Etienne Note: Lonsdale is a member of the PayPal mafia, co-founder of CIA-funded Palantir, a member of CIA Contractor Peter Thiel's Dialog Society and involved with Intelligence agency, NASA, and Dept of War contractor Elon Musk (Who has received BILLIONs in "government" contracts. Lonsdale's venture investments seem to be majority "government" contractors, where it looks like DARPA insiders are privatizing profits from no-bid contracts for weapons systems we don't need to fight foreign wars based on lies and manufactured intelligence (Iran is going to have a nuclear weapon any minute... trust them!). To prove our point about what kind of scumbags like to hang around the "government" this article breaks down his lobby activity to make homelessness illegal.
The Cicero Institute, a Joe Lonsdale-founded nonprofit shaping policy on homelessness, lobbies Congress and the Pentagon on defense procurement through an alternate name—aligned with the billionaire's investments in defense companies like Palantir and Anduril.
The Cicero Institute, started by Palantir co-founder and billionaire venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale, has emerged as one of the most influential forces in the Trump administration’s push to criminalize homelessness.
The think tank presents itself as sharing bold policy prescriptions in areas of homelessness, public safety, and healthcare—but at the federal level, the nonprofit’s only lobbying activity is conducted under another name and could benefit Lonsdale’s investments in defense contractors, including Palantir, Saronic, Epirus, and Anduril.
The Cicero Institute paid more than $11.4 million from 2021 through 2024 to Arpinum, a company controlled by Lonsdale, for services and reimbursements, according to a Sludge review of tax returns. Arpinum, which is named as a related organization in Cicero’s IRS disclosures, is led by several of the Cicero Institute’s directors and was the employer of Cicero’s executive director as of 2024. Lonsdale is the sole member of the 501(c)3 Cicero Research and 501(c)4 Cicero Action nonprofits, giving him the power to elect and remove their boards.
At the same time, Cicero Action has quietly lobbied Congress and the Pentagon on defense spending and military procurement under the name American Phalanx, according to lobbying disclosures flagged in a research memo from the National Homelessness Law Center (NHLC). Its federal lobbying is conducted through the defense-focused firm Anchor & Arrow, which also represents Palantir and many companies backed by Lonsdale’s venture capital firm, 8VC. According to Virginia business records, Anchor & Arrow is another name for Arpinum.
In a January 2025 essay calling for an overhaul of Pentagon acquisition rules, Lonsdale pointed to companies he founded or invested in, including Palantir and Anduril, in arguing that federal procurement favors traditional defense contractors and blocks newer defense technology companies from growing. “But they need allies in the government,” Lonsdale wrote. The essay was co-written with John Noonan, an Anchor & Arrow lobbyist who Lonsdale described as helping defense companies navigate the federal bureaucracy. With Anchor & Arrow, Noonan lobbies for Palantir on “Issues related to defense acquisition reform and defense innovation,” according to disclosures, and Anduril has also called for the Pentagon to award more prime contracts to software and technology companies, shifting away from “cost plus fixed fee” awards.
“The Cicero Institute is the nexus for the rampant increase in anti-homeless laws that we’ve seen in cities and states, and now the federal government, during the second Trump administration’s term,” said Jesse Rabinowitz, communications director of NHLC. He warns that Lonsdale’s financial interests aren’t confined to federal defense contracts—Cicero’s campaign to criminalize homelessness could also drive demand for surveillance and private security companies among 8VC investments, such as the location-based Citizen app. “Joe Lonsdale and his venture capital firm stand to profit off of the very laws of their passing,” Rabinowitz said.
The Cicero Institute did not respond to requests for comment on defense lobbying under its d.b.a. American Phalanx, or inquiries into its lobbying spending and payments to Arpinum.
Cicero’s signature policy of criminalizing outdoor sleeping helped form the blueprint for President Trump’s July 2025 executive order on homelessness, which directed federal agencies to prioritize funding for states and cities that enforce bans on public camping and move away from the approach known as Housing First. The laws make public camping a crime, even in areas where shelter beds are not an option, and punish cities and localities if the ban is not enforced.
Profiles of Cicero published this month in the Washington Post and New York Times show the startup think tank’s hand in shaping White House homelessness policy, with Lonsdale taking credit in the Times: “Obviously, our work has been one of the main influences,” he said. The federal shift has driven cuts to funding for housing programs, despite the Housing First framework having been found effective by scientific research and being supported by social services advocates.
“The Cicero Institute has shaped White House policy, including Trump’s anti-homeless executive order, and recently we’ve learned they also have been influencing Stephen Miller to strip rights away from people with disabilities,” said Rabinowitz. “They are deeply embedded in the White House ecosystem.” Devon Kurtz, Cicero’s public safety policy director, reportedly informed Miller and the White House’s memo authorizing states to institutionalize people with disabilities.
Since the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Johnson v. Grants Pass that allows cities to enforce camping bans against people who have nowhere else to sleep, more than 350 cities and 14 states have adopted laws criminalizing homelessness, the NHLC tallied. Rabinowitz brought up a few examples of Cicero’s lobbying efforts. “They pushed very hard for Utah to create a 1,300-bed homeless detention center outside of Salt Lake City,” he said. “They supported a bill that was recently passed in Louisiana that not only makes it a crime to be homeless, but creates the pathway to force homeless people into unpaid labor. They supported a law in Tennessee that makes it a felony to sleep outside.” The law has already been used to charge a homeless Nashville individual with a felony for public camping.
Less attention has been paid to Cicero Action’s lobbying on defense appropriations under its d.b.a. American Phalanx, which for more than two years has lobbied on the massive annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Cicero’s nonprofit mission makes no mention of federal defense procurement, focusing instead on a goal to “promote the principles of liberty, accountability, and transparency to fix broken public systems and lift up millions of Americans.” Its tax return describes its work as “State Outreach / Lobbying Engagement,” and its website describes it as an organization that shares policy reforms with state lawmakers.
Since registering in February 2024, American Phalanx has spent $210,000 lobbying the federal government on defense issues, all of that amount with the firm Anchor & Arrow, according to federal disclosures through the first half of this year. Lonsdale’s nonprofit has disclosed lobbying on “issues related to defense acquisition reform and defense innovation” and the NDAA. Its hired lobbyists have included John Noonan, former professional staff member on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) and national security adviser to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Tyler Jensen, former staff member to HASC ranking member Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.). In addition to the U.S. House and Senate, American Phalanx has disclosed lobbying on defense issues with the Department of Defense (DOD), Army, Air Force, Department of State, Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), and this year, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).
The defense lobbying touches on the business of companies in the portfolio of Lonsdale’s venture capital firm 8VC, including DOD contractor Palantir, autonomous military systems maker Anduril, autonomous surface vehicle startup Saronic, and others. Palantir is seeing a surge in federal revenue under the Trump administration, including an Army contract worth up to $10 billion, and Anduril is similarly on the rise, including an Army deal awarded in March with a ceiling of $20 billion. Anchor & Arrow’s federal lobbying clients are nearly all 8VC portfolio companies, including Palantir, Saronic, counter-drone weapons maker Epirus, autonomous ground systems maker Overland AI, and logistics company Terminal.
Anchor & Arrow’s website does not mention its ties to Arpinum, but it was registered as the trade name of Arpinum in Virginia records in January 2024, first noted in research by NHLC. Arpinum, based at the same Austin street address as Cicero, is registered in Virginia as a nonstock corporation, meaning it has no shareholders and offers no equity. (Arpinum is the Roman name for the central Italian city of Arpino, a fortified hill town that was the birthplace of Cicero.) The company has been paid rising amounts by both Cicero Research and Cicero Action, according to publicly available tax returns from 2021–2024. The advocacy arm’s tax returns state that Arpinum is controlled by Lonsdale and is prohibited from distributing its proceeds to its directors.
Arpinum’s principals are all affiliated with the Cicero Institute, according to the company’s 2026 annual report: Lonsdale is president and director. Blake Brickman, a director of both Cicero Research and Cicero Action, is the company’s secretary and other director. Brickman works as vice president for government affairs for the 8VC-backed Saronic, and in February he registered as a lobbyist with Saronic. He has lobbied Congress this year on maritime issues and bills on domestic manufacturing of ships. Arpinum’s other two principals are Ryan Vassar, its general counsel and Cicero Action’s secretary, and Whitney Munro, its COO and Cicero Action’s treasurer.
In 2024, its most recent tax year available, Cicero Research and Cicero Action paid almost $5 million to Arpinum—the largest chunk for services or fundraising, as well as expense reimbursements and facility leases, according to disclosures. Cicero Action reported to the IRS in past years that it did not have any employees, and that Cicero’s past executive director Bryan Sunderland, now the president of both Cicero’s c3 and c4 organizations, was an employee of Arpinum. Sunderland previously worked as state government affairs director for another advocacy group promoting conservative model bills, the Foundation for Government Accountability.
Cicero Action reported $1,439,027 in lobbying activity in 2024, up from previous years. While the spending is not detailed, a first tranche of that amount could be American Phalanx’s federal lobbying that year on defense issues, which totaled $80,000 through Anchor & Arrow. Another tranche could be included in payments to independent contractors that work at the state level. Its tax return discloses a total of $300,000 paid to two lobbying firms: August Strategy Group, led by former Trump administration officials including director Eric Bledsoe, previously special assistant to the president for domestic policy; and Capital City Consulting, which focuses on the Florida legislative and executive branches. Sludge asked Cicero if the remaining 2024 lobbying expenses were detailed publicly by the nonprofit and did not receive a response.
Last year, Cicero Action’s lobbying came under scrutiny in New Mexico from some state lawmakers who flagged its lack of transparency in swaying homelessness policy. The lawmakers proposed legislation that would enhance disclosure of the bills on which groups lobbied; the measure was vetoed in 2025 by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, who said it would be “an onerous requirement” on lobbyists and their firms.
Lonsdale Enterprises donated $1 million to Elon Musk’s America PAC last cycle, and the tech billionaire and Trump ally is known as a confidant of Musk. As an individual, he’s donated around half a million dollars at the federal level since 2009, largely to Republican candidates, according to records from OpenSecrets.
Rabinowitz says that more 8VC companies could see their business boosted from the criminalization of homelessness. In addition to the Citizen app, which scrapes public scanners and enables users to film and report incidents in their area, Lonsdale’s firm has invested in Sauron, a high-end, AI-driven home security startup.
Some of Cicero’s policy recommendations could benefit its organizational partners. In 2024, the Cicero Institute published a report that named the nonprofit Social Purpose Corrections (SPC) as an example of a qualified prison operator shut out of state bidding by existing rules. Kentucky is among the states that signed into law a statewide ban on camping and sleeping in public, and Cicero supported a similar bill enacted in Tennessee. Both were mentioned in Cicero’s report as states with incumbent protections, and Cicero is listed as a partner on SPC’s site.
Devon Kurtz, Cicero’s public safety policy director, was an advisor to SPC in 2023 and 2024, according to his LinkedIn profile. Kurtz wrote op-eds that boosted private prisons, including an August 2024 piece in a New Mexico outlet that argued for opening up the state prison system to bids from new contractors. His op-eds in the Santa Fe New Mexican, the Oklahoman, City Journal, and others were bylined only with his Cicero policy title. Sludge inquired with Cicero if Kurtz’s op-eds deserved a disclosure of his SPC advisor role and did not receive a response.
“Billionaires should not be shaping social policy and anti-poverty programs in this country. But they are,” said Rabinowitz. “That can change when politicians start to reject the outsized influence that these groups have on our discourse and policies—and listen to the actual experts, people who know that housing and supportive services are the only way to actually solve homelessness.”
