Poland's Palantir Defence Deal Draws Calls for Risk Audit

A confidentiality agreement was signed in parallel and was not made public. Critics note that the Internal Security Agency (ABW) has not carried out an official risk assessment of the company. Poland's Ombudsman wrote to the deputy prime minister and defence minister, and interpellations and audit requests went to bodies including the Supreme Audit Office (NIK).

Demands and political reaction

The "Nasze dane" initiative and Inicjatywa Wschód are calling for a public risk audit that takes into account US jurisdiction over the company and its employees' access to information. A protest is planned in Warsaw, and an open letter is to be sent to the President's Chancellery asking that the National Security Bureau commission independent analyses.

Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski has also asked the defence minister for a thorough review of the cooperation and a full audit of operational and legal risks. The defence ministry had not publicly responded at the time of publication.

Palantir's position

Palantir says the concerns often stem from incomplete knowledge of its technology. According to the company, the solution runs in the client's closed infrastructure under the client's full and exclusive control. It says Palantir has no access to processed data, does not store it in the cloud and cannot remotely shut the system down. The customer keeps all intellectual property and sole authority over user permissions.

The company's technology is already used in more than twenty NATO countries and by Ukraine's armed forces to analyse battlefield data. Even so, given controversy over its earlier contracts elsewhere, critics in Poland want full transparency and an open debate in the Sejm before binding decisions are made.