations of American strength, while Rush Doshi noted there is a sense in both parties that bolder steps are required.
Where And How It Runs
The Endless Frontiers website lists the retreat for April 21 to 23, 2026, at the Campus on Lake Austin, also known as the Holdsworth Center. Organizers emphasize a one-room "full group circle" setup governed by Chatham House rules to keep the discussion frank and private.
According to Endless Frontiers, the program leans on small-group breakouts, evening gatherings, and a ten-year mission of follow-up work rather than splashy public keynotes. The message from the site is that this is meant to be a working session and not a typical conference showpiece.
Why Austin
The Council on Foreign Relations' China Strategy Initiative launched Endless Frontiers in partnership with several Texas universities to spark a national conversation about competitiveness and resilience, Michael Froman wrote in a column for CFR. The idea is to connect policy, academia, and industry around long-term national strength.
Rush Doshi told CFR that Austin was chosen intentionally, both to pull these debates beyond the coasts and to plug into regional universities and startups. He described the retreat as relationship-driven and problem-focused, rather than a stage for set-piece speeches.
Backers And The Tech Angle
Axios reports that the retreat is financially backed by Citadel founder Ken Griffin, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Austin investor Joe Lonsdale. In the audience are founders and CEOs from defense-tech and space startups, giving the event a distinctly hard-tech flavor.
That mix of funders, defense-minded investors, and deep-tech companies underscores the gathering's mission to line up private capital with government priorities in semiconductors, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and other strategic sectors, according to Axios.
Local Stakes
For Austin, hosting this kind of invitation-only retreat highlights the city’s growing role as a hub for national security tech and university-industry collaboration. Observers at CFR note that Austin functions as a practical midpoint between Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., which makes it fertile ground for the sort of long-term ties the retreat wants to build.
Organizers emphasize that the point is not splashy headlines. The focus is on generating concrete recommendations and fresh collaborations that participants can carry forward over the next year, not on public spectacle, according to Endless Frontiers. For now, Austin is hosting closed-door conversations that could shape how federal agencies, universities, and private investors coordinate on the technologies expected to matter most in the coming decade, with organizers and partner institutions planning to track progress in the months ahead.
