A hacker working for the Sinaloa cartel identified an FBI assistant legal attaché in Mexico City.
asserted
hacker → work → City
According to Reuters covering a Justice Department inspector general report released in June 2025, the hacker used the official's phone number to obtain call records and location data.
uncertain
hacker → accord → records
The hacker then used Mexico City's camera network to follow the official around the capital and identify the people they met.
asserted
they → use → people
The report says the cartel used that information to intimidate potential sources and cooperating witnesses and, in some cases, to kill them.
asserted
cartel → say → them
The deadly lesson was clear: our adversaries no longer need to physically surveil their targets.
asserted
adversaries → need → targets
The commercial data economy does much of the work for them.
asserted
economy → do → them
In an updated audit released last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General highlighted that this threat — ubiquitous technical surveillance or UTS — "continue[s] to affect the Department" and determined that "DOJ had no common definition of UTS and was not otherwise well-coordinated on the issue, few of the Department's components had taken action to mitigate the UTS threat, and UTS-specific training was lacking."
The conclusion should concern every Homeland Security and law enforcement official: "deficiencies identified in this audit place the Department and its employees, investigations, operations, sources, and witnesses at increased risk to UTS threats."
asserted
deficiencies → update → threats
As a federal law enforcement and Homeland Security official for the past 25 years, I have seen how quickly technology can change the threat environment facing our personnel.
asserted
technology → see → personnel
The proliferation of inexpensive, commercially available information creates an unacceptable risk that requires a comprehensive solution.
asserted
that → create → solution
As the acting director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, I saw these threats firsthand.
asserted
I → act → threats
My family and I know the dangers too well.
asserted
family → know → dangers
In October 2025, for example, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that cartels had put bounties on ICE and Customs and Border Protection officers in Chicago.
asserted
cartels → report → Chicago
The reported figures were $2,000 for doxxing or gathering intelligence on agents and as much as $50,000 for killing high-ranking officials.
asserted
figures → report → officials
Especially for officers working cartel cases, the risk can follow them home.
asserted
risk → work → cases
Consider a task-force officer who raids a cartel stash house in the morning and drives home that evening to the same community where the arrest occurred.
asserted
arrest → consider → community
The officer's children attend school there.
asserted
children → attend → school
The family goes to church there.
asserted
family → go → church
The officer coaches a youth sports team there on Saturdays.
asserted
officer → coach → Saturdays
Individually, those pieces may appear insignificant.
uncertain
pieces → appear → ?
Combined, they can reconstruct a person's life.
asserted
they → combine → life
And that creates a new vulnerability for federal law enforcement.
asserted
that → create → enforcement
This is what the commercial data economy can expose.
asserted
economy → expose → what
What has changed is how little an adversary has to steal.
asserted
adversary → change → little
Duke University researchers bought sensitive records on U.S. military personnel for as little as 12 cents each, including names and home addresses.
asserted
researchers → buy → names
Separately, a WIRED investigation used commercial location data to trace devices associated with U.S. military sites in Germany to homes and schools for military children.
asserted
investigation → use → children
Fortunately, we know how to begin defending against this.
asserted
we → know → this
During the Global War on Terrorism, we got very good at using data to find people and map their networks.
asserted
we → get → networks
We need to turn that expertise into better protecting our own personnel.
asserted
We → need → personnel
Agents should have a program that checks what an adversary can already see about them.
asserted
adversary → have → them
Agencies should help remove their addresses from broker sites where possible, help their families lock down their accounts, and provide a clear way to report threats involving their names or personal information.
asserted
families → help → names
In October 2025, for example, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that cartels had put bounties on ICE and Customs and Border Protection officers in Chicago.
asserted
cartels → report → Chicago
The reported figures were $2,000 for doxxing or gathering intelligence on agents and as much as $50,000 for killing high-ranking officials.
asserted
figures → report → officials
The administration has designated six Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and DHS leadership has publicly described threats to its officers.
asserted
leadership → designate → officers
Protecting the workforce from cartel surveillance follows from that, and it doesn't need to wait.
asserted
it → protect → that
Find out what an adversary can see about them.
asserted
adversary → find → them
Then use those findings to help families reduce their exposure, and train agents to assume they are visible and work accordingly.
asserted
they → use → exposure
Congress should provide clear authority and sustained funding for that protection.
asserted
Congress → provide → protection
The Mexico City case shows what can happen when surveillance exposes the people around an American official.
asserted
surveillance → show → official
Addresses, location histories and family profiles can reveal the routines of an entire household, putting the people closest to that agent at risk.
asserted
Addresses → reveal → risk
We must not wait for another tragedy before acting.
asserted
We → wait → tragedy
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
