Sources tell ForbesВ the COG is a go-between surveillance shop, setting up spy tools and associated networking across the FBI or whatever agency demands its services, and helping shift intel between them.

The COG is core to that intelligence sharing both within the FBI and outside the agency. OGA stands for вЂњother government agency.вЂќ As previously revealed in NSA files leaked by Edward Snowden in 2013 detailing the now-infamous PRISM espionage initiative, one of DITU's roles sees it collect data from technology and telecom companies (whether that's Facebook, Google, Microsoft or your phone and internet provider) before turning it over to intelligence agencies (which could be the DIA, CIA and NSA).

The COG is responsible for the procurement, development and deployment of network equipment to assist in electronic surveillance to various field offices and OGAs.' But there's some tantalizing new information nonetheless: according to the FOIA response, the COG's mission 'is to provide tools, expertise and solutions to effect lawfully-authorized electronic surveillance of data communications on today's evolving local area network and internet technologies. The agency refused to comment on the specific nature of the group and its operations. The FBI confirmed to Forbes that the COG is a sub-unit within DITU. The OTD is the overarching body that oversees bleeding edge tech development for the entire FBI. DITU, part of the Operational Technology Division in Quantico, Virginia, is one of the most clandestine divisions within the FBI, helping gather crucial data for investigations and intelligence. That FOIA filing concerned a deal signed last year between tech contractor CDW Government and the Data Intercept Technology Unit (DITU, pronounced 'dee-too') for $1.1 million in services. And with the unearthing of these two units, civil liberties activists, legal experts and even former intelligence analysts are crying foul about the possibility of widespread domestic surveillance occurring across America with zero oversight.ДЇorbes learned about the existence of the furtive Collections Operations Group (insiders call it 'the COG') from the results of a freedom of information act request filed with the FBI in 2017. Not a single LinkedIn profile contains a reference to either. Google searches for the names return nothing. Known as the FBI Collections Operations Group and the FBI WiFi Group, they appear in virtually no public records. Despite the almost complete lack of transparency surrounding that effort, Forbes has uncovered two previously-undisclosed units that sources say form crucial parts of the FBI's surveillance machinery.

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