"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," Rep. Summer Lee wrote in a letter that has put the Commerce Department squarely on Capitol Hill's radar.
Rep. Summer Lee's request to the Commerce Department
On May 6, Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., formally asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to brief staff for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about recent developments tied to commercial spyware. Lee — who sits on the Oversight and Government Reform panel and is the top Democrat on its Federal Law Enforcement Subcommittee — requested information about internal Commerce deliberations, communications between Commerce and the White House, and any outside conversations about NSO Group or other commercial spyware.
Lee's letter, first reported by CyberScoop, stems from two developments she flagged: Immigration and Customs Enforcement's public acknowledgment that it has used Paragon's Graphite spyware, and a reported U.S. company purchase of a controlling stake in Israel's NSO Group. Lee asked specifically for briefings on whether NSO Group spyware might be used by federal law enforcement and on the American investment in NSO.
NSO Group, Pegasus, and the contested investment
The Commerce Department sanctioned NSO Group under former President Joe Biden following widespread abuse allegations, including eavesdropping on government officials, activists and journalists. NSO maintains that its products — including Pegasus — are meant to help law enforcement and intelligence fight terrorism and crime and that it vets customers and investigates misuse. News accounts and other investigations, the letter notes, have uncovered a multitude of abuses.
Last fall an American investment firm acquired a controlling stake in NSO Group. The transaction, described in the letter as tens of millions of dollars of investment, followed reporting that Israel had used Pegasus to track people kidnapped or murdered by Hamas; that reporting was characterized in the source material as giving the company a boon. Lee also cited NSO's court filings stating it is "reasonably foreseeable that a law enforcement or intelligence agency of the United States will use Pegasus."
NSO Group's new executive chairman, David Friedman — described in the letter as a former Trump ambassador to Israel and the company's former bankruptcy attorney — said in November that he expected the administration would be "receptive" to using NSO technology.
Federal agencies named: ICE, FBI, and reported CIA use
The letter follows a recent confirmation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement that it has used Paragon's Graphite spyware — a disclosure Lee and other Democrats pushed to confirm. Separately, the FBI acknowledged it had bought a Pegasus license, although according to the reporting it "stopped short of deploying it." The Times of London reported that "it is believed" the Central Intelligence Agency used Pegasus during a rescue mission last month for a U.S. airman downed in Iran.
The letter also observes that prior to the American investment, the Commerce Department under the Trump administration had rebuffed efforts to remove NSO Group from its sanctions list, even as later developments altered NSO's market position.
What Lee asked Commerce to disclose and why
Lee asked for a briefing with Oversight and Government Reform Committee staff that covers: internal Commerce deliberations about NSO and other commercial spyware; all Commerce communications with the White House on the subject; and any outside conversations — explicitly including talks with David Friedman — about government use of NSO Group technology or other commercial spyware, and about American investment in NSO.
Her stated concern is twofold: that federal agencies may be moving toward broader adoption of commercial spyware and that U.S. investment in a previously sanctioned company could change oversight and access. Lee and other Democrats had already pushed for answers after ICE acknowledged using Paragon's Graphite; in the earlier exchange they criticized the administration for not answering all of their questions and expressed outrage at the disclosures.
How law enforcement, the Commerce Department, and privacy advocates are positioned
- Law enforcement and federal agencies: ICE's acknowledgment of Paragon's Graphite and the FBI's purchase of a Pegasus license show concrete agency-level engagement with commercial spyware — whether for testing, acquisition, or potential operational use.
- The Commerce Department and the White House: Lee has demanded records of internal deliberations and communications with the White House, and she has specifically asked Commerce to account for any outside conversations involving David Friedman or other actors tied to NSO's new ownership.
- Investors and NSO leadership: The American controlling stake purchased last fall and David Friedman's public statements that he expects receptivity from the administration are central to Lee's worry that U.S. investment could change how sanctioned technology is treated.
Lee's letter frames a plainly political and procedural next step: Commerce has been asked to brief congressional oversight staff about how a sanctioned spyware vendor, its new U.S. investors, and federal agencies intersect. The request brings to the fore questions about oversight, the scope of federal use of commercial spyware, and what communications — official and informal — have taken place between Commerce, the White House, and outside parties tied to NSO Group.
