National security is being outsourced to artificial intelligence (AI).
There isn’t much of a way to sum up what Palantir exactly is. While it is a tech conglomerate and a company that focuses on data collection, there isn’t a good description or definition of Palantir.
Employees describe it as a reorganizer that doesn’t completely gut the current systems in a company but goes on top of current systems and ensures easier and more organized access.
Since its first CIA contract in 2005, Palantir amassed 482 active contracts with their 483rd contract being a contract of consolidation for all other government contracts for $10 billion. With partnerships with Google and the CIA, Palantir has data on not only every U.S. citizen, but also every Google user’s cloud drive.
Palantir got its main start with an investment by a branch of the CIA, called In-Q-tel (I.Q.T.) that focuses on investing in companies that fit the CIA’s interest.
The majority of their contracts are with the U.S. military for price cut downs and general data collection, but in 2020 Palantir had AI implemented into Maven Smart Systems which is a missile defense system made by the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has also bought contracts with Palantir for $30 million for an ImmigrationOS that tracks and reports suspected non-citizens. ImmigrationOS access patterns in previous non-citizens and is supposed to be targeting “violent criminals,” but there is no release on what the criteria is for the OS considers a violent criminal.
Recent documents obtained in a freedom of information act lawsuit revealed just how much Palantir is in the day to day work of ICE. An investigation by the American Immigration Council ultimately revealed that Palantir essentially runs the majority of deportations as well as almost all investigations for ICE.
Surveillance State
The Patriot Act was enacted after the 9/11 attacks; critics argue that the Patriot Act entails a violation of the Privacy Act of 1974, an act that requires the federal government to give notice of all systems of records (systems of records are collections of records held on people or things) that are held and created, in the name of national security according to critics.
People considered persons of interest (POI) had all their activities monitored. The American people online were actively monitored and organized in data collections across the country all in the name of national security.
There was a criteria to be a POI, but it was made intentionally vague to be able to fit in everyone it felt it needed to. Now what this has to do with Palantir is that the majority of the contracts that Palantir has with the federal government.
These contracts are for their softwares like Gotham AI which pulls together data from the D.M.V., police reports, court documents, and personal social media all for turnover to the government for surveillance of whom they deem a POI.
The Future of American Privacy
Privacy is a constitutional right to the American people, and some voices in government are working to makes sure it isn’t something that can be trod upon even with things like the Patriot Act and Palantir.
Rand Paul is a Kentucky senator who holds the right to privacy as a major proponent of his beliefs.
Recently Paul has introduced a bill called “Safeguarding Personal Information Act of 2025.”
It is a bill in which he pushes against the introduction of the Real ID.
Paul makes the argument that the Real ID is a national passport and that it forces citizens to give far too much personal information to the government.
Real IDs are required for the boarding of commercial flights, entrance to government buildings, and any federally controlled space.
Before the introduction of Paul’s bill all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia had to have technology to scan embedded readable chips in the Real ID.
On top of this, Real IDs are all entered into a database that Gotham AI has access to.
Even with a handful of representatives pushing back against the privatization of American privacy to the AI sector. It means that not the entirety of our government is for the mass surveillance of the American people.
“Ultimately, arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say,” said Edward Snowden.
