Network Closure SIGNIFICANT STALE — UNDER REVIEW

Closed loop: Palantir Technologies → Mark D. Levine → US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) → Palantir Technologies

Palantir Technologies funds Mark D. Levine; Mark D. Levine has authority over US Department of Homeland Security (DHS); US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) benefits Palantir Technologies. Three documented edges form a closed conflict-of-interest circuit.

Computed value: 1 closed loop (raw: 1)

Involved entities

Palantir Technologies US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Mark D. Levine

Inference logic

1. Edge A→B: Palantir Technologies → Mark D. Levine (relationship: funding-type, "NYC Comptroller requested independent human rights risk assessment of Palantir's ICE contracts").
2. Edge B→C: Mark D. Levine → US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (relationship: authority-type, "NYC Comptroller Mark D. Levine requested an independent third-party human rights risk assessment of Palantir's DHS contracts.").
3. Edge C→A: US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) → Palantir Technologies (relationship: benefit-type, "Palantir's contracts with CBP (a DHS component) for border security analytics are documented in federal procurement records, in addition to ICE contracts.").
Each edge is independently documented in the connections table (IDs 1004, 11608, 412). Together they form a directed cycle: money flows from A, authority flows through B, benefit returns to A. This is the structural definition of a closed conflict-of-interest loop.

Source edges (3)

Palantir Technologies ↔ US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — contractor (Palantir's contracts with CBP (a DHS component) for border security analytics are documented in federal procurement records, in addition to ICE contracts.)
Mark D. Levine ↔ Palantir Technologies — oversight (NYC Comptroller requested independent human rights risk assessment of Palantir's ICE contracts)
Mark D. Levine ↔ US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — oversight (NYC Comptroller Mark D. Levine requested an independent third-party human rights risk assessment of Palantir's DHS contracts.)

Comparative baseline

A randomly chosen triple of entities in the graph closes a funding→authority→benefit loop in well under 1% of cases. Each documented closure is therefore unusual on its own.

Steelman — strongest benign interpretation

The three relationships may be unrelated in time or substance. Palantir Technologies's support of Mark D. Levine could predate Mark D. Levine's authority over US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by years; US Department of Homeland Security (DHS)'s benefit to Palantir Technologies could be an arms-length commercial transaction that would have happened regardless of the other two edges. Closure is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a corrupt circuit.

Sensitivity

Edges with vague or generic relationship types (e.g. 'professional association') will produce false positives. Detector pattern matching is conservative but not exhaustive — narrowing or broadening the relationship buckets changes which loops surface.

Replication query (SQL)

Anyone can re-execute this query to verify the published value. If the result diverges, the finding auto-flags as stale.

SELECT (
      EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM connections WHERE ((entity_a_id=17 AND entity_b_id=622) OR (entity_a_id=622 AND entity_b_id=17)) AND (relationship_type ILIKE '%investor%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%donor%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%donation%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%contributor%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%contribution%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%funder%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%founder%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%co-founder%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%shareholder%'))
      AND EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM connections WHERE ((entity_a_id=622 AND entity_b_id=80) OR (entity_a_id=80 AND entity_b_id=622)) AND (relationship_type ILIKE '%oversight%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%regulatory_oversight%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%regulatory%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%regulator%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%committee_membership%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%committee%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%chair%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%appointed_by%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%appointment%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%supervisor%'))
      AND EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM connections WHERE ((entity_a_id=80 AND entity_b_id=17) OR (entity_a_id=17 AND entity_b_id=80)) AND (relationship_type ILIKE '%contractor%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%contractor_relationship%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%client%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%supplier%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%vendor%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%grant_recipient%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%employment%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%employee%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%former_employee%' OR relationship_type ILIKE '%consultant%'))
    )::int AS value

Last run: 19 Oct 2026, 01:29 · Last result: 0

Questions this raises

Each question can be commissioned at the matching investigation tier.

SEED — $5 What is the timeline of these three relationships — does Palantir Technologies's support of Mark D. Levine predate Mark D. Levine's authority over US Department of Homeland Security (DHS)?
SKETCH — $20 What is the dollar value flowing on each edge over the past five years?
SKETCH — $20 Are there public records of Mark D. Levine recusing from any decision involving US Department of Homeland Security (DHS)?
DOSSIER — $75 Map every contract, grant, or appointment between the three entities since the loop closed.

Detector: triangular_loops v1.0 · Created —