The Trump administration is quietly dismantling federal policies that once kept the commercial spyware industry at arm’s length, according to a report NPR published Monday, May 19, 2026. Critics say the rollback could open the door for government agencies to purchase and deploy tools capable of hacking into phones from a distance.
Spyware — software that can remotely infiltrate a smartphone, access messages, activate cameras, and pull location data — has drawn sharp criticism from privacy advocates and some lawmakers for years. Previous administrations had moved to stigmatize companies selling these tools, restricting their access to U.S. contracts and blacklisting certain vendors.
Those guardrails aren’t holding. That’s the fear, at least, among watchdog groups tracking the shift. The concern centers on whether agencies like the Department of Homeland Security might adopt commercial spyware products without the transparency or oversight that earlier executive actions demanded.
NPR’s reporting didn’t detail which specific vendors or contracts are in play. What isn’t clear is how far the policy erosion has gone — or whether any new purchases have been finalized. The administration hasn’t publicly addressed the criticism.
Phone-hacking tools sold by private firms have been linked to surveillance of journalists, political dissidents, and human rights workers in countries around the world. U.S. policy had, until recently, treated that track record as disqualifying. Whether that standard still applies is the question nobody in Washington seems willing to answer on the record.
