Kaboom!
Biden sanctioned NSO last year, then a front company, using a fake businessman, signed a contract with NSO to buy spyware claiming it was for US govt to spy on cartels in Mexico.
Was this a rogue contractor? Or a rogue agency?
#ButNothingsHappening
web.archive.org/web/2023040300…
I guess now we know why Biden issued this order last week prohibiting federal agencies from using spyware from shady companies like NSO!
They have to report to the White House to admit they did this or that they did it illegally!
Riva Holdings sounds like it is a front company for US covert operations from many agencies. Or at least it was before this story!
It looks like the Swamp at the Pentagon was helping defense contractor L3 Harris apporach the US Commerce Dept to be allowed to buy Pegasus from NSO Group until the Biden White House shutdown the deal.
The ban on the IC buying spyware was based in part on the risk to national security because some of the spyware is sending data back to the programers.
So selling this to 5 Eyes countries would mean being able to see who the US & it's allies were spying upon.
Trying to 'Americanize' NSO's operations to bypass the sanctions the company was facing for enabling illegal spying & human rights abuses.
Pegasus was being used to spy on senior officials in the Trump & now Biden Admin & the leaders of many of our allies.
It appears that Riva Networks was used as a front company for covert contracts for the DOD & many other US agencies.
I guess we still haven't seen that DOJ OIG report on covert contracting yet...
Looks like Riva Holdings was the location where the FBI's copy of Pegasus bought for testing was used.
FBI was analyzing it for see how it worked & looking for threats within it.
Probably not a coincidence that the US started to ban it after FBI studied the software.
So the FBI testing & other evidence convinced the US govt that Pegasus was a counterintelligence risk.
That they contained back doors that Israeli intelligence (or the Israeli Swamp) could use to spy upon the US.
They then tried to lobby incoming Biden intel officials.
They also tried to promote it to the CIA in 2021...
Sounds like Mr. Inglis got a defensive briefing after he joined the White House!
Instead of buying Pegasus from NSO Group, the administration blacklisted Pegasus for targeting US officials.
Here is where one of the threats exists.
Pegasus is a software as a service. So you don't have control over it, the searching is done throught their portal allowing NSO to see who you are searching.
So if you want to spy on someone, NSO knows who...
The covert contractor used a shell company name & an alias for it's CEO to sign the contract under.
Pretty standard for covert operations.
Some Swapy folks convinced L3 Harris that they could engineer a deal to let them buy Pegasus or NSO Group & sell it to the US govt & intelligence community.
They met witht hte Israelis to try & get approval for a deal too.
But Commerce Dept had questions...
Oh, what a surprise (not)! Neustar's lobbyist lawyers Covington & Burling represented L3Harris in the effort to convince Commerce to approve the sale of NSO to them so they could contract with the US govt.
Covington & Burling were major players in trying to convince the Obama Admin that Neustar needed to keep the FCC contract that allowed them to spy on every cellphone in America...
opensecrets.org/news/2014/10/t…
Some Swampy players in Israel didn't want to lose Pegasus, or maybe their access to what everyone else was doing with Pegasus...
So the Biden White House killed the deal to prevent this software from having access to any defense contractor with security clearances.
But someone bought it anyway in a covert contract that is still paying NSO group today!
Some agency has 6 months to explain to the National Security Advisor why they were using a blacklisted software product compromising national security!
Wonder if it is DEA? Wonder if they are spying on cartels, or just the ones they aren't allied with?
I guess we know why the Swamp is putting on a full court press to stop the RESTRICT Act which would ban apps, software & services that are used to spy on Americans.
Because the Swamp relies upon that spyware & the data sold on the commercial market.
It's not just TikTok!
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