Inside the FBI’s New Push to Track Leaks and Monitor Employees

The FBI has requested $7 million for a digital watermarking solution to track leaks and monitor its own employees, embedding unique forensic markers in documents to identify sources of unauthorized disclosures. The budget request also describes a User Activity Monitoring (UAM) program requesting $11.4 million to shift from reactive leak detection to proactive insider risk identification. These surveillance programs were revealed in the FY 2027 FBI Budget Request to Congress and acknowledged publicly under a section titled 'Transparency of Government and Promoting Public Trust.'