404 Media

2025-09-30 21:46:34

ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has bought access to a surveillance tool that is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data from hundreds of millions of mobile phones, according to ICE documents reviewed by 404 Media.

The documents explicitly show that ICE is choosing this product over others offered by the contractor’s competitors because it gives ICE essentially an “all-in-one” tool for searching both masses of location data and information taken from social media. The documents also show that ICE is planning to once again use location data remotely harvested from peoples’ smartphones after previously saying it had stopped the practice.

Surveillance contractors around the world create massive datasets of phones’, and by extension people’s movements, and then sell access to the data to government agencies. In turn, U.S. agencies have used these tools without a warrant or court order.

“The Biden Administration shut down DHS’s location data purchases after an inspector general found that DHS had broken the law. Every American should be concerned that Trump's hand-picked security force is once again buying and using location data without a warrant,” Senator Ron Wyden told 404 Media in a statement.

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Do you know anything else about this contract or others? Do you work at Penlink or ICE? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.

The ICE document is redacted but says a product made by a contractor called Penlink “leverages a proprietary data platform to compile, process, and validate billions of daily location signals from hundreds of millions of mobile devices, providing both forensic and predictive analytics.” The products the document is discussing are Tangles and Webloc.

Forbes previously reported that ICE spent more than $5 million on these products, including $2 million for Tangles specifically. Tangles and Webloc used to be run by an Israeli company called Cobwebs. Cobwebs joined Penlink in July 2023.

The new documents provide much more detail about the sort of location data ICE will now have access to, and why ICE chose to buy access to this vast dataset from Penlink specifically.

“Without an all-in-one tool that provides comprehensive web investigations capabilities and automated analysis of location-based data within specified geographic areas, intelligence teams face significant operational challenges,” the document reads. The agency said that the issue with other companies was that they required analysts to “manually collect and correlate data from fragmented sources,” which increased the chance of missing “connections between online behaviors and physical movements.”
A screenshot from the document.
ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducted market research in May and June, according to the document. The document lists two other companies, Babel Street and Venntel, which also sell location data but which the agency decided not to partner with.

404 Media and a group of other media outlets previously obtained detailed demonstration videos of Babel Street in action. They showed it was possible for users to track phones visiting and leaving abortion clinics, places of worship, and other sensitive locations. Venntel, meanwhile, was for some years a popular choice among U.S. government agencies looking to monitor the location of mobile phones. Its clients have included ICE, CBP, and the FBI. Its contracts with U.S. law enforcement have dried up in more recent years, with ICE closing out its work with the company in August, according to procurement records reviewed by 404 Media.

Companies that obtain mobile phone location data generally do it in two different ways. The first is through software development kits (SDKs) embedded in ordinary smartphone apps, like games or weather forecasters. These SDKs continuously gather a user’s granular location, transfer that to the data broker, and then sell that data onward or repackage it and sell access to government agencies.

The second is through real-time bidding (RTB). When an advert is about to be served to a mobile phone user, there is a near instantaneous, and invisible, bidding process in which different companies vie to have their advert placed in front of certain demographics. A side-effect is that this demographic data, including mobile phones’ location, can be harvested by surveillance firms. Sometimes spy companies buy ad tech companies out right to insert themselves into this data supply chain. We previously found at least thousands of apps were hijacked to provide location data in this way.

Penlink did not respond to a request for comment on how it gathers or sources its location data.
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Regardless, the documents say that “HSI INTEL requires Penlink's Tangles and Weblocas [sic] an integral part of their investigations mission.” Although HSI has historically been focused on criminal investigations, 90 percent of HSI have been diverted to carry out immigration enforcement, according to data published by the Cato Institute. Meaning it is unclear whether use of the data will be limited to criminal investigations or not.

After this article was published, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told 404 Media in a statement “DHS is not going to confirm or deny law enforcement capabilities or methods. The fact of the matter is the media is more concerned with peddling narratives to demonize ICE agents who are keeping Americans safe than they are with reporting on the criminals who have victimized our communities.” This is a boilerplate statement that DHS has repeatedly provided 404 Media when asked about public documents detailing the agency’s surveillance capabilities, and which inaccurately attacks the media.

In 2020, The Wall Street Journal first revealed that ICE and CBP were using commercially smartphone location data to investigate various crimes and for border enforcement. I then found CBP had a $400,000 contract with a location data broker and that the data it bought access to was “global.” I also found a Muslim prayer app was selling location data to a data broker whose clients included U.S. military contractors.

In October 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General published a report that found ICE, CBP, and the Secret Service all broke the law when using location data harvested from phones. The oversight body found that those DHS components did not have sufficient policies and procedures in place to ensure that the location data was used appropriately. In one case, a CBP official used the technology to track the location of coworkers, the report said.

The report recommended that CBP stop its use of such data; CBP said at the time it did not intend to renew its contracts anyway. The Inspector General also recommended that ICE stop using such data until it obtained the necessary approvals. But ICE’s response in the report said it would continue to use the data. “CTD is an important mission contributor to the ICE investigative process as, in combination with other information and investigative methods, it can fill knowledge gaps and produce investigative leads that might otherwise remain hidden. Accordingly, continued use of CTD enables ICE HSI to successfully accomplish its law enforcement mission,” the response at the time said.

In January 2024, ICE said it had stopped the purchase of such “commercial telemetry data,” or CTD, which is how DHS refers to location data.

Update: this piece has been updated with a statement from DHS.

ICE says it’s stopped using commercial telemetry data

Spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement tells FedScoop that the agency is no longer using commercial telemetry data, but regulations are still scant.

^{Rebecca Heilweil (FedScoop)}

404 Media

2025-09-30 15:14:42

In Unhinged Speech, Pete Hegseth Says He's Tired of ‘Fat Troops,’ Says Military Needs to Go Full AI

Last week, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth called America’s Generals to Quantico to meet for an unknown reason. America’s top civilian military leader calling the generals home all at once is strange and unprecedented. It’s the kind of move that often presages something like a major war. But that’s not what he wanted. During a bizarre, unhinged speech before America’s military leadership, Hegseth focused almost entirely on the culture wars and called for the restoration of what he called a “warrior ethos.” He said some of America’s generals are fat, demanded the Pentagon go all in on AI, whined about beards and accountability, told the troops they “kill people and break things for a living,” and plugged his book.

“The speech today is about the nature of ourselves,” Hegseth said. For the next hour, before setting up President Trump for remarks, Hegseth spoke about a new American military that will shave its beards, reduce the number of women in combat, and focus on killing. “To our enemies: FAFO. If necessary, our troops can translate that for you. Peace through strength, brought to you by the warrior ethos.”(FAFO means fuck around and find out.)
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An earlier theme of the speech was more and faster. “This urgent moment, of course, requires more troops, more munitions, more drones, more [Patriot missiles], more submarines, more B-21 bombers,” Hegseth said. “It requires more innovation, more AI in everything and ahead of the curve, more cyber effects, more counter [unmanned aerial systems], more space, more speed. America is the strongest, but we need to get stronger and quickly.”

The alarming speech took most of the attention of social media Tuesday morning and comes at a time where Donald Trump has deployed troops in American cities, has threatened to invade Portland, and told the military they should use American cities as a “training ground.” Hegseth himself has been said to be more or less having a meltdown, according to reporting by The Daily Mail.

The Pentagon has been all in on AI and drones for years now, but it hasn’t gone well. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon is struggling to deploy AI weapons and is worried about catching up to China. A Biden era initiative called Replicator was meant to help bridge the gap between dreams and reality, but hasn’t worked fast enough for its critics. So the Pentagon is turning the project over to Special Operations Command—the part of the Pentagon in charge of its operators—under a new division called Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG). This means that the military leaders who run SEAL Team Six will soon be in charge of getting AI controlled drone swarms to the troops.

Much of Hegseth’s speech was about aesthetics and fitness. For him, a return to the “warrior ethos” meant never seeing a fat general or admiral ever again. “Every member of the joint force at any rank is required to take a PT test twice a year as well as meet height and weight requirements twice a year, every year of service,” he said. “Also today, at my direction, every warrior across our joint force is required to do PT every duty day. Should be common sense…but we’re codifying it. And we’re not talking hot yoga and stretching. Real hard PT, either as a unit or an individual. At every level, from the Joint Chiefs to everyone in this room to the lowest private.”

“It all starts with physical fitness and appearance,” Hegseth said. “If the Secretary of War can do regular, hard PT, so can every member of our joint force. Frankly, it's tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops. Likewise, it's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country in the world, it's a bad look. It is bad and it's not who we are.”

Hegseth’s aesthetic concerns extended to facial hair. “This also means grooming standards. No more beards. Long hair. Superficial individual expression. We’re going to cut our hair, shave our beards, and adhere to standards. It’s like the broken windows theory of policing. When you let the small stuff go, the big stuff eventually goes. So you have to address the small stuff,” he said.

There was, of course, a carve out for America’s operators. “ If you want a beard you can join Special Forces. If not, then shave. We don’t have a military full of Nordic Pagans. At my direction, the era of unprofessional appearance is over. No more beardos. The era of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done.”

Beards may seem like small stuff in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a hot topic among military recruits. Over the past few years, military recruits have fought and won exemptions for grooming standards based on their religion, often in court. A federal court told the Marine Corps it couldn't force Sikh recruits to shave in 2022. There’s also medical issues. Men with pseudofolliculitis barbae, a condition that causes painful ingrown hairs and razor burn after shaving, have gotten long gotten waivers to exempt them from shaving in the military. Around 60 percent of black men have pseudofolliculitis barbae.

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Do you know anything else about this story? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at +1 347 762-9212 or send me an email at matthew@404media.co.

Hegseth made it clear that these new conditions mean there will be fewer women on the frontlines and in physically demanding roles. “I don’t want my son serving alongside troops who are out of shape or in combat units with females who can’t meet the same combat arm physical standards as men,” he said. “When it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral. If women can make it excellent,” he said. “If not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs. So be it, that is not the intent, but it could be the result.”

The Secretary also said he would end the tyranny of accountability in the military. “We are overhauling an Inspector General process, the IG that has been weaponized, putting complainers, ideologues and poor performers in the driver's seat,” he said. “We're doing the same with the Equal Opportunity and Military Equal Opportunity policies. The EO and MEO at our department. No more frivolous complaints, no more anonymous complaints, no more repeat complaints. No more smearing reputations. No more endless waiting. No more legal limbo. No more side-tracking careers, no more walking on eggshells.”

Pentagon acting Inspector General Steven Stebbins is currently investigating Hegseth over his use of an unsecured Signal clone to plan military operations.

A modern military is a technological and logistics machine. A warrior takes many shapes and, if Hegseth wants to go all in on cyber, drones, and AI, then harsh grooming standards and increased physical fitness requirements will cut off many of the brightest minds who could help him fulfill that goal.

That doesn’t seem to matter to Hegseth and Trump as much as aesthetics does. Towards the end of his speech, the Secretary said the Pentagon lost its way. Then he plugged his 2024 book The War on Warriors. “We became the woke department, but not anymore. No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions. No more debris. As I’ve said before and will say again: we are done with that shit,” he said.

“You might say we’re ending the war on warriors. I hear someone wrote a book about that.”

Pete Hegseth is 'crawling out his skin': Pentagon insiders tell of explosive tantrums and erratic behavior... as his wife is accused of making outrageous demands

Insiders in the defense secretary's newly named Department of War say their boss has in the last few weeks been erupting in tirades, raging at staffers and becoming obsessive.

^{Susan Greene (Daily Mail)}