CNN
FBI Director Robert Mueller reports -unshockingly to me - that the FBI uses drones but not that often and in limited ways, though, of course, there were zero specifics.
But a law enforcement official told CNN the FBI has used them a little more than a dozen times but did not say when that started. The official said drones are useful in hostage and barricade situations because they operate more quietly and are less visible than traditional aircraft such as helicopters.
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Bresson said the aircraft can only be used to perform surveillance on stationary subjects and the FBI must first get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly in a "very confined geographic area."
They used a drone to monitor that situation in Alabama when the crazed man kidnapped the boy and killed the bus driver.
That would seem to be a fine use of technology like this, but.... American Law Enforcement, from your local donut consumers to the FBI, are spectacular at getting something for ostensibly genuine help with 'law enforcement' but it then becomes a tool of privacy violation the moment they get it out of the box. (Thank you, War on Drugs!)
I do not trust the FBI, nor any other government agency in general, but less so now that we have increasing knowledge of how important it is to them (government, law enforcement) to gain access to information about us without having to ask for it or let you know they are getting it.
When I hear these sorts of 'qualifiers- weasel-wordings- "We followed the rules set forth by A, B and C - I cannot really trust these people to be telling the truth.
And I am certainly not alone: Chuck Grassley, a republican that spends most of his time saying things that make me cringe, confronted Mueller about the potential privacy-invasion drones represent. I cannot reproduce his whole focus here so go read at the link.
Mueller played him off with "our footprint is very small, but no real concrete answers,. because that's how the surveillance game is played. It is rather amusing to have a backward nutjob Republican like Grassley all concerned about 'privacy'. I wonder what HE has to hide....
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein expressed concern over drone use domestically.
"I think the greatest threat to the privacy of Americans is the drone and the use of the drone, and the very few regulations that are on it today and the booming industry of commercial drones," the California Democrat said.
This issue makes 'strange bedfellows': I dislike Feinstein because most of the time she says things I bitter disagree with, here I have to agree. I had to agree with Grassley, which is just bizarre. I assume they have these perspectives as part of their own agendas and not because they are shining examples of the defense of the privacy of the Common People.
Last quote from the article:
Unmanned drone use is becoming more common in the United States although it is not lawful in many cases.
I love this sentence. Drones are in use all over the place in America but they are "not lawful' in most applications.
So shocking.
(That they'd admit that....)
Have a good day, citizen.
Stay out of trouble.