In the past, some security analysts had speculated that FBI may be using drones within U.S. in order to keep an eye on U.S. citizens. As it turns out, the speculation was right. During recent Senate hearing, FBI Director admitted that the agency was using drones for domestic surveillance.
During the hearing, Senator Chuck Grassley asked FBI Director Robert Mueller, “Does the FBI own or currently use drones and for what purposes?”
Mueller responded, “Yes, for surveillance.” He was further asked by Grassley as to whether or not such surveillance is conducted domestically, to which he responded in affirmative. However, he tried to play down the significance of such domestic drones by saying that they are used “in a very, very minimal way, and seldom.”
Interestingly, when Mueller was asked by the Senators about the ‘privacy strictures’ that are in place to ensure that the privacy of American citizens is not violated by these drones, the FBI Director had no answer.
This essentially hints at the dangerous trend that many have been pointing out for years – that the U.S. government has handed out virtually infinite powers to intelligence and security agencies, and lets them get away with a lot that is unconstitutional and illegal. And if whistle-blowers such as Edward Snowden did not create a melee once in a while with their candid revelations, it wouldn’t be long before U.S. becomes the embodiment of ‘1984.’
Courtesy: Wired
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