Modernizing Intelligence Operations:
Why European Agencies Are Choosing Agile, Sovereign Alternatives to US Platforms

European intelligence and law enforcement agencies are at a strategic crossroads. The reliance on U.S. intelligence software platforms directly impacts Europe's security, sovereignty, and operational control, especially in a world of shifting geopolitical policies. This is not merely a technology problem; it is a fundamental strategic vulnerability. For years, agencies have been trapped by a reliance on foreign technology-accepting a partial loss of autonomy over their most sensitive intelligence assets in exchange for capabilities that come with vendor lock-in and unpredictable costs. This challenge is compounded by the limitations of legacy systems. Many agencies still depend on single-user, desktop applications that keep critical data siloed on individual devices, making enterprise-wide collaboration impossible. At the other end of the spectrum, massive service-intensive platforms create unsustainable budget pressures. This article will outline the clear operational and financial mandate for modernization and introduce a proven, European-built platform engineered to solve these exact challenges.

The Sovereignty Threat: Why Reliance on US Intelligence Platforms Has Become Untenable

The core issue for European agencies is the high cost of digital dependence. Relying on platforms developed and controlled by non-European entities introduces significant risks. It creates a dynamic where operational capabilities are subject to the business models, political climates, and strategic priorities of another nation. This dependency manifests in several critical pain points that hinder modernization efforts and threaten long-term security objectives. First, there is the issue of vendor lock-in and unpredictable costs. Many large-scale US platforms operate on a business model that requires significant and ongoing professional services. This often involves expensive "forward-deployed engineers" for customization and maintenance, leading to an unpredictable and often excessive Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Budgets become strained, and agencies lose the ability to innovate independently, becoming perpetually reliant on their vendor for even minor adjustments. Second, the architectural limitations of older tools create immense operational friction. Legacy desktop applications were designed for an era of smaller data and individual analysis. In today's interconnected world, this model is obsolete. It actively prevents the kind of large-scale, collaborative investigation capabilities needed to counter complex threats, creating critical intelligence gaps and massive inefficiencies across an organization.

The Architectural Failures of Yesterday's Tools

The strategic challenges of cost and sovereignty are rooted in the specific architectural failures of legacy systems. These solutions, whether small-scale desktop tools or large, customized platforms, were simply not designed for the realities of modern intelligence work. Chief Architects and operational leaders now recognize that these outdated models are a direct impediment to mission success.

The Single-User Bottleneck

Tools like IBM i2 ANB store data and analysis on individual desktops, effectively creating thousands of disconnected data silos. A national police agency in Europe highlighted this exact problem, noting that with such programs, "data remained on their individual desktops and was not shared." This fragmentation can make it extremely difficult to build a comprehensive, enterprise-wide intelligence picture, forcing teams to manually share files and recreate work, wasting valuable time and resources.

The Prohibitive Cost of Customization

Larger US platforms like Palantir Gotham present a different but equally challenging problem. Their reliance on a service-heavy model means that agencies are not just buying software; they may risk funding a perpetual customization project. This approach can create an unsustainable TCO and undermine the goal of agency self-sufficiency.

Agile, Sovereign, and Scalable: The Modern Intelligence Platform

In response to these challenges, a new blueprint for intelligence is emerging, led by European innovation. DataWalk provides a single, enterprise-grade platform that unifies all data sources into a collaborative knowledge graph for comprehensive analysis. Developed in Europe for European agencies, it gives customers complete data ownership and self-sufficiency without requiring expensive, ongoing vendor services, directly addressing the core needs of sovereignty, cost-effectiveness, and scalability. The platform is ideally suited for highly secure, air-gapped environments, where no external party should have, or is permitted to have, any access beyond authorized agency personnel.

Unify All Data, Eliminate Silos

Instead of fragmented desktops and siloed databases, DataWalk connects dozens of disparate data sources into one unified, intuitive, accessible view. This allows analysts to see connections and patterns that were previously invisible. For one national police agency in Europe, this meant fusing conventional financial crime data with over a billion Bitcoin transactions and addresses into a single, shared repository. This capability instantly revolutionized their ability to investigate complex illicit finance networks operating in the digital realm.

Achieve Drastic Cost Savings and Efficiency Gains

A modern platform must deliver a clear and compelling return on investment. In a rigorous evaluation, a European federal police agency tested DataWalk against nine of its most critical use cases. The results were transformative: an average 65% reduction in time-per-task , representing a 3X efficiency improvement. This translated to an estimated potential annual cost saving of over $23 million. An agency official involved in the project stated, “What DataWalk did in three weeks, we were not able to do in four years with another project.” This is the power of DataWalk’s agile, COTS platform. You can find more details in the federal police agency case study.

Guarantee Sovereignty and Full Control

With DataWalk, agencies maintain full ownership and control of the system, their data, and all analytical workflows. Building on its proven ability to operate in fully isolated, air-gapped environments, the platform is engineered for the most demanding security conditions and provides military-grade, cell-level access control, ensuring that users can only view data they are explicitly authorized to access. This architecture enables agencies to independently implement changes, onboard new data sources, and scale the platform without relying on external vendors - ensuring true operational sovereignty, resilience, and long-term mission readiness.

From Reactive Analysis to Proactive, Sovereign Intelligence

The era of compromising European security and budgets with inflexible, foreign-owned intelligence software is over. The inherent limitations of siloed desktop tools and the excessive costs of service-heavy US platforms have created an urgent and undeniable need for a new approach. The future of intelligence operations cannot be built on a foundation of dependency, inefficiency, and strategic risk. DataWalk delivers that new approach: a powerful, cost-effective, and sovereign European platform that empowers agencies to accelerate investigations, enhance collaboration, and maintain complete control over their intelligence operations. By embracing a modern, enterprise-class solution, European agencies can move from reactive analysis to proactive, sovereign intelligence, securing their missions for years to come.