Local police have no business buying...

Editor's note: ...intelligence-grade spy vans. Texas just spent $4.5 million on four Chevy Tahoes loaded with Israeli Cognyte FalcoNet technology that impersonates cell towers, forces nearby phones to connect, and harvests location and device data from anyone in range, including people never accused of a crime. This is not crime-fighting equipment; it is the quiet conversion of neighborhood policing into a mobile surveillance apparatus. Once departments sink millions into these systems, the pressure to use them constantly is inevitable. The line between intelligence agencies and local cops is collapsing one contract at a time, and it must be stopped. A free society does not normalize the idea that local police can deploy foreign-developed intelligence platforms to monitor the communications infrastructure of ordinary people. This is not progress. It is the steady dismantling of the line that once protected ordinary Americans from being treated as permanent subjects of intelligence collection. It is wrong, and it must not stand.
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America's Local Police Are Becoming Intelligence Agencies

July 27, 2026 | By Martin Armstrong

One of the most revealing investigations this week did not come from Washington. It came from Forbes, which uncovered how an Israeli surveillance company is quietly marketing intelligence-grade technology directly to American police departments. The story is not about another patrol vehicle or upgraded communications equipment. It is about bringing tools originally developed for intelligence and national security operations onto the streets of the United States.

According to Forbes, Texas has purchased four specially equipped Chevrolet Tahoes from Israeli surveillance firm Cognyte in a deal worth roughly $4.5 million. Hidden inside these vehicles is a system known as FalcoNet that functions as a cellular interception platform. The technology imitates legitimate cellphone towers, causing nearby mobile phones to connect to the police vehicle instead of the carrier’s network. Once connected, investigators can identify devices, determine their locations, and gather other cellular information. Forbes also reports that the same technology can be carried in a backpack or mounted on helicopters, allowing surveillance to expand far beyond a single vehicle.

Cognyte is not an ordinary technology company. It was spun off from Verint Systems and built much of its reputation supplying intelligence, counterterrorism, and surveillance capabilities to governments around the world. The company has longstanding roots in Israel’s security sector, where these technologies were developed for national security and intelligence collection. Today those same capabilities are being marketed to sheriffs’ departments, state police agencies, and local law enforcement across America. That should concern anyone who still believes there is a meaningful distinction between intelligence agencies and neighborhood policing.

There was a time when police investigated crimes after they occurred. Increasingly, departments are investing in systems designed to gather enormous quantities of information before anyone has been accused of committing anything. Cellphone interception systems, automated license plate readers, facial recognition software, artificial intelligence, drones, predictive policing algorithms, and massive databases are steadily becoming standard equipment. Cognyte reeling after being dropped by Norway sovereign wealth fund | Ctech This transformation has accelerated with remarkable speed. Only a few years ago many Americans had never heard of license plate readers. Today millions of vehicles are photographed and cataloged every day. Artificial intelligence is reviewing surveillance footage. Local governments are installing AI-powered cameras to monitor neighborhoods and code violations. Police departments increasingly rely upon drones instead of patrol officers. Every advance is sold as a way to improve efficiency, yet every advance also expands the government’s ability to collect information on people who have never been charged with a crime.

Technology developed overseas for counterterrorism is now becoming part of routine domestic policing. Whether one supports or opposes these tools is almost beside the point. The public deserves to understand exactly what is being purchased, where the technology originated, how the information is stored, who ultimately has access to it, and what limits actually exist once these systems become permanent fixtures inside law enforcement.

Supporters argue that criminals have become more sophisticated and that police must modernize to keep pace. Nobody disputes that law enforcement should have effective tools to investigate violent crime, terrorism, or organized criminal networks. The concern begins when extraordinary capabilities quietly migrate into ordinary policing. Once agencies invest millions of dollars in surveillance technology, there is constant institutional pressure to justify those expenditures by using the equipment more frequently and in a wider range of investigations.

Please go to Armstrong Economics to continue reading.

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Merging the police as well it now seems:

Israel and the United States Are Merging Their Militaries. Here's Why.