Inside the belly of the beast also known as Palantir

Just guessing, but I figure I’m one of very few people from my generation who has not read J R R Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” or watched Peter Jackson’s cinematic adaptations of the epic created by the “father of fantasy”.

However I can’t claim complete ignorance of the “fellowship of the ring” and Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry’s quest to reach Mordor, where they plan to destroy the “one ring” Sauron created to control the “rings of power” elven smiths had forged for men, dwarves and elves.

And for that I have Ralph Bakshi to thank because, like Jackson, I was a huge fan of his 1978 animated feature which told a fair chunk of the story before his funding from United Artists ran out before he could complete the final part of the project.

So to the crux of this article... Palantir, created by the “Dark Lord” to control humanity. I was aware there was some background behind the company’s name but having not seen nor read “The Return of the King” – the final segment of the Tolkien fantasy – I was not aware of the name’s significance to The Lord of the Rings.

An indestructible crystal ball from Tolkien's epic saga – collectively known as palantiri – the word palantir is derived from Quenya, one of the author’s made-up languages, and refers to an obsidian scrying crystal used for communication... sort of like a very fancy mobile phone, but far less ubiquitous in Middle-earth.

Often described as “seeing stones”, palantíri granted observers visions of distant events and allowed communication over great distances, although according to the mythology they could be dangerous in the hands of weak individuals. When not in use they were black opaque spheres and, although considered practically unbreakable, extreme heat could damage them.

Although visions of distant events were random and blurry, a person with reserves of extreme willpower could focus on something specific and adjust the scale and detail... while two people looking into different stones could exchange information telepathically.

I recently wrote an article asking whether black mirrors are “portals to plug into other dimensions” which palantiri could be likened to as they provide a visual link between whoever is gazing into them. On the same planet, on different planets, in the same dimension, in different dimensions... into the past, or future? Who knows? I guess, I’d have to consult Tolkien himself to be sure.

Whatever, the notion does seem to go some way towards explaining why a big data company would settle upon the name... as in Palantir’s own words it “was founded on the belief that the United States, its allies and partners should harness the most advanced technical capabilities for their defence and prosperity”.

Defence and prosperity... two words that go hand in hand, with war the cornerstone that unites them and the reason why I’d advocate the world’s going to hell in a hand cart with Palantir leading the charge.

Not often in the online realm of AI banality do you find a really good article on anything these days but Trey Anderson’s take on Polymathic Musings about “how data scientists became the new priests and why we forgot how to cast the spell of privacy” is very insightful. His knowledge of Middle-earth far outstrips mine but we share the same view on Palantir’s insidious role in shaping the future.

“The analysts at Palantir, at NSA, at the various three-letter agencies and their private sector contractors, are not generally corrupt in the individual sense,” Anderson writes. “Most of them are genuinely trying to find real patterns in real data.

“The corruption is structural. It is embedded in the questions they are authorised to ask, the populations they are authorised to surveil, the threat categories that have been pre-defined by policy frameworks built by people operating under institutional incentive structures that have nothing to do with truth and everything to do with budget justification, mission expansion and the perpetuation of the apparatus itself.

“You train the system on a definition of ‘threat’. The system finds patterns matching that definition. The patterns confirm the original threat model. The threat model justifies expanded collection authorities. The expanded collection generates more data. The more data, the more patterns. The more patterns, the more confirmations. The oracle has become a closed loop and it is producing exactly the prophecies the institution needs in order to remain an institution.”

So what does Palantir actually do? Palantir Technologies is described by data.landbase.com as: “A versatile data analytics platform designed for complex data integration, analysis and operational deployment. It is widely used to enhance decision-making, optimise processes and improve security across various domains. It’s particularly valuable for industries like government, finance, healthcare and manufacturing, and is typically used by departments focused on data science, analytics, operations and security.”

And who amongst that vast array of industries employs them? Well, let’s see, Amazon, Walmart, Microsoft, CVS Health, Google, IBM, United Health Group, Intel, Accenture, Exxon Mobil and that’s just for starters... the list includes 1,479 entries, which also contains Britain’s NHS and some branch of Israel’s war machine, no doubt, that’s providing strategic information to enable its genocidal expansionism in the Middle East.

Returning to Anderson’s insights: “Palantir Technologies was built on a straightforward premise: if you could integrate all available data streams about a person, a network, a population, into a single coherent analytical picture, you could see things that were otherwise invisible.

“Patterns in financial transactions; social graphs of communication; movement signatures; behavioural deviations from baseline. The founders were not wrong that this capability would be powerful. The company was seeded by In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture arm and built from the beginning for intelligence community clients. It was purpose-built for this.

“What it did not, perhaps, fully reckon with is what it means to put that power in the service of institutional clients whose incentive structures were never oriented toward truth. They were oriented toward outcomes. And in a system where the outcome is predetermined by the institution’s interests, the oracle becomes the instrument of its own corruption.”

So, created by the CIA, was it? Nothing to worry about there then, is there? “A legally independent, investment capital non-profit organisation that was conceptualised and chartered by the CIA, with which it still has contracts,” the Grey Dynamics website states. “IQT invests in startup companies worldwide that develop technology that is considered advantageous to the US intelligence community’s mission. Since the advent of In-Q-Tel, other entities, like the US Army, have followed suit and created investment companies that straddle the public-private sector divide.”

And, here we go again, Grey Dynamics? Hell, is there no end to the tunnels down this rabbit hole? “A London-based intelligence firm specialising in advanced analysis and threat intelligence. We deliver actionable insights to government, military and private sector clients operating in complex environments. Backed by a global network of analysts, researchers and investigators, we help our clients to navigate challenges with clarity and confidence.”

Tangents, tangents everywhere so where to head off next? Back to Palantir, I figure, as that was supposed to be the topic of this article. Having moved its headquarters from Denver (oh boy) to Miami around February this year, it was founded in 2003 by the CIA, oops sorry, Peter Thiel, Stephen “Ashkenazi” Cohen, Joe Lonsdale, Alex Karp and Nathan Gettings.

The “force” is strongest in Cohen, but present in Lonsdale and Karp too, so little surprise that on 12 January 2024 Bloomberg reported Palantir had agreed a strategic partnership with the Israeli Defence Ministry to supply technology’s to help the country’s “war efforts”.

“Both parties have mutually agreed to harness Palantir’s advanced technology in support of war-related missions,” said executive vice-president Josh Harris. “This strategic partnership aims to significantly aid the Israeli Ministry of Defence in addressing the current situation in Israel.”

Quick thinking that by Israel to bring Palantir on board after the 7 October 2023 pantomime contrived to exterminate the population of Gaza... or was it always part of the plan, one of the reasons why the CIA was so keen to invest in the technology in 2003? Palantir’s number-crunching algorithms, honed over a decade, providing the intelligence to subjugate the masses in a test environment before being rolled out to the world?

Oh no, please, it’s there for your protection to keep you safe from terrorism... simply a bonus that it streamlines the business of warfare and maximises the profitability of conflict and control. And it’s so good at gathering up all that "precious" information that the British government is almost as fond of Palantir as their US counterparts. With the National Health Service in the United Kingdom signing a deal to utilise its services in 2023 and a number of police authorities in England also jumping on board.

NHS England awarded a £330 million seven-year contract to Palantir to operate its Federated Data Platform (FDP), ostensibly software that enables it to bring together operational data to support staff to access the information they need in one safe and secure environment.

“By streamlining access for healthcare professionals, this reduces the need for multiple logins, resulting in faster, more coordinated care, increased patient choice and improved health outcomes,” NHS England says. “Every hospital trust and integrated care board (on behalf of the integrated care system) will have their own separate instance of the software for which they are the data controller. A digitised, connected NHS can deliver services more effectively and efficiently with patients at the heart.”

Yeah, you got it, it’s all about the patient... nothing to do with building up digital profiles of people that may come in handy for surveillance and control too. Unsurprisingly NHS England claimed no company involved in the FDP would be able to access health and care data without the explicit permission of the NHS, saying: “All data within the platform is under the control of the NHS and will only be used for direct care and planning. It will not be used to access data for research purposes and GP data will not feed into the national version of the software platform.”

Palantir chief executive Karp said: “There is no more important institution in the UK than the NHS and we are humbled to have now been chosen to provide that software across England to help bring down waiting lists, improve patient care and reduce health inequalities. It builds on our role supporting the delivery of the Covid-19 vaccine and, more recently, helping individual NHS trusts to schedule more operations.”

I’m glad Karp said that because I’d never have mentioned Palantir’s role in the “plandemic” otherwise, honest! However, it doesn’t seem as if health officials are that impressed by Palantir’s input, sparking calls for the relationship to be scrapped because of fears its sketchy reputation could seriously hinder the FDP’s delivery.

A Guardian report from 12 February this year states: “In 2023, ministers selected Palantir, a US surveillance technology company that also works for the Israeli military and Donald Trump’s ICE operation, to build an AI-enabled data platform to connect disparate health information across the NHS.

“Now it has emerged that after Keir Starmer demanded faster deployment, Whitehall officials privately warned that the public perception of Palantir would limit its rollout, meaning the contract would not offer value for money.

“By last summer fewer than half of health authorities in England had started using the technology amid opposition from the public and doctors. The British Medical Association has said its members could refuse to use parts of the system citing Palantir’s role in targeting ICE raids in the US.”

The Guardian report also stated MPs in the House of Commons had called the tech firm “ghastly” and “a highly questionable organisation” citing its relationship with Global Counsel, a lobbying company co-founded by Peter Mandelson, which he’d held shares in until early February this year.

Mandelson, appointed British ambassador to the US by former prime minister Keir Starmer last year, even arranged a meeting between Palantir CEO Karp and Starmer at the tech company’s Washington office during his tenure from 10 February until he was sacked on 11 September following the release of US court documents and a cache of private emails focusing attention back on his long-standing “friendship” with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The fallout didn't bode well for Global Counsel either... shortly after Mandelson sold his shares in February the company announced it was going into administration after a rapid loss of clients.

The lobbying firm was set up by Mandelson and Benjamin Wegg-Prosser after Labour lost the 2010 general election and advised high-profile clients such as Shell and TikTok with offices in Berlin, Brussels, Singapore, Washington and Doha.

Mandelson had resigned from the board in 2024, before his appointment as UK ambassador to the US, with co-founder Wegg-Prosser stepping down as chief executive on 6 February this year. High-profile organisations such as Barclays, Tesco, Klarna, KKR, GSK and Vodafone had all ended or were reviewing their relationship with Global Counsel at the time.

But the NHS is not the only branch of the UK infrastructure infested by Palantir, way back in December 2022 it announced a landmark Enterprise Agreement (EA) with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) worth £75 million over three years.

According to the PR Newswire the partnership would support the MoD's digital transformation “spearheaded by Defence Digital and powered by Palantir” enabling it to treat “data as a strategic asset, harnessing its power to deliver superior military advantage and greater efficiency across the enterprise, from headquarters to the front lines”.

“This partnership aims to accelerate Defence Digital’s ambitious vision of where the UK needs to be by 2030, providing secure access to its data across all operational domains,” the report said. “Working in close collaboration with Defence Digital, Palantir software will enable the MoD to exploit data at scale and speed to make faster, better decisions.”

It then added a significant bit of information: “Building on more than a decade of partnership, the agreement will enable any part of UK defence to gain access to Palantir software across multiple classifications, wherever and however it can help – turning the MoD's digital vision into reality at pace.” Well, a decade of partnership, interesting... could it be the relationship actually began less than 10 years after Palantir’s creation?

Anyhow, good news, that three-year MoD contract was extended at the end of last year and, now worth £240 million, will provide “data analytics capabilities supporting critical strategic, tactical and live operational decision-making across classifications” for another three years.

Made without a competitive tender process, the award followed the news of a “strategic partnership” between the MoD and Palantir announced during US President Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK in September last year.

Under the partnership, the MoD said Palantir would invest £1.5 billion and create 350 new jobs in the UK. In return, it said it would work with Palantir to “identify opportunities... worth up to £750 million over the next five years”.

So the MoD seems reasonably content with its relationship with Palantir, the NHS probably less so, but still committed to its seven-year deal signed off in 2023, however the UK’s police authorities seem to have very mixed feelings about the tech giant although you’ll have to log on to PART TWO of this investigation to find out more!