Palantir, the Donald Trump–connected spy-tech and AI firm, just scored a no-bid government contract potentially worth millions to help the Agriculture Department implement the White House’s divisive return-to-office directive. Under the guise of national security, the highly “sensitive” tasks to be handled by the billion-dollar tech behemoth will include “employee seat assignments” and “space utilization.”
Despite vague contract details, the project could potentially bring a workforce surveillance technology known as bossware to the federal workforce, despite concerns about its mental and physical toll on workers and its potential for errors and discrimination.
“In light of the Trump administration’s war on public-service workers, there’s reason to fear this Palantir ‘return-to-office tool’ will be deployed to further surveil and intimidate the remaining federal workforce,” said Paul Sonn, state policy program director at the National Employment Law Project, a workers’ rights advocacy nonprofit.
Palantir was among the donors funding the building of the new White House ballroom, a project that Trump is personally overseeing. In December 2024, Alex Karp, Palantir’s CEO, donated $1 million to MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump super PAC.
Peter Thiel, cofounder of Palantir, is a Trump ally and a longtime Republican donor. Thiel also groomed Vice President J. D. Vance and helped jump-start his political career by dumping millions into Vance’s campaign coffers for his 2022 Ohio Senate race.
Palantir did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the Department of Agriculture.
The new award is the latest purchase in a larger $300 million contract that the Agriculture Department and Palantir inked last year as part of a sweeping “national farm security” directive with the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security. The $300 million contract will allow Palantir “to conduct key security checks and expedite benefits…
Auteur: Luke Goldstein
