US Embassy's Surveillance Equipment Donated to National Bureau of Expertise

A news item circulating online about the US Embassy in Armenia acquiring surveillance equipment in April 2016 has sparked active discussions.

Political scientist Suren Sargsyan, who was the original source of the information, clarified today what devices are being referred to and for what purpose they were acquired. “Essentially, the equipment for servicing mobile phones and extracting information from them, purchased by the American embassy, has been donated to the National Bureau of Expertise of the Republic of Armenia,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

It’s noted that there is relevant information on the National Bureau of Expertise's website, indicating that in June 2016, with the assistance of the US embassy, the Bureau's list of equipment was supplemented with the “Cellebrite UFED Touch Ultimate” investigative research system as part of the “International Narcotics and Law Enforcement” (INL) program. This system combines the best technologies for servicing mobile phones and extracting information from them.

Additionally, in June 2018, with the support of the US embassy under the “Drug Control and Law Enforcement Cooperation” (INL) program, the equipment list of the National Bureau of Expertise was further enhanced with hardware blockers from “Guidance Software” (“Opentext”) and software solutions including “EnCase Forensic” and “Cellebrite's UFED Cloud Analyzer.” This information is also available on the US embassy's website in Armenia.