FBI Spy Planes Helping in Terror War

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

The "black" helicopter wet dreams of the right actually may have existed.
Note the statement that says "collect
intelligence on suspected terrorists and other *****criminals*****


FBI Spy Planes Helping in Terror War

March 14, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS




 

Filed at 6:46 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI has a fleet of aircraft, some
equipped with night surveillance and eavesdropping
equipment, flying America's skies to track and collect
intelligence on suspected terrorists and other criminals.

The FBI will not provide exact figures on the planes and
helicopters, but more than 80 are in the skies. There are
several planes, known as ``Nightstalkers,'' equipped with
infrared devices that allow agents to track people and
vehicles in the dark.

Other aircraft are outfitted with electronic surveillance
equipment so agents can pursue listening devices placed in
cars, in buildings and even along streets, or listen to
cell phone calls. Still others fly photography missions,
although officials would not describe precise capabilities.


The FBI, which has made counterterror its top priority
since Sept. 11, 2001, has sharply increased its use of
aircraft. 

``You want to watch activity, and you want to do it
discreetly. You don't want to be sitting around in cars,''
said Weldon Kennedy, a former FBI deputy director who
retired in 1997 after 33 years with the bureau. ``Aviation
is one way to do that. You don't need to get close to that
person at all.'' 

Some critics say the surveillance technology further blurs
the boundaries on domestic spying. They point to a 2001
case in which the Supreme Court found police had engaged in
an unreasonable search by using thermal imaging equipment
to detect heat lamps used to grow marijuana plants indoors.


``The cop on the beat now has Superman's X-ray eyes,'' said
Barry Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty
program at the American Civil Liberties Union. ``We need to
fundamentally rethink what is a reasonable expectation of
privacy.'' 

All 56 FBI field offices have access to aircraft, piloted
by FBI agents who have other investigative duties as well.
Most aircraft are propeller-driven civilian models, favored
for their relatively slow speed and unobtrusive appearance.


Legally, no warrants are necessary for the FBI to track
cars or people from the air. Law enforcement officials need
warrants to search homes or to plant listening devices or
monitor cell phone calls -- and that includes when the
listener is flying in an airplane.

A senior FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
said the FBI does not do flyovers to listen to telephone
calls and gather electronic data from random citizens in
hopes the data will provide leads. Rather, the planes are
used to follow specific individuals, some of whom may
already have been bugged or for whom the FBI has a warrant
to listen to cell phone calls.

Still, the idea of an FBI air force gives at least some
people pause. 

The FBI will not disclose where the planes are being used.
This month, however, in the college town of Bloomington,
Ind., residents spotted a Cessna aircraft flying overhead
at roughly the same times every day for more than a week.
After first issuing denials, local FBI agents admitted it
was their plane, involved in a terrorism investigation.

FBI officials also were quick to say it was not doing
electronic eavesdropping.

``There should be no concern that the aircraft is doing
anything other than assisting with physical surveillance,''
said FBI agent James Davis.

The FBI has been using airplanes since 1938, when an agent
in a Stinson monoplane helped stop an extortion attempt
that involved a payoff package thrown from a moving
passenger train. The first major deployment happened in
1975 during the investigation of the killings of two FBI
agents at the sprawling Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in
South Dakota. 

The program has been particularly useful in investigations
of organized crime and drug trafficking. Mobsters who
suspected their homes and telephones were bugged frequently
held meetings in moving cars, not realizing that bugs also
were placed there and were being monitored from the air.

Aircraft are now seen as ideal in the FBI's domestic war on
terror. FBI Director Robert Mueller said last year there
was a 60 percent increase in field office requests for
airplanes in the year after the Sept. 11 attacks, with
almost 90 percent of air missions now dedicated to
surveillance. 

``You don't have a criminal case. You don't necessarily
have a terrorism case. You want to know what they are
doing, who their associates are, who they are meeting
with,'' retired agent Kennedy said. ``Surveillance is going
to have a pretty big role in that.''

Congress approved this year a $20 million increase in the
FBI's aviation budget but denied a request for two new
Black Hawk helicopters. It also ordered the bureau to
develop a master plan for its aviation program.

The FBI also can request aviation help from the Defense
Department. That can involve a great deal of bureaucracy
and care, however, to ensure the military does not violate
laws preventing them from doing law enforcement work within
the United States. 

^------ 

On the Net: FBI:
http://www.fbi.gov

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-FBI-Spy-Planes.html?ex=104868643
4&ei=1&en=9413e95bcda60563



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