The Watchers

Garuda (G-Box) Fixed Wing Geo-Location (Manned):"The G-Box is used as a GSM airborne geo-location system to replicate a GSM network Base Station. They operate by attracting and registering handsets operating on the local commercial network. Each handset's IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) or IMEI (International Mobile Station Equipment Identity) is compared against the 's target watch list. When a targeted handset is identified and registered to the box, a geo-location solution is calculated. G-Box was specifically designed and built for geo-location missions in fixed wing aircraft (manned/ unmanned). Garuda received a software upgrade that modified the algorithm software, which allows the system to take 1000 entries." The vendor is reported as Maryland's KeyW. Image Source: The Intercept.

The Intercept claims to have obtained a secret catalogue of government surveillance hardware, developed for the military, now used increasingly by law enforcement in the United States and presumably anyone else to whom the manufacturers will sell their products. The report was published on 17 December 2015 (here). Their commentary on this leak opens as follows:

The Intercept has obtained a secret, internal U.S. government catalogue of dozens of cellphone surveillance devices used by the military and by intelligence agencies. The document, thick with previously undisclosed information, also offers rare insight into the spying capabilities of federal law enforcement and local police inside the United States.

The catalogue includes details on the Stingray, a well-known brand of surveillance gear, as well as Boeing “dirt boxes” and dozens of more obscure devices that can be mounted on vehicles, drones, and piloted aircraft. Some are designed to be used at static locations, while others can be discreetly carried by an individual. They have names like Cyberhawk, Yellowstone, Blackfin, Maximus, Cyclone, and Spartacus. Within the catalogue, the NSA is listed as the vendor of one device, while another was developed for use by the CIA, and another was developed for a special forces requirement. Nearly a third of the entries focus on equipment that seems to have never been described in public before.

The Intercept obtained the catalogue from a source within the intelligence community concerned about the militarization of domestic law enforcement. ...

A few of the devices can house a “target list” of as many as 10,000 unique phone identifiers. Most can be used to geolocate people, but the documents indicate that some have more advanced capabilities, like eavesdropping on calls and spying on SMS messages. Two systems, apparently designed for use on captured phones, are touted as having the ability to extract media files, address books, and notes, and one can retrieve deleted text messages.

Above all, the catalogue represents a trove of details on surveillance devices developed for military and intelligence purposes but increasingly used by law enforcement agencies to spy on people and convict them of crimes.

Graphics from the catalogue are here, which lists the device vendors. I have not attempted to cross-reference the report.