Murphy’s Law: Hell Hath No Fury Like A Bureaucrat Scorned
22nd July 2016
Military procurement bureaucrats are historically the source of epic misconduct and incompetence. This sort of thing goes back thousands of years and continues today even in the most technically advanced nations. An example of this, a dispute between SOCOM (Special Operations Command) and U.S. Army procurement officials, over a about computer software has become a classic example. It has gotten so bad that the publisher of the software preferred by the troops (Palantir) is suing army procurement officials who block the use of their software.
Palantir is the creator of a superior intel analysis system favored by troops allowed to use it. Unlike the troops, who have to follow orders and back off, Palantir refuses to quietly let the army spend billions on a less efficient software system that still does not work. In June 2016 Palantir Technologies told the army it was taking the dispute to court. This could get really ugly because there has already been a lot of testimony from troops who had used Palantir but were then forced to switch to the less effective (and not yet complete) DCGS (Distributed Common Ground System). Worse for the army a confidential Government Accountability Office investigation sided with Palantir.