The Brief

Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement acknowledged for the first time the agency's growing arsenal of surveillance technology includes spyware. Such tools can remotely hack into phones and have been abused repeatedly by governments around the world that have used them not only to counter national security threats, but also to spy on political rivals, diplomats, human rights activists and journalists.

ICE's admission of its spyware use, which the agency says has been approved to help its Homeland Security Investigations team disrupt foreign terrorist groups and fentanyl traffickers, comes as critics of the commercial spyware industry are growing concerned that the Trump administration is slowly reversing a previous hard line stance the U.S. government took against the industry in recent years.

"We're starting to see erosion," said Steve Feldstein, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There's a concern that in the coming year, months, we could see further changes that would really put a damper on what I think has been a really important effort to try to hold this industry to account."

Feldstein said the U.S. "reached a high-water mark when it came to really pushing back against the industry" during the Biden administration. Former President Joe Biden's actions included blacklisting and sanctioning some spyware companies and personnel, an executive order limiting the government's use of commercial spyware and leading an international agreement with other democratic countries to counter the misuse of such tools.

Those actions came in response to revelations that foreign governments were misusing the technology to commit human rights violations as well as targeting devices belonging to American politicians and officials.

Yet so far the Trump administration has lifted sanctions that Biden's Treasury Department had instituted against three people affiliated with the spyware tool, Predator, and temporarily revived an ICE contract with the Israeli-founded spyware company Paragon Solutions that had been paused by the Biden administration.

Privacy and civil rights advocates are worried the Trump administration could be persuaded to also lift restrictions placed on NSO Group, the maker of the powerful spyware Pegasus that researchers say can turn a phone into a recording device in addition to accessing its contents. The tool has been linked to misuse in various countries and has been found on the devices of activists and journalists, including on the phones of people close to Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in a Saudi embassy in Turkey in 2018.

NSO Group has hired a close ally of President Donald Trump as its chairman and is lobbying the administration. Despite being on a Department of Commerce so-called "blacklist," the company said last fall that American investors had acquired the Israeli-founded company, though the current status is unclear.

This has been a "really troubling period" for U.S. actions on spyware, said Michael De Dora, the U.S. advocacy manager for Access Now, a digital civil rights organization.

"There's no way to look at the facts without seeing that this administration is not going to forcefully work to counter spyware — and actually might be quite comfortable using it and also lifting punishment that has been doled out to spyware violators," De Dora said.

The latest shifts in U.S. approaches to spyware also come as ICE is expanding its use of surveillance tools and targeting both immigrants and protesters, and Congress continues to debate whether additional guardrails are needed to protect the rights of American citizens whose communications are swept up in foreign surveillance operations that do not currently require a warrant.

Meanwhile, a growing number of countries are adopting spyware to hack into cell phones, even as regulatory frameworks have not been updated. Last month, the U.K. government's National Cyber Security Centre disclosed that it estimates some 100 countries worldwide have access to spyware and cyber intrusion tools that could be used against British devices and systems.

A mystery with ICE's Paragon Solutions contract

The history of ICE's only known contract with a commercial spyware maker is messy and convoluted.

In 2024, the agency signed a now-ended $2 million contract with Paragon Solutions for an unspecified product. Whether ICE ever used the tool or continues to use it is an open question.

That contract was swiftly put on hold by the Biden administration to investigate whether it complied with a 2023 executive order signed by the former president that prohibits federal agencies from purchasing commercial spyware that poses a significant security risk to the U.S. or risk of misuse by foreign governments.

Paragon Solutions created a spyware tool called Graphite that can be used by government agencies to remotely hack into a cell phone without the user knowing or even clicking a link. Last year, WhatsApp found more than 90 users in various countries were targeted with Paragon Solutions spyware, and independent researchers were able to confirm the devices of journalists and activists in Italy were targeted with Graphite.

Last August, the Trump administration reinstated the ICE contract with Paragon Solutions and lifted the stop work order. By then the company had been acquired by an American private equity firm and merged with another company, REDLattice.

A notice in federal procurement documents says the Paragon Solutions contract was modified on Jan. 20 of this year to close out the contract.

Before that notice appeared, Democratic lawmakers led by Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) wrote to the Department of Homeland Security last fall asking for all communications related to its use of spyware, including communications about Paragon Solutions' Graphite, who it was targeting with spyware, and the legal justification for its use.

When ICE's departing acting Director Todd Lyons responded on April 1, his letter made clear he had approved ICE's Homeland Security Investigations to use spyware, though he did not name the tool.

Yet the status of ICE's access to Paragon Solutions tools is unclear, raising questions about what tools the agency might be using.

The notice showing the contract has been closed out could mean the services from the original Paragon Solutions contract are no longer available to the agency, or they could have been rolled into a different contract, potentially with a third party that bundles various services together. Such a step would make it harder to track the agency's relationship with Paragon Solutions or its parent entities on procurement websites.

The notice of the contract closure "raises more questions than answers," said Julie Mao, an attorney with the nonprofit law firm and advocacy group, Just Futures Law. "Particularly since Director Lyons confirmed that ICE continues to use commercial spyware, we do not know whether ICE has ceased using Paragon spyware, continues operations under another contract, or uses some other spyware company that ICE has failed to disclose to the public."

Mao's organization is suing under the Freedom of Information Act for records related to the contract.

An unnamed spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told NPR in a statement that the agency had not "entered another contract with Paragon Solutions, Inc." But since that company has been acquired, the significance of that statement is unclear. The agency did not respond to follow up questions seeking to clarify if that meant the agency had ceased having access to Paragon-developed tools.

NPR could not find evidence of a contract between REDLattice and ICE on federal procurement websites.

"Unfortunately, the confusion and lack of transparency is part of a long history of ICE and DHS secreting away its surveillance programs from the American public and Congressional oversight," Mao said.

In 2022 The New York Times reported the Drug Enforcement Administration was using Graphite, though the status of that contract is also unclear. DEA did not respond to an NPR inquiry about whether it had a current contract for the tool.

Meanwhile, staff for Sen. Ron. Wyden (D-Ore.) have been trying for weeks to schedule a briefing with Paragon Solutions' American owner, AE Industrial Partners, but the company stopped responding, according to Wyden's spokesperson Keith Chu.

Lyons' letter said he had approved Homeland Security Investigations' use of "cutting-edge technological tools that address the specific challenges posed by the Foreign Terrorist Organizations' thriving exploitation of encrypted communication platforms." The letter also stated that the agency "complies with all requirements" set forth in the 2023 executive order Biden signed on spyware use.

"Any use of the technology will comply with constitutional requirements and be coordinated with the ICE Office of the Principal Legal Advisor," the letter said.

But the letter has raised questions such as how broadly federal HSI agents are using the tool, whether it is being used domestically or only to target people in other countries, and what kind of authorization agents need to seek before deploying the tool.

Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) told NPR she was concerned about the possibility that such a tool could be used inappropriately, citing the Trump administration's emphasis on combatting "antifa" that many fear could be used to justify a crackdown on political opponents.

Earlier this month the Trump administration released a counterterrorism strategy that targets "violent left-wing extremists," along with drug cartels and Islamist terror groups, while it does not mention violence from the far right, long considered to be a major domestic threat. Federal officials attempted to portray multiple U.S. citizens who were shot by federal immigration agents earlier this year as domestic terrorists.

"We already know that Trump has already attempted to change the definition of what a terrorist, or domestic terrorist is," Lee said. "So is this just anybody who opposes Trump's administration, its policies, can this be used against them?"

Maria Villegas Bravo from the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center told NPR it was unclear to her based on Lyons' letter whether HSI agents using spyware are getting a warrant and proving probable cause first.

"They should be — they're legally required to because you have a Fourth Amendment protection in the content stored on your phone," Villegas Bravo said. "But we have no insight into what's going on."

In a statement, the unnamed DHD spokesperson said, "Like other law enforcement agencies, ICE employs various forms of technology while respecting civil liberties and privacy interests. DHS law enforcement methods abide by the U.S. Constitution including the Fourth Amendment."

Backsliding from a hardline stance on spyware

Last December, the Treasury Department took three senior figures affiliated with Intellexa, the maker of the spyware Predator, off of a U.S. sanctions list they had been added to in 2024. One of those individuals was later convicted in Greece in February in connection to Predator abuses in that country.

The reversal was a shock to privacy advocates who had welcomed the Biden administration's efforts to crack down on foreign spyware companies and their executives. Villegas Bravo told NPR the lifted sanctions represented "a real backslide."

Now she and others are focused on whether the Trump administration will be amenable to undoing other restrictions against NSO Group, which makes Pegasus.

"I'm very concerned that NSO group is trying to curry favor with the current administration and trying to get another contract," Villegas Bravo told NPR.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations piloted using Pegasus in late 2020 and the first half of 2021, reporting by The New York Times found.

The NSO group also currently appealing a court order that bars it from hacking WhatsApp messages that stems from a lawsuit Meta, WhatsApp's parent company, brought against it. In that court case and other public statements, the NSO Group has made clear that its goal is to gain business from the American government.

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But by the end of 2021, the U.S. government began to take punitive actions against the company. The Commerce Department put the company on its so-called "blacklist" also known as its Entity List, a trade restriction which makes it difficult for U.S. companies to do business with it.

The department said it was taking the step because NSO Group had supplied spyware to foreign governments that used the tool "to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers."

The company, which like Intellexa and Paragon Solutions was founded in Israel, has spent close to $8 million lobbying the U.S. government since 2020, according to Open Secrets.

"They've tried pretty much everything," said Vas Panagiotopoulos, a freelance journalist and researcher at Deakin University in Australia who has written about the company's lobbying efforts. "Since 2018, they've hired like over 15 different sort of lobbying consultancies, law firms, PR agencies, external consultants, former diplomats — it's a long list."

The company's biggest priority is thought to be to get off of the Commerce Department's blacklist.

The company is also currently appealing a court order that bars it from hacking WhatsApp messages that stems from a lawsuit WhatsApp and its parent company, Meta, brought against NSO Group. In that court case and other public statements, NSO Group has made clear that its goal is to gain business from the American government.

"It is reasonably foreseeable that a law enforcement or intelligence agency of the United States will use Pegasus," the company wrote in a legal filing.

David Friedman, who once served as Trump's bankruptcy lawyer and later as his ambassador to Israel, became the chairman of NSO Group late last year. His appointment came shortly after the company announced that it had been acquired by U.S. investors, though the current status remains unclear.

During the Biden administration, the White House had warned against American companies acquiring NSO Group.

Rep. Lee wrote to the Department of Commerce earlier this month asking for a briefing on discussions about the purchase of NSO Group by an American company or the potential for U.S. government agencies to use the company's tools.

"The Trump Administration appears to be broadly receptive to using commercial spyware to infiltrate cell phones and allowing U.S. investment in sanctioned spyware companies like NSO Group," Lee wrote.
Copyright 2026 NPR

As federal officials suspend funding to L.A.’s main homelessness agency — citing mismanagement — a recent audit found the agency did not spend tens of millions of dollars allocated to it.

The audit found the L.A. Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) underspent its overall budget by $108 million in the last fiscal year ending in June 2025, mainly because of “program delays.” The year before, the underspend was nearly $150 million. Some of it was carried forward to future years, auditors wrote.

Specifically to federal dollars, the audit shows LAHSA spent at least $15 million less than it had budgeted last fiscal year. LAHSA had budgeted $61.5 million in such dollars. It spent only about $49 million to $54.4 million, per the audit.

Underspending at LAHSA was called out more than four years ago, in a January 2022 audit that found the agency left $3.5 million in federal grants on the table by not using them.

A spokesperson for LAHSA has not responded to a request for comment.

LAHSA is governed by a 10-member commission that is half appointed by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, and half appointed by each of the five county supervisors. Bass has served on the commission since she appointed herself to it in fall 2023.

Bass’ office said in a statement that the mayor “has grave concerns about LAHSA and zero tolerance for mismanagement and negligence.” The federal money suspension puts lives and progress on homelessness at risk, the statement added.

The mayor’s office statement says the mayor “previously directed the city to evaluate how to move away from the agency.”

When the City Council considered in March whether to withdraw the city’s funds from LAHSA and instead have the city directly oversee the dollars, Bass cautioned that the city first would need “a serious, thoughtful transition plan,” adding that “the last thing we need is a new department and more bureaucracy.”

Spokespeople for the county supervisors have not returned messages for comment on the underspending.

City of L.A. also underspends

The city of L.A. also has been underspending its homelessness budget — to the tune of $513 million in Bass’ first full fiscal year as mayor that ended June 2024, according to an analysis later that year by City Controller Kenneth Mejia’s office.

Federal officials cited that in their letter Thursday as one of many reasons for their suspension of funds to LAHSA. The letter incorrectly attributed the full underspend to LAHSA. The findings were instead about the city’s overall homelessness spending, a portion of which goes to LAHSA.

Spokespeople for HUD have not responded to an emailed request about the inaccuracy.

A controller’s analysis for the following fiscal year, ending June 2025, found the city again underspent its homelessness budget, by at least $473 million.

“Breaking City Hall from its decades old dysfunctional system is how we finally brought homelessness down by 17%,” Bass said in a statement at the time. “I’m glad to support the controller’s recommendations to further reform the status quo.”

Other problems found in audit

The federally required audit, known as a single audit, must be done each year by an accounting firm hired by LAHSA.

The latest one, finalized last month and covering the fiscal year that ended last June, found failures surrounding poor bookkeeping and accounting of taxpayer money at the agency — which spent over $800 million in public funds last fiscal year.

The agency’s financial statements initially included “significant” inaccurate amounts that needed to be adjusted late in the audit process, the auditors found.

It found the inaccuracies stemmed from a "significant deficiency” in LAHSA’s “internal controls,” which are supposed to safeguard against financial inaccuracies and fraud.

Vacant tax-funded apartments

LAist reported Thursday that LAHSA has been using tax dollars to pay for more than 250 empty apartments as part of an initiative Mayor Karen Bass introduced years ago to make housing readily available to unhoused people. That’s just over a third of the units in the strategy, known as master leasing, according to an LAist review of official data.

The vacancies have been tying up tax dollars — largely overseen by the county — that could house hundreds of people in other approaches, according to official financial data.

Other funds leaving LAHSA

In response to previous audits that found major problems with LAHSA’s oversight of tax dollars, county supervisors decided last spring to withdraw all of the county’s $300 million-plus in annual funding of services through LAHSA and instead have the county directly manage it starting July 1.

Problems identified in the latest audit reiterate why the county pulled its funding, Supervisor Kathryn Barger said in a statement Monday.

The city is considering moving in a similar direction as the county. A key City Council panel — its homelessness committee — recently recommended the full council start shifting city homelessness funding out of LAHSA over the course of the next fiscal year. Bass urged caution, saying moving too quickly to shift funding could disrupt services for unhoused people.

LAHSA has long functioned as the L.A.’s homeless services department, with over $300 million in city money expected to flow through LAHSA this fiscal year.

A cookie business with well over a dozen flavors ranging from Mexican hot chocolate to mango sticky rice? How very L.A.! Lei’d Cookies started as a pandemic pop-up. Nowadays, you'll find them in the Culver City Arts District.

About the owner

Baker and owner Leilani Terris posing, holding two cookies from Lei’d Cookies.

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Co-owner Leilani Terris originally thought she'd become a physical therapist. After applying to school, she took a gap year, taught herself to bake and connected with co-owner James Lewis to start their cookie business.

Terris sat down with Austin Cross, who hosts AirTalk every Friday, to explain how their cookies take customers on a bite-sized journey to other countries.

What's the best way to experience Lei'd Cookies?

Add ice cream to a warm cookie at their Culver City shop. If you want a more communal experience, take a trip with a group of friends to Smorgasburg L.A., which takes place every Sunday in downtown L.A.

Known for international flavors

Terris wants customers to get a taste of other cultures. Lei'd Cookies has put a spin on ghriba, a type of shortbread cookie from Morocco, and spicy Mexican hot chocolate.

Bakery details

• Although Terris didn't start with professional culinary experience, her co-owner, James Lewis, worked in restaurant management for years prior to opening.
• They joined Smorgasburg L.A.'s list of vendors in 2021.
• Lei'd Cookies opened its brick-and-mortar in Culver City in 2023.

Cookies we tried

• Orange Date Blossom Cookie (Ghriba inspired and includes apricot jam and walnuts)
• Mayan (cinnamon, cayenne, and chocolate from Tabasco, Mexico)
• Mango Sticky Rice
• Guava and Goat Cheese (their best-seller)

What should we try next?

Southern Californians could face floods and fires this year.

A hot, dry winter has led to fires already, and experts said Friday at a news conference in Los Angeles that that is projected to continue.

Different from previous wildfire seasons, though, experts are also closely watching El Niño, a powerful weather pattern that causes changes in winds and ocean temperatures.

“California is faced with multiple disasters, whether it be fires, floods, hazardous material incidents,” said Brian Marshall, fire and rescue chief with the California Office of Emergency Services. Marshall said the El Niño “could impact fires and could impact flooding across the state.”

The National Weather Service is predicting a 63% chance of a “very strong” El Niño from November to January. It could be one of the most powerful since 1950, according to the weather service’s Climate Prediction Center.

Heavy El Niño storms could trigger flash flooding and debris flows in wildfire burn scar areas.

The effects of the rapidly developing El Niño on this year’s wildfire season remain uncertain, and experts urged residents to stay vigilant.

“Even very strong El Niño events do not lead to the expected impact everywhere,” according to the Climate Prediction Center.

William Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, said more rain can also increase plant growth, which can eventually dry out and create more fuel for fires.

Robert Garcia, fire chief in the Angeles National Forest, said the recent Burro Fire provided “some indicators of what may be ahead” as vegetation starts to dry. The Burro Fire charred 30 acres and burned for about a week in May in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Glendora.

What you can do to stay safe

Fire officials advised people to create defensible space around their homes by clearing it of dry vegetation and other flammable materials.

Pre-fire conditions, including the abundance of dry vegetation, were “dominant drivers” of burn severity in the Eaton, Palisades and Hughes fires in January 2025, according to a new study led by San Diego State University in collaboration with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory researchers.

“Regions like Los Angeles … have a lot of human populations who are living closer to these environments that are susceptible to wildfires,” said Madeleine Pascolini-Campbell, a scientist at JPL and a co-author of the study.

Beyond fire prevention, defensible space also helps firefighters enter properties to extinguish flames.

“Wind-driven, ember-casting wildfires moving through a community without defensible space makes it very difficult for us to be able to combat those fires,” Los Angeles Fire Chief Jaime E. Moore said at the news conference. “It makes it unsafe for our firefighters and those that are working hard to protect your home.”

Los Angeles Unified has renamed two campuses previously named for Cesar Chavez. The move follows a New York Times investigation that found the famed labor leader sexually abused girls and women.

The board voted to rename the schools Friday following town hall meetings and a vote among staff, students and parents at each campus.

Cesar Chavez Learning Academies in San Fernando is now Arroyo High School, and Cesar Chavez Elementary School is now Oakland Street Elementary School.

How did the change come together?

A March New York Times investigation found survivors of Chavez’s abuse included United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta. The LAUSD Board voted unanimously a week later to begin a renaming process for the two campuses after a consultation with the schools’ communities.

With one exception, none of the other prospective names were associated with specific people.

Arroyo High School

Previously called: Cesar E. Chavez Learning Academy

Other names considered:

• Valley High School
• Rudy Acuña High School (Rodolfo "Rudy" Acuña is a Chicano studies scholar who died earlier this year at age 93.)

The vote: Arroyo High earned 557 of 1,063 votes, and was the most popular choice among each of students, parents and staff. It’s based on the street where the school is located. (“Arroyo” is Spanish for “creek.”)

Oakland Street Elementary School

Previously called: Cesar Chavez Elementary School

Other names considered: 

• Eagles Elementary
• Arroyo Elementary

The vote: Oakland Street Elementary received 211 out of 314 votes, and was the favorite among each of students, parents and staff.

What's next? 

The district has designated $209,000 for renovations associated with the name changes, including changing signs and marquees.

The single largest cost is refurbishing the high school’s hardwood gym floor, which will cost an estimated $120,000. Other significant costs include removing and replacing metal lettering on the front of the high school for $25,000, as well as removing and replacing crash pads and banners in the gym for $30,000.

Have other thoughts on school names?

Senior editor Ross Brenneman contributed to this story.