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Avoq has landed Palantir Technologies, the controversial surveillance company founded by right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, as a client.
Democratic heavyweight & Avoq co-founder Steve Elmendorf heads the four-person Palantir team. He was chief of staff to Majority Leader Dick Gephardt and deputy campaign manager for John Kerry’s presidential run.
Keith Castaldo (general counsel to New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand), Cedric Grant (chief of staff to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries) and Joseph Orlando (staffer to Democratic Reps. Frank Pallone and Jan Schakowsky) round out the Palantir team.
Avoq is to represent the company on government programs supported by commercial technology.
Palantir has provided tools to Immigration & Customs Enforcement for its immigration crackdown, and to identify targets in Donald Trump’s war with Iran.
The company received some bad news this month as the French spy agency plans to drop Palantir's data tools in favor of a domestic supplier
"We must use our own AI models; we cannot accept new strategic dependencies in the digital sphere,” France’s prime minister Sébastien Lecornu posted on social media. “We cannot rely on tools developed by foreign powers. France must have its own tools.”
Germany’s military also has dropped Palantir, while UK’s National Health Service is reviewing its $440M contract with the company.
Ballard Partners has signed to a represent the US unit of Rheinmetall, Germany’s biggest defense contractor, on Army procurement issues.
BGR Group signs on to provide lobbying and PR services for Terzo, an AI financial intelligence platform. Douglas Lute, chair of BGR’s international and defense practices, will join Terzo’s board of directors.
Anne Kierig, who was senior manager of public policy at Amazon, has joined the American Advertising Federation as VP-government affairs. She takes over for Clark Rector, who is retiring after a 37-year run at AAF.
TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which was established in compliance with the executive order signed by President Trump, has hired Valcour LLC, which has close ties with his administration.
Ballard Partners has signed on gunmaker Sturm, Ruger & Co to advocate on behalf of Second Amendment issues.
