Occasionally, the CIA and various groups within it, like the Special Operations Group, use equipment that isn’t just off-the-shelf. The biggest, flashiest example is the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system, or that skyhook thing you see in movies every so often where the hero attaches themself to a balloon and gets yoinked by a passing airplane.
Who comes up with that stuff? Which organization? Where? How did people join that brain trust? The Fulton system was done by the Office of Naval Research, but who else is and was in on this?
For big systems like that, it’s defense contractors. For example, Hughes designed and built the Glomar Explorer on behalf of CIA for Operation Azorian:
Lockheed designed and built both the U-2 and A-12 (later SR-71) spy planes for CIA.
Directorate of Science and Technology comes up with quite a lot of it, per books like, The Wizards of Langley. There have been other books on their technological spycraft, including things such as embedding microphones within cats and releasing them to serve as eavesdropping devices. I can’t find the book I have on it, or I’d mention it as well.
Along with Voyager’s post, James Bamford, has written extensively on the National Security Agency’s reach, budget, and research in his books,* The Puzzle Palace* and Body of Secrets. I haven’t read, The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA From 9/11 To The Eavesdropping On America, but it’s supposed to be good as well.