Pentagon flew drones over U.S. for domestic spying missions

[unhappycamper]

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3042046/security/pentagon-flew-drones-over-us-for-domestic-spying-missions.html



The Pentagon admitted to flying spy drones over the U.S. according to a report obtained via a FOIA request.

Pentagon flew drones over U.S. for domestic spying missions
Computerworld | Mar 9, 2016 9:02 AM PT

Could that plane flying overhead actually be a Pentagon drone on a spying mission over U.S. soil? Yes, apparently, although the Pentagon said when it has deployed spy drones on non-military missions over the U.S. that it was done lawfully.

Details are scarce about the Pentagon’s domestic spying missions – other than they have happened on rare occasions – “fewer than 20 times between 2006 and 2015” – according to a Defense Department report obtained by USA Today via a Freedom of Information Act request. The Pentagon must have laughed when USA Today requested a list of the spy flights; the request was denied.

Nevertheless, the report issued by the DoD inspector general in 2015 did include a few examples of how spy drones have not been used. USA Today described one in which an unnamed mayor asked the Marines to fly a drone over a city to identify potholes; the Marines nixed the request, saying “obtaining the defense secretary’s ‘approval to conduct a UAS mission of this type did not make operational sense’.”

Several military units reportedly told the IG they’d like more opportunities to fly drones on domestic missions. The report, USA Today added, “quoted a military law review article that said ‘the appetite to use them (spy drones) in the domestic environment to collect airborne imagery continues to grow, as does Congressional and media interest in their deployment’.”