I might normally oppose these agencies but In-Q-Tel is the shit. It was a brilliant move by the CIA to balance the needs of developing specialist tech they needed and gaining advantages of COTS products. So, they noticed that many of their needs are similar to commercial needs that companies shell out of. So, they create a venture capital company that funds potentially great work in all those areas with dual-use configurations. Rather than backwards tech at a loss, they have all kinds of cutting-edge and useful stuff that <i>gains</i> money.<p>More agencies should consider this model or variations of it. More governments, too. Aligns the incentives right so the market, at least chosen players, will do what you need done. Plus, they built a lot of cool tech this way.