In early 2021, the FBI used Riva Networks, an independent contractor, to track the location of the cell phones belonging to suspected drug smugglers and fugitives in Mexico.  The FBI has said that it believed that Riva could exploit security gaps in the Mexican cell phone system using its own “geolocation tool.”   

            However, it appears that Riva Networks may have been using a surveillance system called “Landmark.”  An Israeli technology firm, NSO, had developed “Landmark.”  An earlier surveillance tool developed by NSO, called “Pegasus,” had become wildly popular with authoritarian (and non-authoritarian) governments.  Eventually, this became known and was widely criticized by right-thinking people.  Reportedly, the FBI told Riva Networks at some point during 2021 that it could not use any NSO tools. 

According to the FBI, Riva Networks did not tell the FBI at the time of the original assignment that it was using “Landmark.”  In November 2021, Riva Networks renewed its contract with NSO and did not tell the FBI about “Landmark.”  They just reported the information desired by the FBI without explaining how they got it. 

            In November 2021, as part of the run-up to President Biden’s “Summit for Democracy,”[1] the United States “blacklisted” NSO.  This prohibited US companies from doing business with NSO.  Still, from November 2021 to April 2023, “Landmark” allowed the FBI to track the cell phones of people in Mexico “without [the FBI’s] knowledge or consent.”  It appears that some other Federal agency may also have been using “Landmark” because cell phones were tracked “throughout” 2021, not just from November of that year.[2] 

            In March 2023, the White House issued a further executive order banning the use spyware that have been used in a repressive fashion by foreign governments. 

            Awkwardly, in April 2023, the New York Times reported that Riva Networks had been using “Landmark.”  FBI Director Christopher Wray ordered his people to find out what government agency had been using “Landmark” in spite of the ban on its use. 

            By late April 2023, the FBI was “shocked, shocked to discover that” the guilt fell on Riva Networks, its own contractor.  Riva Networks, it appears, had “misled the bureau.”  Director Wray terminated the contract with Riva Networks. 

            In late July 2023, the FBI began to inform the elite press of what had happened.[3]  As part of its coverage of this story, the New York Times reported that many Israelis who once worked for NSO have founded their own spyware companies to pick up the slack in the Supply-Demand equation.  The proliferation makes it difficult to keep track of all the suppliers.  Moreover, according to one report, they often employ “complicated and opaque corporate practices that may be designed to evade public scrutiny and accountability.” 

            US foreign policy (or Presidential politics) seems to have come into conflict with US drug war policy.  How to reconcile the two?  “Them that asks no questions isn’t told a lie.” 

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[1] Summit for Democracy – Wikipedia 

[2] NSO also contracts with the Defense Department and the Drug Enforcement Agency.  So, did the FBI get sick and tired of always being a step behind the DEA?  For example, see: Alan Feuer, Behind the New Indictments of El Chapo’s Sons, Rivalry Seethed Between Agencies – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

[3] Mark Mazzetti, Ronen Bergman, and Adam Goldman, “F.B.I. Financed Use of Spy Tool U.S. Outlawed,” NYT, 31 July 2023.