Article

2019-03-27 Science & Technology

Good news for the soldier: Palantir wins Army IT intelligence systems contract

[Entornointeligente.com] By Shane Harris Shane Harris Intelligence and national security reporter Email Bio Follow March 26 at 6:08 PM The Army has chosen Palantir Technologies to deploy a complex battlefield intelligence system for soldiers, according to Army documents, a significant boost for a company that has attracted a devoted following in national security circles but had struggled to win a major defense contract. Industry experts said it marked the first time that the government had tapped a Silicon Valley software company, as opposed to a traditional military contractor, to lead a defense program of record, which has a dedicated line of funding from Congress. The contract is potentially worth more than $800 million. The Army’s decision to go with Palantir, which was co-founded by Peter Thiel, the billionaire investor and sometimes adviser to President Trump, brings to a close the latest chapter in a fierce competition.

In March 2018, the Army chose Palantir and Raytheon to vie for the next phase of the Distributed Common Ground System (or DCGS-A, for Army), which lets users gather and analyze information about enemy movements, terrain and weather to create detailed maps and reports in real-time.
Actually, these systems are designed to capture 'all source' intelligence data and inputs from existing diverse systems and present them to the soldier on a user friendly 'flat network' system. These are social network and battlefield surveillance analysis tools, not collectors.
The system is designed to be used by soldiers fighting in remote, harsh environments. But critics within the Army and in Congress have for years complained that DCGS-A cost too much and didn’t deliver the intelligence and capabilities that soldiers needed. Some soldiers said the system was too hard to use and searched for alternatives.
Yes, "complained for years". Somewhere around 15 years now as I recall, possbily longer.
Many became backers of Palantir, which sells to governments and businesses, including in the financial and health care sectors. Palantir and its advocates argued that their software was cheaper and could meet all the Army’s requirements. But Army brass defended their decision to pay for a custom-built platform. In 2016, the Army chose Raytheon for a next phase of DCGS-A.

Palantir web site.

Posted by 2019-03-27 07:52|| || Front Page|| [9 views ] Top

#1 Peter Thiel’s Palantir Wins $876 Million U.S. Army Contract

Posted by Skidmark 2019-03-27 08:27|| 2019-03-27 08:27|| Front Page Top

#2 Butcritics within the Army and in Congress have for years complained that DCGS-A cost too much and didn’t deliver the intelligence and capabilities that soldiers needed. Some soldiers said the system was too hard to use and searched for alternatives.

All of the above factual. DCGS-A was/is a proprietary system hitched to costly contractor (Lockheed Martin) soldier mentors. Unfriendly and difficult to operate is an understatement.

A non-techie can learn to use the basic Palantir tool in an afternoon of instruction. Slower non-techies may require an additional morning of instruction. No foking expensive battlefield 'right seat ride' mentors required. Savvy analysts can hop on and figure it out in 15 minutes.

Posted by Besoeker 2019-03-27 08:42|| 2019-03-27 08:42|| Front Page Top

#3 which lets users gather and analyze information about enemy movements, terrain and weather to create detailed maps and reports in real-time.

I am not now nor ever have been a gunt, soldier, etc. I have not even stayed in a Holiday Inn, but, that said it seems that detailed weather maps and reports are not what said grunt in the middle of a gun fight needs to help him kill bad guys.

What am I missing here?

Posted by AlanC 2019-03-27 09:20|| 2019-03-27 09:20|| Front Page Top

Here is an example or screen shot of a social network analysis product using the Analyst Notebook (ANB) tool. A favorite of the intelligence community.

By simply kliking on the 'face' image, a complete personalia/bio compendium and existing traffic on the subject is quickly at hand and can be printed or forwarded to an end-user.

Crude example: Akmed travels to Benzar Village on the first and third Tuesday afternoons of the month and frequents Halads tea shop. Amed also travels to Benzar and frequents Halads on the first and third Tuesday afternoons. Halads tea shop only has one table. What potential analytic conclusions might you draw ?

Of course ANB wasn't good enough for DCGS-A. They had to come up with their very own proprietary non-integrating ANB 'clone' tool.

Posted by Besoeker 2019-03-27 09:22|| 2019-03-27 09:22|| Front Page Top

#5 Valid ques at # 3. Let me attempt to explain.

The types of conflict, drone zapping and detention of Taliban or AQ leadership, etc, found in Iraq and AFG generally require the identification and confirmation of bad actors along with their support networks. These bad actors tend to not present themselves with bugle blasts in uniformed massive assaults as in the Korean conflict. Social Network Analysis enables this identification process.

Probably a gross over-simplification, but I hope it helps.

Posted by Besoeker 2019-03-27 09:36|| 2019-03-27 09:36|| Front Page Top

#6 LockMart had Congressmen in its pocket. So they steered the Dept of the Army where it would benefit the politicians, not the nation or the Army or the soldiers. We need term limits and transparency.

Posted by Vespasian Unairt7733 2019-03-27 12:41|| 2019-03-27 12:41|| Front Page Top

#7 Thanks Beso. I didn't make myself clear enough.

I understand your example and how that could be more than a trifle useful. What is confusing me is the idea that "soldiers" need to generate real time reports and maps. That might be useful for someone in operations (if I understand Tom Clancy) but ground pounders in a gun fight?

Posted by AlanC 2019-03-27 13:42|| 2019-03-27 13:42|| Front Page Top

#8 All this stuff will be integrated one way or another eventually. Will it be integrated well or poorly? Time will tell. But imagine a future where a micro drone could report that the desired target was / was not at the location about to be raided as a result of good integrated intel data.

Posted by M. Murcek 2019-03-27 15:17|| 2019-03-27 15:17|| Front Page Top

#9 That might be useful for someone in operations (if I understand Tom Clancy) but ground pounders in a gun fight? Posted by AlanC

There generally is no FEBA (Forward Edge of the Battlefield). Killing everyone to your immediate front and pushing the surviving forces back to an encircled Berlin as in WWII is unfortunately not an option. Iraq and AFG insurgent warfare is a can of worms. Everyone you meet, see walking along a roadway, or squatting to take care of business is a potential enemy.

In any city in the US, say a city of 250,000 people. It's generally the same 600-900 violators who cause the trouble. "The usual suspects" so to speak. Report writing and documenting potential bad actor activities (their social network) helps the troops keep track of the bad actors and their pals.

Archiving these social networks and layering them over time permits a historical record of activities, hide sites, weapons cache locations, infiltration routes from Pakiland, etc. which is useful for the next soldier coming into theater. Troop rotations are a fact of life. No sense going into an area cold.

They all look the same and will smile and wave at you, but they're not your friends.

Posted by Besoeker 2019-03-27 15:19|| 2019-03-27 15:19|| Front Page Top

#10 What's that phrase again? Kill them all and let God sort it out.

/sarc (I think)

Posted by AlanC 2019-03-27 16:48|| 2019-03-27 16:48|| Front Page Top

#11 There's too ways that "too much information" presents: Your girlfriend talking incessantly about her exes is one kind. What you need to know now buried beneath everything else right behind the pony is the other kind...

Posted by M. Murcek 2019-03-27 17:22|| 2019-03-27 17:22|| Front Page Top

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