Swiss army rejected US tech firm Palantir on five occasions

Palantir has been the subject of much controversy Keystone / Michael Schmid

In recent years, the Swiss army has considered collaborating with Palantir five times but rejected overtures from the controversial  United States technology company each time.

This is shown by research conducted by the online magazine Republik and the research collective WAV. According to the research, one reason was concern about the security of confidential data.

Palantir is among the most powerful and controversial companies in the world. Thanks to its artificial intelligence model, capable of rapidly processing large amounts of data, it promises real-time solutions to the most complex and sensitive problems, including those on the battlefield.

The US tech company’s product range includes software for preventing terrorist attacks and identifying military targets. Palantir’s clients include governments, armies, and intelligence agencies of various countries. But not in Switzerland. According to research by Republik and WAV, the Swiss army has rejected cooperation with Palantir five times.

“We not only discovered these five contacts between experts from the Swiss army, but also the reasons why the cooperation was rejected,” Balz Oertli, one of the journalists involved in the Palantir investigation, told Swiss public broadcaster (RSI). “In three of the five cases, it was the lack of control over the data that led to the rejection.”

For the army experts, it was a question of sovereignty in handling confidential information. “They obviously didn’t trust Palantir enough,” Oertli concludes.

Parliament ot debate ban

The journalistic investigation into Palantir was conducted at the European level through a collaboration between various media outlets. It revealed a contract volume of €1.44 billion for Palantir in Europe. The tech company generates the majority of its total revenue of approximately €4 billion in the US.

“Nevertheless, the lack of cooperation with the Swiss army is significant,” Oertli added. “Switzerland would certainly have been a very good customer.” It is neutral and outside of NATO. Furthermore, its army is comparable in size to other potential customers. The various rejections are therefore “a problem for Palantir.”

The US corporation can, however, continue to offer its services in Switzerland. The Federal Department of Defence, headed by Martin Pfister, has not yet made a fundamental decision that would preclude cooperation.

However, this could become an issue in parliament. A parliamentary initiative has been submitted by the Green Party calling for a ban on contracts with foreign providers of such services – citing concerns about the transparency and security of confidential data, as expressed by army specialists.

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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.