Michael Chertoff, shown with wife Cherly, is scheduled to speak
SecDev Group's Nart Villeneuve with Amy Senger
Penthouse-level, pimped out with pool and fooseball tables and an open-faced kitchen with it’s own kegerator: Not the the place you’d expect to find the former CIA Director or the man who use to oversee our country’s Homeland Security. Soon you will. George Tenet and Michael Chertoff are lined up to speak at a monthly event called Palantir Night Live. Consider it a social for the social media savvy and national security interested. Held at Palantir Technologies in Tysons Corner, the event seems to draw some of our area’s best technologists and government associates. Amy Senger attended the inaugural PNL. She believes the program fosters relationships made elsewhere. She says “At the end of the day, no amount of Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare engagement can replace getting people physically together in one room.” Guests at the most recent Palantir Night Live heard from Nart Villeneuve, a lead technical investigator on the GhostNet cyber-spying operation that surfaced in March. The Chief Security Officer for the Secdev Group talked about the Chinese cyber-spying ring that gained international attention for hacking into the Dalai Lama’s account. Related: Vast spy system loots computers in 103 countries
Steven Mandzik aka @robotchampion on Twitter blogs live at Palantir Night Live
The chance to pick the brains of Villeneuve and other online experts (while blogging live) may prove as hard as getting @BillGates to follow you on Twitter. The PNL guest list cuts off at 50 and you must ‘know someone’ to be considered.
Once there, the mandated maximum makes sense. Senger says “The talks are much more of a conversational exchange as opposed to a one-way presentation.” Right now Tenet is scheduled to speak the last week of April and Chertoff is on the books for June 2nd.
Anyone interested in learning more can email pnl@palantirtech.com or look for news via twitter.
A spot in the penthouse office space can’t be guaranteed but where there’s WiFi there’s a way. The Palantir Night Live series will be available for the public’s viewing pleasure on youtube.
George Tenet is scheduled to speak at PNL late April
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About the writer: Angie Goff covers traffic, entertainment and social media for WUSA-TV Channel 9 in Washington DC. Her blog Oh My Goff is also daily TV segment that shares local buzz as reported by people in the community via social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
