Jon Tester joins Palantir ahead of Democratic congressional scrutiny

Wyden’s staff says compulsory processes will be ‘on the table’ if Palantir does not respond next year

Technology companies expect a wave of scrutiny from Democrats over the industry’s ties to the Trump administration when Democrats take over Congress in January. In anticipation, many are hiring former Democratic lawmakers and aides to make their case to the incoming House and Senate majorities. Palantir was among the latest companies making that move. The company hired Tester, an organic farmer and former Democratic senator from Montana who lost reelection in 2024, as an adviser. For Palantir, the questions include its government contracts, surveillance tools and work for agencies associated with the Trump administration.

“My agreement with Palantir is advisory in nature, it is not lobbying,” Tester told NPR in an interview. Tester said he would focus on the government-services side of Palantir’s work.

Tester believed Palantir had a good story to tell and needed to communicate it while hoping people would be receptive. “Perception is reality in Washington, D.C. and in politics in general,” he said. “But the fact is, I think Palantir has got a good story to tell, and they need to tell it. And hopefully folks will be receptive to it.”

NPR described Palantir as a “secretive” American software and artificial intelligence company that has faced questions from Democrats in Congress during President Trump’s second term. Billionaire founder Peter Theil named the company after the mythical “seeing stone” from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. NPR also reported that Palantir has been accused of abetting mass surveillance on Americans and immigrants.

Palantir has long denied claims that it aids mass surveillance on the American public. The company says it does not gather or manipulate data at all; instead, it creates tools for government agencies and private companies to organize and optimize their own information. Palantir has also said it is committed to “protecting privacy and upholding liberal democratic values.”

Earlier this year, while Democrats were in the minority, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and 30 other Democratic lawmakers demanded answers about Palantir’s contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and whether its tools were part of efforts by the federal government to surveil Americans. Palantir denied the accusation, saying it is “neither conducting nor enabling mass surveillance of American citizens,” but Wyden’s Senate office said he was not fully satisfied with the response.

In a statement to NPR, Wyden’s staff wrote: “Senator Wyden has a number of questions about Palantir’s work to facilitate the Trump-Vance abuse of government data that he intends to ask again as chairman of the Finance Committee.” The staff added: “If Palantir is not responsive next year, compulsory processes will be on the table.”

Tester served 18 years in the Senate and was an outspoken critic of the PATRIOT Act, which passed shortly after the 9/11 attacks and expanded the Justice Department’s surveillance powers. Asked whether his concerns over government surveillance remained and whether he had the same concerns about his new employer, Tester said Palantir was different. He said the company does not build “big databases” or trade in private data.

Tester said, “I wanted to do away with the Patriot Act because it was about privacy.” He added, “It was about making sure that I am not being watched by anybody, including Big Brother. And by the way, I’ve talked to many people within Palantir. They believe the same way I do. This is an organization that believes in privacy.”

During Trump’s second term, Palantir’s CEO and co-founder Alex Karp, a self-described liberal, has been highly critical of Democrats on issues including immigration and AI. In a 2025 Axios interview, Karp said, “I would say to my Democratic friends, also of which I still have, I hope many,” specifically referencing his support for much more restrictive immigration policies. “You have to grow a spine because a lot of these people actually agree with me in private,” he said.

Last year, over a dozen former Palantir employees criticized the company over its $30 million contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to create a tool providing “near real-time visibility” into migrant movement. The former employees argued that Palantir violated its own code of conduct by working with the Trump administration on such products. NPR also linked separate reporting that ICE shared Medicaid data it was not supposed to have with Palantir.

Valued at over $350 billion, Palantir currently holds $2 billion worth of federal contracts, according to government records. The lion’s share are with the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State, but the software firm also works with the Departments of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs and Health and Human Services.

“It’s not a coincidence that tech companies are turning to Democrats to help burnish their reputation,” said Aya Ibrahim, a senior fellow at the AI Now Institute and a former State Department official. “I think at the end of the day, these companies have an inordinate amount of money and they will try and put it wherever they can in order to stave off any real accountability,” she said.

Tester called the midterm election results a blue “tidal wave” after two years in a Congress that gave him “great disappointment.” “It is going to make a difference as far as the policies that are being advocated for,” Tester said of the upcoming Congress. “I don’t think you’re going to see the kind of aggressive tactics that were taken forth by ICE moving forward.”