April 25, 2026 8:41 pm ET The Wall Street Journal identified $425 million in surveillance-related spending between Jan. 20, 2025, and Jan. 19, 2026. The Journal reviewed nearly 4,000 contracts with more than 200 companies matching its surveillance criteria going back to 2008. Government contracting data doesnāt have a check box for āsurveillance.ā To figure out how much money the Department of Homeland Security has spent on such services, the Journal had to classify the work itself.