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Surveillance

Government surveillance programs, NSA spying, and civil liberties debates.

  1. 2026

    25 items
People

Key figures in Surveillance

238 figures
Donald Trump
President of the United States
Monae Johnson
Speaker of the House (R-LA)
John Thune
Senate Majority Leader (R-SD)
Pete Hegseth
Secretary of Defense
Ron Wyden
U.S. Senator (D-OR), Senate Intelligence Committee
Kash Patel
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Kristi Noem
DHS Secretary (outgoing)
Pam Bondi
U.S. Attorney General
Dario Amodei
CEO, Anthropic
Gabbard
Director of National Intelligence
Marco Rubio
U.S. Secretary of State
Sam Altman
CEO, OpenAI
Thomas Massie
U.S. Representative (R-KY-04)
Joe Biden
Former President
Pramila Jayapal
U.S. Representative (D-WA)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
HHS Secretary (confirmed Feb. 13, 2025)
Alex Karp
CEO, Palantir Technologies
Elon Musk
CEO, SpaceX; Head, Department of Government Efficiency
Jamie Raskin
Representative (D-MD)
Jeffrey Epstein
Convicted sex offender and federal prisoner
Jim Jordan
Chairman, House Judiciary Committee (R-OH)
Lauren Boebert
U.S. Representative (R-CO-04)
Peter Thiel
Palantir co-founder and early investor (including through CIA’s In-Q-Tel) who has driven the company’s growth in government surveillance contracts.
Rob Bonta
California Attorney General
Sonia Sotomayor
Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
Tom Homan
Border Czar
Warren Davidson
U.S. Representative (R-OH-08)
William Barr
Former Attorney General (2019-2020)
Andrew Ferguson
Chair, Federal Trade Commission (2025–present)
Andy Biggs
U.S. Representative (R-AZ)
Antony Blinken
Former Secretary of State
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General of the United States
David Sacks
White House AI and Crypto Czar
Edward Markey
U.S. Senator (D-MA), author of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act
Emil Michael
Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering
George W. Bush
Former President
Ghislaine Maxwell
Epstein associate and trafficking facilitator
James Comer
Chairman, House Oversight Committee (R-KY)
Jeff Dean
Chief Scientist, Google DeepMind
John Kennedy
John Ratcliffe
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
John Roberts
U.S. Supreme Court, author of Carpenter v. United States (2018)
Lindsay James
New York Attorney General
Lloyd Austin
Secretary of Defense
Maria Cantwell
U.S. Senator (D-WA); Ranking Member, Senate Commerce Committee
Meredith Whittaker
President, Signal Foundation; former Google AI ethics researcher
Michael Thomas
MCC Material Handler serving as guard
Mike Lee
U.S. Senator (R-UT)
Nicolás Maduro
Former President of Venezuela, Captured January 3, 2026
Okello Chatrie
Criminal defendant and appellant
Palmer Luckey
Anduril Industries Founder
Rand Paul
U.S. Senator (R-KY), Chair of Senate Homeland Security Committee (2025)
Ro Khanna
U.S. Representative from California (D-17th District)
Sean Parnell
Pentagon Chief Spokesperson
Senator Ron Wyden
vocal critic who warned that government purchases of data from firms like Palantir represent “using credit cards to end-run Americans’ constitutional rights.”
Sundar Pichai
CEO, Alphabet (Google's parent company)
Tammy Duckworth
U.S. Senator (D-IL); Senate Armed Services Committee
Ted Lieu
U.S. Representative (D-CA), House Judiciary Committee
Todd Blanche
Deputy Attorney General
Tova Noel
MCC Correctional Officer
Trae Stephens
Anduril board member and Founders Fund partner under consideration for Deputy Secretary of Defense, highlighting private-sector influence on defense policy.
Troy Miller
Acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection
1010 Digital Works LLC
Defendant, settling party ($25,000)
Adam G. Unikowsky
Defense attorney, partner at Jenner & Block LLP
Albert Fox Cahn, Executive Director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project
publicly characterized DOGE’s practices as “about as serious a privacy threat as you get.”
Alexander Haig
Secretary of State
Amazon Web Services
Amazon cloud computing division
American Civil Liberties Union
Civil liberties advocacy organization
Amos Toh
Senior Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU
Andy Jassy
CEO, Amazon
Angela Alsobrooks
U.S. Senator (D-MD), Co-Sponsor
Angus King
U.S. Senator (I-ME), member of the Senate Intelligence Committee
Anne Schuchat
Former CDC Principal Deputy Director (2015–2021)
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Former Supreme Leader of Iran (deceased)
Bernard Sanders
U.S. Senator (I-VT), Co-Sponsor
Betty Duong
Santa Clara County Supervisor, District 2
Bob Iger
Disney CEO
Brian Hofer
Founder of Secure Justice, former Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission member
Brian Schatz
U.S. Senator (D-HI), Senate Commerce and Appropriations Committees
Brian Schimpf
Anduril CEO
Brooke Rollins
Agriculture Secretary
Caspar Weinberger
Secretary of Defense
Cesar Chavez
United Farm Workers
Charles Breyer
U.S. District Judge
Charles Ezell
Acting Director, U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Chip Roy
U.S. Representative (R-TX-21)
Christine Wormuth
Former Secretary of the Army (2021–2025)
Christopher George Michel
Lead counsel for Cisco Systems, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
Christopher Landau
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State; former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico (Trump first term)
Christopher Wray
FBI Director
Chuck Grassley
U.S. Senator (R-IA), Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman
Chuck Schumer
Senate Minority Leader
Cindy Hall
Former Office of Internal Auditing Director
Claudia Sheinbaum
President of Mexico
CMG Media Corporation / Cox Media Group
Defendant, primary settling party ($880,000)
Cobwebs Technologies
Developer of the Webloc location tracking product licensed to Penlink
Cody Dadiw
Oakland protest organizer
Dan Bongino
FBI Deputy Director
David O. Carter
U.S. District Judge, Central District of California (Clinton appointee)
Dean Ball
Former Trump White House AI policy director
Deborah Ross
U.S. Representative (D-NC)
Dick Durbin
U.S. Senator from Illinois (D)
Dr. Barbara Sampson
New York City Chief Medical Examiner
Dr. Michael Baden
Forensic Pathologist hired by Epstein family
Earl Matthews
Pentagon General Counsel, Department of War
Earl Warren
U.S. Senator (D-MA), Senate Banking and Armed Services Committees
Edward Snowden
former NSA contractor who has publicly cautioned against AI-driven surveillance systems making autonomous decisions without accountability.
Efrén Olivares
Vice President of Litigation and Legal Strategy at the National Immigration Law Center
Elena Kagan
Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
Elizabeth B. Prelogar
U.S. Solicitor General
Elon Musk / DOGE
Alleged to have deployed AI monitoring tools
Eric Rodriguez
Senior Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at UnidosUS
Erica Chenoweth
Harvard Kennedy School Professor
Fredy Cheung
Vice President for Greater China, Cisco Systems (at time of alleged conduct)
Garrett Langley
CEO, Flock Safety
Gary Peters
Senate Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member (D-MI)
Gavin Newsom
Governor of California
Gen. Michael Kurilla
Commander, U.S. Central Command
Gene Dodaro
Comptroller General of GAO
Greg Allen
Senior Advisor, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Gregory Ford
Director, Army Criminal Investigation Division
Hal Lambert
CEO of Clearview AI as of Jun. 2025, leading efforts to expand into federal contracts.
Hala Jarbou
Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan (Trump appointee)
Hans von Spakovsky
Senior Legal Fellow, Heritage Foundation Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies
Hany Farid
UC Berkeley Professor of Digital Forensics
Harmeet Dhillon
Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, DOJ (confirmed April 3, 2025)
Harriet Hageman
U.S. Representative - WY
Hoan Ton-That
CEO, Clearview AI
IRGC Quds Force
Iran's external operations unit
Janet Yellen
Treasury Secretary
Jeanne Shaheen
U.S. Senator
Jeff Merkley
U.S. Senator (D-OR), Senate Co-Sponsor
Jim McDonnell
LAPD Chief
John Bolton
Former National Security Advisor
John Brennan
former CIA Director who joined Palantir’s advisory board, illustrating revolving-door ties between intelligence leadership and surveillance contractors.
John Chambers
Former CEO of Cisco Systems
John Cornyn
U.S. Senator (R-TX)
John J. Duncan Jr.
Chief Justice of the United States
John Lewis
SNCC Leader
Joseph Cuffari
DHS Inspector General
Joseph Ladapo
Florida Surgeon General
Josh Golin
Executive Director of Fairplay (child advocacy organization)
Joshua Rudd
General, Director of the NSA, Commander of U.S. Cyber Command (confirmed March 10, 2026)
Joy Buolamwini
AI Researcher and Founder, Algorithmic Justice League; MIT Media Lab
Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez
U.S. citizen
Karoline Leavitt
White House Press Secretary
Kate Earle Jensen
Head of Sales, Anthropic
Kathleen Clark, Government Ethics Expert at Washington University in St. Louis
criticized the AI monitoring as an abuse of power that could suppress protected speech.
Kris Warner
West Virginia Secretary of State (2025-present)
Kristen Clarke
Former Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights
Laura Loomer
Far-right political activist and conspiracy theorist
Laura Nakamura
Mayor of Concord, California
Lee Zeldin
EPA Administrator
Leo Sorokin
U.S. District Judge, District of Massachusetts (Obama appointee, confirmed 2014)
Linda McMahon
Nominated Secretary of Education
Liz O'Sullivan
Technology Director, Campaign to Stop Killer Robots
M. Hannah Lauck
U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia
Mandy Cohen
HHS Secretary
Manish Shah
U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Illinois (Obama appointee)
Marjorie Taylor Greene
U.S. Representative (R-GA-14)
Mark Harris
U.S. Representative (R-NC)
Mark Milley
Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Biden administration)
Mark Warner
U.S. Senator, D-VA; Vice Chair, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Marsha Blackburn
U.S. Senator (R-TN), Senate Commerce Committee
Martin Luther King Jr.
Civil Rights Leader, SCLC
Matt Gaetz
U.S. Representative (R-FL-3)
Matthew Buzzell
CDC Director (appointed June 2025)
Matthew Guariglia
Senior Policy Analyst, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Maxine Chesney
U.S. District Judge
Merrick Garland
Former U.S. Attorney General (Biden Administration)
Michael Cloud
U.S. Representative (R-TX)
Michael Duffey
Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment
Michael Osterholm
Director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota
Michael Price
Senior Litigation Counsel, Fourth Amendment Center at NACDL
Microsoft
Competitor that protested the original award
Mike Rounds
U.S. Senator (R-SD), Armed Services Committee Chair
MindSift LLC
Defendant, settling party ($25,000)
Mrinank Sharma
Former AI Safety Researcher, Anthropic
Mustafa Kasubhai
U.S. District Judge, District of Oregon
Nathan Freed Wessler
Deputy Director, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project
Neal Mohan
YouTube CEO
Neil M. Gorsuch
Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes
Founder and leader, Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG); killed Feb. 22, 2026
Nicholas Anthony
Research Fellow at the Cato Institute Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives
NSA Staff
National Security Agency analysts and reviewers
Okello T. Chatrie
Criminal defendant, petitioner
Patty Murray
U.S. Senator - Washington
Paul Hoffman
Lead counsel for Falun Gong plaintiffs
Penlink
Nebraska-based surveillance technology company, holder of ICE location data contract
Pentagon
Peter Keisler
Former Assistant Attorney General, Bush Administration; Legal Commentator
Peter Navarro
Governor of Jalisco state
Peter Welch
U.S. Senator (D-VT), Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution
Protesters
First Amendment Exercisers
Qasem Soleimani
IRGC Quds Force Commander (killed January 2020)
Rafael Grossi
Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency
Ralph Norman
U.S. Representative (R-SC)
Randi Weingarten
President, American Federation of Teachers
Rep. Ted Lieu
U.S. Representative (D-CA), House Judiciary Committee; computer science graduate
Reuters
News organization that broke the story
Riana Pfefferkorn
Research Scholar, Stanford Internet Observatory
Richard Grenell
Trump special envoy to Venezuela
Rick Crawford
U.S. Representative (R-AR); Chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Rick Garcia
U.S. Representative - CA District 42
Robert Chesney
Professor of Law, University of Texas School of Law; co-director, Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law
Robert Nichols
President and CEO of the American Bankers Association
Rochelle Walensky
Former CDC Director (Biden administration)
Ron DeSantis
Florida Governor
Ronald Reagan
Former U.S. president
Rosa Parks
Civil Rights Activist
Ruben Oseguera-Gonzalez
Son of El Mencho; former CJNG heir apparent; sentenced March 2025
Russell Vought
Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Samuel A. Alito Jr.
Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Samuel Alito
Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
Scott Bessent
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
Scott Fear
NSA Chief Information Officer overseeing migration
Scott Perry
U.S. Representative (R-PA-10), Chairman, House Freedom Caucus
Seema Mehta
Lead author, Annals of Internal Medicine study; UCSF professor
Shoshana Zuboff
Scholar of surveillance capitalism
SpaceX
Starlink
Stephen Miller
Deputy Chief of Staff and Homeland Security Advisor, Trump White House
Steve Feinberg
Deputy Secretary of Defense
Susan Brnovich
U.S. District Judge, District of Arizona (Trump appointee)
Susan Monarez
CDC Director (fired May 2025)
Tammy Baldwin
Ranking Member, Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee (D-WI)
Teresa Riley
Chief Immigration Judge, Executive Office for Immigration Review
Terrance Cole
DEA Administrator
The 900 Google and OpenAI letter signatories
Tech workers, Google and OpenAI
Thurgood Marshall
NAACP Legal Defense Fund
Tiffany Justice
Moms for Liberty Co-founder
Tim Burchett
U.S. Representative - TN District 2
Timothy Haugh
Former Director of NSA and Commander of Cyber Command; fired April 3, 2025
Tom Cotton
U.S. Senator (R-AR), Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee
Tom Frieden
Former CDC Director (2009–2017)
Trump-appointed EPA officials
Allegedly told managers about monitoring
Ukraine military
William Hartman
Lt. Gen., Acting Commander of Cyber Command and Acting NSA Director (April 2025 to March 2026)