Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire FBI in the sky: Surveillance planes sweep U.S. cities

I had no idea what those small planes were doing circling neighborhoods! Like an idiot I thought someone was getting lessons!

Just a heads up!



WASHINGTON — The FBI is operating a small air force with scores of low-flying planes across the country carrying video and, at times, cellphone surveillance technology — all hidden behind fictitious companies that are fronts for the government, The Associated Press has learned.

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/06/fbi_in_the_sky_surveillance_pl.html#incart_river

And that's why we can't own Stinger missiles................

Big Brother would be so proud.

It says it's for specific investigations, if that's true then I really don't have a problem with it. But why on earth would I believe that's true? The FBI actually teaches classes to LE agencies on how to skirt the law. The government has become hooked on mass surveillance like a heroin addict. The government just has NO credibility on this front.

This is the article from a few days ago that spurred the latest AP reporting.

Interesting in that it was a civilian with available technology/website that uncovered the details. Also of note, no local police authorities were notified of the Fed's flight - the radar route tracking is compelling.

http://www.startribune.com/nighttime-flight-circles-low-over-twin-cities-for-hours/305398901/

Let 'em... I'll paint a middle finger on my roof... WGARA..

From the article: "Allen added that the FBI's planes "are not equipped, designed or used for bulk collection activities or mass surveillance."

Uh huh... Define 'bulk'..

P H U C K them , I have nothing to hide

It's also of interest that only drones are prohibited from performing missions "for the purpose of monitoring activities protected by the first amendment", but there is no exclusion for the use of manned aircraft for that purpose.

Guys, this is a case of the press making a story and creating worry over nothing. Do they carry cameras and take pics of activity on the ground? Yes. Are they surveilling the general populace looking for suspicious activity? No.

The article leads you to believe they are just flying around video recording everybody and this is not the case. Not yet, anyway. Mostly they're following drug runners.

Don't have to take my word for it, but I'm not concerned with their activities at all.

" The article leads you to believe they are just flying around video recording everybody and this is not the case. Not yet, anyway. Mostly they're following drug runners. "

here is their flight over the Minneapolis area.
circling a mall for an hour? maybe they were following somebody I guess.

Fluffy beat me to it.

Rye Daddy is right. As to the circling the mall for an hour, if the target went into the mall, I would bet you that surveillance guys on the ground followed him/her in there and the plane just loafed around up there, waiting for the target to come back out and go somewhere else.

So far as "not collecting bulk data", if they have a wiretap warrant, they would fly that bird around, trying to radio-locate a particular cellphone.

It's not magic, it's not rocket surgery, it's not a conspiracy, it's mobile surveillance of a specific target. Been going on as long as there has been criminals and lawmen. Unfortunately, the Friendly But Ignorant are involved, so you can bet it's FUBAR from the get-go.

Ed

There's no such thing as paranoia it's all true-HST.

About 8 years ago, I attended a classified security forum and one of the speakers was an FBI agent who described the surveillance of Robert Hanssen, the former FBI agent who spied for the Russians. This agent was a pilot and he described the aerial surveillance that he conducted flying a Cessna 182. After his talk, I approached him and asked him a few questions and he answered most of them. I live 1 block from Hanssen's former home (his wife still lives there) and he described how the flights were conducted. When I gave him my address, he described my car (maroon station wagon!); he said all vehicles in the neighborhood were inventoried as part of the surveillance.

I guess nothing has changed!

for a long time driving down from phx to tucson, i would pass by marana, which was the home of evergreen, during the vietnam days, also the missle silos there too. I always made sure to stick my arm out of the window for a big bird flipped at the sky. Always enjoyed the thought of some russian dink wondering what i was up to. I won't talk about having to stop and take a leak.

More than Evergreen, Marina was the home of Intermountain Aviation!!! If you know Intermountain,. I don't have to explain; if you don't, then think of CIA aviation. It was a great training base.

I didn't read the article but the news reported that the planes can act as a fake cell phone tower and every phone within range will connect to it and send its information.

so while they may be targeting an individual they are collecting a boatload of information about everyone around the individual.

PHX PD has a Pilatus PC12-Spectre in it's inventory. It has been flying 10 mile patterns over Metro Center for the past 6 months.


Day and night, and don't tell me they are just getting flight time in.