Palantir Gotham

Palantir Gotham is the first software platform of Palantir Technologies. The company's registration statement of August 25, 2020 states that it released Gotham in 2008 "for customers in the intelligence sector," that it built the platform "for government operatives in the defense and intelligence sectors," and that it enables users "to identify patterns hidden deep within datasets, ranging from signals intelligence sources to reports from confidential informants."¹

Components and Deployment

The registration statement lists Gotham applications named Graph, Gaia, Dossier, Stencil, Video, Table, Ava, Forward and Mobile. Gaia is described as a shared live map for planning and reporting on operations; Forward as a configuration that runs Gotham on a ruggedized laptop with no network connection; Mobile as a version for Android and iOS devices through which users file field reports and track teammates' locations; and Ava as an artificial intelligence system that scans "billions of data points" for investigators in the defense and intelligence sectors. The statement says that the majority of customers using Gotham require air-gapped or on-premises deployment, that Gotham is offered to commercial customers in financial services for fraud investigations, and that Gotham "is now used broadly across government functions."¹

Its list of United States government users of Palantir's platforms names the Army, Navy and Air Force, U.S. Special Operations Command, the Centers for Disease Control, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The text of the statement does not contain the words In-Q-Tel, CIA or Immigration and Customs Enforcement.¹

Development and In-Q-Tel

In its 2016 bid protest against the U.S. Army, Palantir USG, Inc. described Gotham as "initially developed between 2004 and 2009 with the help of an investment from, and a partnership with, the venture capital arm of the Central Intelligence Agency," meaning In-Q-Tel, and as supplied "since 2010" to "federal and local law enforcement agencies, the United States Marine Corps, the United States Special Operations Command ('SOCOM'), the Defense Intelligence Agency, and numerous other government agencies." The parties stipulated that Gotham "is a Data Management Platform that is licensed to customers on a commercial item basis."²

BuzzFeed News reported on April 21, 2017 that Palantir received an early $2 million investment from In-Q-Tel. The report quoted Alex Karp, the chief executive, from an internal staff video of August 2015 that the outlet obtained: "As many of you know, the SSDA's recalcitrant," using a Palantir codename for the Central Intelligence Agency, "and we've walked away, or they walked away from us, at the NSA. Either way, I'm happy about that." BuzzFeed reported, citing two people with knowledge of the matter, that Palantir's pilot work for the National Security Agency did not become a full contract, and, citing people familiar with the company and the agency, that Palantir's software had become ingrained at the CIA, and, citing three people with direct knowledge, that the relationship had been marked by tension and even hostility. A Palantir spokesperson said the company could not comment on its relationships with intelligence agencies, and spokespeople for the CIA and the NSA declined to comment.³

The 2011 Team Themis Inquiry

Raw Story reported on February 9, 2011, summarizing a report in The Tech Herald, that emails published by Anonymous from the account of Aaron Barr of HBGary Federal showed that Palantir Technologies, HBGary Federal and Berico Technologies had developed a proposal at the request of the law firm Hunton & Williams, which had met Bank of America on December 3, 2010, concerning WikiLeaks, including plans to "disrupt" the Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald's support of the site. The same day Alex Karp, Palantir's chief executive, issued a statement that he had "directed the company to sever any and all contacts with HB Gary," that Palantir does not provide and has no plans to develop "offensive cyber capabilities," and that "personally and on behalf of the entire company, I want to publicly apologize to progressive organizations in general, and Mr. Greenwald in particular, for any involvement that we may have had in these matters."⁴

Greenwald wrote in Salon on February 15, 2011 that Bank of America and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce "vehemently deny any involvement" and that Palantir and Berico had issued statements terminating their relationship with HBGary Federal and saying they had nothing to do with the plans. He quoted emails in which a Palantir engineer sent Barr a presentation "Updated with Strengths/Weaknesses and a spotlight on Glenn Greenwald," and an email from the Palantir contact for the joint effort, called Team Themis, stating: "we got approval from Dr. Karp and the Board to go ahead with the modified 40/30/30 breakdown proposed." Greenwald wrote that Palantir responded to his inquiry by placing that engineer, described as 26 years old, on leave pending a review and by stating that Palantir "was not retained by any party to develop such recommendations and indeed it would be contrary to Palantir's ethics, culture and policies to do so."⁵

On March 28, 2011, Representative Hank Johnson asked the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice and the Director of National Intelligence for all contracts with HBGary Federal, Palantir Technologies and Berico Technologies. His office stated that he and nineteen House colleagues had written on March 1 to four House committees requesting a formal investigation of allegations that the contractors and Hunton & Williams had conspired to use intelligence and counterterrorism tools against United States citizens, and that on March 16 he had questioned General Keith Alexander and Dr. James Miller at a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing. The release described emails made public as indicating that a planned campaign "may have included cyber attacks against political opponents of Hunton & Williams' clients, the submission of fraudulent documents to discredit targeted U.S. citizens, and the manipulation of online social networks to find damaging information."⁶

Army Orders and the DCGS-A Increment 2 Protest

USAspending records Army orders for Gotham issued by the Army contracting office at Aberdeen Proving Ground (recorded as W6QK ACC-APG) under a Navy blanket purchase agreement, N0010413AZF34, which the record shows as awarded by the Navy's NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk for "Palantir software" from July 26, 2013 to July 24, 2017.⁷ Order KZ01 (December 1, 2014 to November 30, 2015) obligated $5,724,116.36 for "Palantir Gotham server licenses and associated field service representative support." An Army order, KZ02 (December 29, 2014), obligated $2,987,110 for Gotham server licenses for "101st, Ft. Sill, OK" (48 licenses). Order KZ04 (April 10, 2015 to April 10, 2016) obligated $22,401,901.14 for "procurement of Palantir Gotham software and associated support." Order KZ05 (December 1, 2015 to May 31, 2018) obligated $14,198,250.69, and order KZ06 (May 25, 2018 to November 30, 2021) $18,417,417.99.⁸

The Army issued Request for Proposals W56KGY-16-R-0001 for the Distributed Common Ground System-Army Increment 2 (DCGS-A2) on December 23, 2015, seeking a single contractor to be system data architect, developer and integrator. Its Request for Information of August 13, 2014 had estimated a value of $80 million to $100 million for three to four years of development. In July 2014 the Army's acquisition executive, Heidi Shyu, had chartered a market study by the MITRE Corporation, and an Army information paper of January 7, 2015 described the infrastructure for the first phase as "a commercial stand-alone solution (Palantir, IBM)" or a collection of capabilities. Shyu's recommendation of December 16, 2015 stated that DCGS-A Increment 1 had a data architecture "over 10 years old."²⁹

In its response to the August 2014 request, Palantir USG wrote that "The Government does not need to build Increment 2 functionality; the Government can buy the core functionality from the commercial market and integrate any number of additional applications," recommended a firm-fixed-price contract, and cited as examples its work for the Marine Corps, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract that "continues to expand Palantir capabilities through a FFP contract that includes regular software updates and custom enhancements," and a blanket purchase agreement for the Intelligence Community IT Enterprise expansion at the Defense Intelligence Agency. Palantir stated that it fielded and managed "25 Palantir deployments at every major Marine Corps command, representing over 15,000 accounts at peak usage across the Marine Intelligence community," and that its software was "in use by tens of thousands of users across the DOD and IC." The Army's December 2014 analysis of the responses found Palantir "capable to provide Data management and Workflow Management upgrades, and partially capable of providing Data Fusion and Cyber capabilities to Increment 2," and concluded that "a more capability focused RFI needs to be issued to industry." An "Operational Needs Statement for Palantir Platform" of February 9, 2015, whose author is redacted in the opinion, requested the platform and stated that it "offers a solution that meets all of our requirements." The MITRE study had assessed turn-key, cloud-infrastructure and hybrid approaches, and an Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity trade space analysis of July 2015 rated the hybrid alternative "Green" and highest of three alternatives, noting that upper-bound commercial solutions "provide similar 'turn-key' technical functionality."²

After the Government Accountability Office denied the protest of Palantir USG on May 18, 2016 (B-412746), Palantir USG and its parent filed in the Court of Federal Claims in June 2016, represented by Boies Schiller Flexner. On August 22, 2016, Judge Marian Blank Horn dismissed the parent, Palantir Technologies Inc., for waiver because it had not responded to the Army's requests for information or protested at the Government Accountability Office, and held that Palantir USG had standing.⁹ Palantir's complaint alleged that the Army had spent approximately $6 billion over fifteen years trying to develop its own software for the system. Palantir USG's protest to the Government Accountability Office, quoted by the court, stated that an Army Test and Evaluation Command assessment of Palantir conducted in theater in early 2012 was reported on April 25, 2012 and reissued in revised form on May 25, 2012 at the request of the Army's G-2, that the revision suppressed favorable comments about Palantir, and that internal Army correspondence directed that the original be formally rescinded and all copies destroyed. Lieutenant General William Grisoli conducted an Army investigation of the matter between July and October 2012.²⁹

On November 3, 2016, the court held that Palantir had not shown by clear and convincing evidence bias or bad faith by the Army, including over the 2012 report and over information papers that Colonel Charles Wells had sent to Congress on September 30 and October 18, 2011. It held that the Army had not satisfied 10 U.S.C. section 2377, a requirement the court tied to investigating whether commercial items exist that can satisfy the government's needs in whole or in part before developing a product, and permanently enjoined an award under the December 23, 2015 solicitation as issued.² The Army appealed. On September 7, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed in an opinion by Judge Stoll, writing: "To be clear, we are not suggesting that the Army must choose Palantir as the awardee." Theodore Olson of Gibson Dunn argued for Palantir, which was also represented by lawyers from Boies Schiller Flexner, including David Boies.¹⁰

The registration statement states that Palantir generated $51.9 million in revenue from its Army accounts from 2008 through September 2018, and $134.5 million from those accounts between October 2018 and June 2020, and describes the lawsuit as one that is "transforming the way the entire U.S. government buys software."¹ USAspending lists Army order W56KGY19F0029 (March 25, 2019 to March 23, 2023, $23,956,939.20) with Palantir USG, issued by the Aberdeen office under indefinite delivery contract W56KGY18D0003 for a "commercial item that is a combined hardware and software" solution. Later Army orders carry the same W56KGY prefix as the 2015 solicitation number and are described as supporting "Army Capability Drop 2": W56KGY22F0029 ($36,658,071.03), W56KGY23F0029 ($34,534,395.88), W56KGY24F0045 ($35,203,406.82), W56KGY25F0111 ($14,883,564.02) and W56KGY26F0031 ($16,500,000).⁸

Special Operations Command and Navy Awards

USAspending shows Special Operations Command contract H9222216C0078, "Palantir Gotham monthly term licenses," running from May 24, 2016 to May 25, 2021, with $275,959,237.71 obligated against a ceiling of $277,509,237.71. Other Special Operations Command awards include "Palantir tools" ($1,214,651, July 9, 2009) and "Gotham cloud licenses" ($3,630,667, April 8, 2016). An office that USAspending names as NIWC Atlantic also placed orders for Palantir software license maintenance and support under blanket purchase agreement N0010413AZF34, including V782 ($35,804,181.12, September 26, 2014) and N6523617F0874 ($35,750,000, September 28, 2017 to September 27, 2020). Another Navy order, N0003920F0110, is titled "Palantir Gotham-IL 4/5 base year" (February 10, 2020; $19,404,999.96 obligated, ceiling $83,999,999.76). Other awards labelled Gotham include an Air Force order described as "non ACAT NASIC Palantir Gotham license" ($169,218, September 17, 2013), an Army order for annual maintenance of the "Palantir Gotham license core platform" ($338,437, September 27, 2013) and an order from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency for a "Palantir Gotham perpetual license" ($1,173,248, September 8, 2014).⁸

Immigration and Customs Enforcement: FALCON and Investigative Case Management

The earliest award from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to Palantir Technologies in the USAspending search, which begins on October 1, 2007, is HSCEMD11P00040 (February 24, 2011, $58,122 for servers, cloud server licensing and training), followed on September 14, 2011 by HSCETE11F00125, "Palantir software, service, and support for HSI personnel" ($6,725,683.92), and on March 14, 2013 by HSCETC13F00010, annual support and maintenance ($394,843.12). Order HSCETC13F00030 (June 14, 2013 to May 27, 2015; $12,080,065.52) is described as FALCON operations and maintenance "for Palantir Government, a proprietary software product of Palantir Technologies, Inc." Contract HSCETC15C00001 (May 28, 2015 to May 27, 2018) obligated $39,340,900.82 for FALCON operations, maintenance and system enhancement.⁸

The contract file that ICE published in its FOIA reading room for HSCETC-15-C-00001 defines a "Palantir Gotham FFP License" as "a license to be used in perpetuity on the ICE Falcon enterprise instance of Palantir for an unlimited number of server cores," defines the licensed product as "Palantir's proprietary commercial product Palantir Gotham," and limits use to ICE's "mission-related purposes" and to "the ICE FALCON system." The agreement states that the product and services are commercial items under 48 C.F.R. section 2.101. Its closing paragraph states that Palantir is not affiliated with The Saul Zaentz Company, d.b.a. Tolkien Enterprises, or the Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien.¹¹

Later ICE awards in USAspending are: 70CMSD18FR0000094, "Palantir Gotham software" ($249,999.50, June 7 to June 18, 2018); 70CTD019C00000001, FALCON operations and maintenance (November 28, 2018 to May 27, 2022; $37,839,725.17); 70CTD019FR0000268, "new ICM licenses, hosting, helpdesk, and O&M support" (September 25, 2019 to September 25, 2022; $43,565,619.03); 70CTD022FR0000070, FALCON interim support (May 28 to December 2, 2022; $6,937,738.86); and 70CTD022FR0000170, "Investigative Case Management (ICM) operations and maintenance support services and custom enhancements" (September 26, 2022 to September 25, 2027; $170,765,322.37). Two orders of 2026 refer to a "Case Management and Analytics Platform": 70CTD026FC0000012 (May 5, 2026 to May 4, 2027; $86,271,599.30) for the Enforcement Case Management System, and 70CTD026FC0000018 (June 26, 2026 to June 25, 2027; $45,848,616.80) for Homeland Security Investigations case management and analytics. The twelve ICE awards named in this section total $450,078,236.41.⁸

Police Department Deployments

The Inspector General of the Los Angeles Police Commission reviewed Operation LASER in a report dated March 2019. The report describes the Palantir platform as providing "a single access point to multiple sources of law enforcement data," and states that Crime Intelligence Details used it to vet people for the Chronic Offender list, ranking them by points and listing at least twelve per area. It reports that LASER dosage and crime statistics were tracked on a LASER dashboard on the Palantir "Mission Control" platform, and states in a footnote that the annual total cost of those applications "is estimated at approximately $1.8 million per year," while adding that the program "includes a great deal of functionality beyond the LASER dashboard." LASER itself was funded chiefly by Bureau of Justice Assistance grants of $499,959 (2009) and $400,000 (2014), with $899,550.54 in recorded expenditures from August 2010 to September 2018. After a July 2018 Commission meeting, areas were told to suspend entering data into the Chronic Offender database, and the Inspector General found that the majority of people designated Chronic Offenders had few if any actual contacts with the police.¹²

The Verge reported on February 27, 2018 that Palantir ran a predictive policing program with the New Orleans Police Department under an agreement signed on February 23, 2012 by Mayor Mitch Landrieu, which gave the city free access to "the firm's public sector data integration platform" and was structured as a pro bono, philanthropic arrangement under the city's NOLA For Life program, without a public procurement process. The article quotes the political consultant James Carville as saying "It was entirely my idea" and that he and Karp flew to New Orleans to meet Landrieu, and reports that Ronal Serpas, the department's chief at the time, said that Jeff Asher, a former intelligence agent who joined the department from the CIA, ran the social network analysis from 2013 to 2015. The article, citing Palantir's own documentation, states that the method produced a list of roughly 3,900 people at highest risk of involvement in gun violence. The article refers to "Palantir's law enforcement platform" and does not name Gotham. It reports that Landrieu's press office said two weeks after publication that the pro bono contract would not be renewed, and that the Danish national police and intelligence services signed an 84-month contract with Palantir in 2016 for a predictive technology package, reported in the Danish press to be worth between $14.8 million and $41.4 million.¹³