2 Notes on Palantir

Two Notes on Palantir   *Edited on 6.30.2014 to correct ties to CNAS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I. Palantir and 100 Resilient Cities, Oakland FOIA

Palantir is a contractor for the 100 Resilient Cities program, initiated by the Rockefeller Foundation.  Along with natural disaster preparedness, the program defines resiliency to also include preparedness against political shock and protest.  Palantir, by working with HB Gary and Team Themis has a reputation for spying activists and journalists; their association with the 100 Resilient Cities does reinforce the idea that a fundamental aspect to resiliency is preparedness against protest and social change.  Members of the 100 Resilient Cities include Berkeley, Oakland and SF - cities that have a history of social protest. During the Occupy movement the local Bay Area city governments did not show commitment to upholding that history of protest, unleashing their police agencies at the behest of the banking industry.  Now the city governments of Berkeley, Oakland and SF are members of a program that contracts with Palantir, a corporation that see undermining protests as business opportunities.

A FOIA request was sent to Oakland asking for contracts or promotional information, or communications related to Palantir.  The reply from the city staff member was: "City staff cannot identify any records in their possession which are responsive to this request." (http://records.oaklandnet.com/request/4442)  Oakland does already work indirectly with Palantir, as the corporation manages the regional license plate database that Oakland accesses through NCRIC (Northern California Regional Intelligence Center).  And even though the city of oakland's staff member states there are no records of communications or agreements between Oakland and Palantir, the corporation does have the contract with 100 Cities, which Oakland is a part of.  At some point, Palantir will have access - in some capacity that is not explained - to the data from Oakland that is collected for the 100 Cities initiative.


II. Palantir and CNAS

Palantir is a sponsor of the 2014 CNAS (Center For a New American Security) National Security Conference.  Topics at the conference included:  the US's relation with China and Russia, 'robotics on the battlefield' and 'energy, Iran and the future of Gulf security'. Palantir is a CNAS supporter and Palantir engineer Jared Jonker is a CNAS National Security Leader.  Palantir is a military contractor.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/15/1223772/-THINK-TANK-Center-for-NEW-American-Security-Strange-Bedfellows