“IN-Q-Tel operates in the shadow”
Wall Street journal
The DGSI [French internal intelligence service] is completely overwhelmed by the fight against terrorism and turns to Palantir for help. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
According to Patrick Calvar, the current DGSI Director, the Agency has huge amounts of data but lacks the tools to ‘mine’ these resources.
Patrick Calvar (born 26 November 1955) has been head of the French General Directorate for Internal Security since 30 May 2012.
Calvar stated earlier this year that the DGSI needs such software/capability ‘immediately’ and that no French companies can provide it. (Patrick Calvar must legally retire on May 15 2017.)
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Therefore, the DGSI has turned to Palantir for help. According to rumors, the contract has already been signed.
Usually, the DGSI and the DGSE collaborate on such programs for compatibility reasons and also to avoid wasting precious resources.
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The use by the DGSI/DGSE of a software produced by a company operating in the shadow of the CIA is likely to raise a few eyebrows…
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Palantir Technologies
Palantir Technologies, Inc. is a private American software and services company, specializing in big data analysis.
Founded in 2004, Palantir’s original clients were federal agencies of the United States Intelligence Community (USIC). In-Q-Tel funded the projet — right from the start — with $2 million.
In the news lately is a data analysis company called Palantir that is a good bet to go public sometime in 2017. If you want to buy Palantir stock you will have to be patient until the IPO because until then, it is a private company.
Palantir’s approximate $20 billion valuation puts it in near the top of high profile startups yet to IPO.
Palantir & The CIA
There is no secret about the CIA — and other US Intelligence agencies — being involved in the early development stages of major projects such as Google Earth and Palantir Technologies through a venture-capital firm it created: IN-Q-Tel .
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However, according to an analysis of the Wall Street Journal, IN-Q-Tel operates “in the shadow”.
IN-Q-Tel has extremely close ties to the CIA and runs almost all investment decisions by the spy agency.
The firm discloses little about how it picks companies to invest in, never says how much, and sometimes doesn’t reveal the investments at all.
REFERENCES
The CIA’s Venture-Capital Firm, Like Its Sponsor, Operates in the Shadows — WSJ August 30 2016
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DGSI Lacks Big Data Mining Tools, Turns to PALANTIR For Help