If this is Palantir you're talking about (I'm not really sure), I do think your concerns are overblown. I know a some people who work or worked there. 1) Most

If this is Palantir you're talking about (I'm not really sure), I do think your concerns are overblown. I know a some people who work or worked there. 1) Most of Palantir's customers are ordinary companies, local/state governments, other types of organizations, or other federal organizations that are not the CIA/NSA/FBI/DEA/Homeland/TSA/military. You do have to admit that at least for these clients, Palantir can be construed as doing good (e.g. streamlining state government tech or something). 2) Your friend can leave any time. 3) One engineer I know who left after a short stint spoke really highly about the amount of technical growth he got and the amount of responsibility/autonomy he was given as a new employee, in addition to the respect his opinions were given by his peers. It also helps that Palantir has a really great brand name in Silicon Valley. If he truly does want to go there, it does seem almost overly-moralizing to try really hard to convince him not to go, especially if it would really help his career.