Is this part of the business model for the FBI? First the U.S. government relaxed border enforcement allowing millions of illegal aliens to enter the US for whatever reasons. Then the police and the FBI began watching them to see what they do. Maybe some of them are, Gasp! terrorists, or criminals. Gasp! Gasp! That is like the Savings and Loan scandal (see, e.g., The Daisy Chain, by James O'Shea) Congress repealed laws protecting small banks from fraud and theft of funds. Criminal lawyers and accountants take advantage of the re-opened loop holes and steal millions bankrupting small banks. The FDIC covers the losses and Congress hires the same lawyers and accountants to restore the banks to their former healthy status. Or the feds allowing illegal drugs to flow over borders from South America and Europe. Then they use taxpayer funds fighting the drug wars which they created and sustained.
[From article]
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.
The planes' surveillance equipment is generally used without a judge's approval, and the FBI said the flights are used for specific, ongoing investigations. In a recent 30-day period, the agency flew above more than 30 cities in 11 states across the country, an AP review found.
[. . .]
U.S. law enforcement officials confirmed for the first time the wide-scale use of the aircraft, which the AP traced to at least 13 fake companies, such as FVX Research, KQM Aviation, NBR Aviation and PXW Services. Even basic aspects of the program are withheld from the public in censored versions of official reports from the Justice Department's inspector general.
"The FBI's aviation program is not secret," spokesman Christopher Allen said in a statement.
[. . .]
The AP traced at least 50 aircraft back to the FBI, and identified more than 100 flights since late April orbiting both major cities and rural areas.
One of the planes, photographed in flight last week by the AP in northern Virginia, bristled with unusual antennas under its fuselage and a camera on its left side.
[. . .]
The surveillance flights comply with agency rules, an FBI spokesman said.
[. . .]
During the past few weeks, the AP tracked planes from the FBI's fleet on more than 100 flights over at least 11 states plus the District of Columbia, most with Cessna 182T Skylane aircraft. These included parts of Houston, Phoenix, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis and Southern California.
[. . .]
Officials say cellphone surveillance is rare, although the AP found in recent weeks FBI flights orbiting large, enclosed buildings for extended periods where aerial photography would be less effective than electronic signals collection. Those included above Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.
[. . .]
After The Washington Post revealed flights by two planes circling over Baltimore in early May, the AP began analyzing detailed flight data and aircraft-ownership registrations that shared similar addresses and flight patterns. That review found some FBI missions circled above at least 40,000 residents during a single flight over Anaheim, California, in late May, according to Census data and records provided by the website FlightRadar24.com.
[. . .]
The FBI asked the AP not to disclose the names of the fake companies it uncovered, saying that would saddle taxpayers with the expense of creating new cover companies to shield the government's involvement, and could endanger the planes and integrity of the surveillance missions. The AP declined the FBI's request because the companies' names — as well as common addresses linked to the Justice Department — are listed on public documents and in government databases.
At least 13 front companies that AP identified being actively used by the FBI are registered to post office boxes in Bristow, Virginia, which is near a regional airport used for private and charter flights. Only one of them appears in state business records.
[. . .]
Included on most aircraft registrations is a mysterious name, Robert Lindley. He is listed as chief executive and has at least three distinct signatures among the companies. Two documents include a signature for Robert Taylor, which is strikingly similar to one of Lindley's three handwriting patterns.
[Does that mean the FBI is filing false documents to government agencies? Perjury? Felonies?]
[. . .]
The FBI does not generally obtain warrants to record video from its planes of people moving outside in the open, but it also said that under a new policy it has recently begun obtaining court orders to use cell-site simulators. The Obama administration had until recently been directing local authorities through secret agreements not to reveal their own use of the devices, even encouraging prosecutors to drop cases rather than disclose the technology's use in open court.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150602/us--fbi_surveillance_flights-e2320f0d2a.html
FBI behind mysterious surveillance aircraft over US cities
Jun 2, 3:27 AM (ET)
By JACK GILLUM, EILEEN SULLIVAN and ERIC TUCKER
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