Local police will now get less military equipment — but they'll still get plenty of spy gadgets
As of today, the federal government will no longer sell a selection of military equipment to local police departments thanks to a new rule from President Obama based on the recommendations of an interagency study.
But for police departments eager to get shiny new toys, the NSA is still very much open for business. The spy agency is offering police goodies including programs to collect mass amounts of data (from cell phone towers, for instance) and to filter individual voices out of a crowd. You can browse the full selection in the National Security Agency 2014 Technology Catalog (pdf), which is basically the NSA's version of the Ikea catalog.
Though the prices or conditions for acquiring each item are not listed, the catalog notes that "the Agency actively participates, supports, and encourages technology transfer."
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