■ For several years, the nation’s intel elite have surreptitiously thrown quite the charity event.

Intel, special ops crowd’s Spookstock gala in its seventh year

WASHINGTON — Sometime earlier this year, one of the most elite social events in Washington took place, but without any fanfare or news coverage.

It drew about 1,800 attendees, and Grammy-winning rocker Lenny Kravitz performed. Yet there were no written invitations, and the actual date and location were carefully guarded secrets.

The annual charitable event is mischievously known as Spookstock. While many Washington insiders, let alone the public, haven’t heard of it, the gala has become a centerpiece for the capital region’s tightknit intelligence and military special operations communities.

“I’ve done my share of formal events and black dress nights. This is a lot more fun,” said retired Maj.

Gen. Clay Hutmacher, the former director of operations for U.S. Special Operations Command. “It’s very casual. If you want to show up in a Def Leppard T-shirt, that’s fine.”

Now in its seventh year, Spookstock has raised millions for the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation and the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which look after the families of CIA officers and special operations forces killed in the field.

Last year, after expenses, each charity received about $400,000, according to Spookstock board member Mark Kelton.

The event is essentially fueled by defense contractors and mainstays of the military-industrial complex that pay big money for a table or a balcony box.

The invitation list and event details are closely guarded by Kelton, a retired CIA officer, and the four-member board. Given the clandestine nature of some of the participants’ work life, news coverage and social media postings are avoided.

The only real online traces are a smattering of articles, some briefs in intelligence-focused newsletters and a few unauthorized YouTube videos.

The guests of honor are a few dozen young beneficiaries: college seniors or recent graduates who have had their entire university education paid for by one of the foundations.

While the CIA foundation focuses exclusively on funding higher education, the special operations fund helps cover preschool, tutoring, SAT prep and college visits in addition to a full scholarship.

“We call it cradle to career,” said Hutmacher, the head of the foundation, who estimates that the fund spends an average of $250,000 per child. The standard military death benefit for a soldier killed on duty is a lump-sum payment of $100,000.