The Pentagon has deployed drones to spy over U.S. territory for non-military missions over the past decade, but the flights have been rare and lawful, according to a new report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report by a Pentagon inspector general, made public under\u00a0a Freedom of Information Act request, said spy drones on\u00a0non-military missions have occurred\u00a0fewer than 20 times between 2006 and 2015 and always in compliance with existing\u00a0law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report, which did not provide details on any of the domestic spying missions, \u00a0said the Pentagon takes the issue of military drones used on American soil “very seriously.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A senior policy analyst for the ACLU, Jay Stanley, said it is good news no legal\u00a0violations were found, yet the technology is so advanced\u00a0that it’s possible laws may require revision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Sometimes, new technology changes so rapidly that existing law no longer fit what people think are appropriate,” Stanley said. “It’s important to remember that the American people do find this to be a very, very sensitive topic.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The use of unmanned aerial surveillance (UAS) drones over U.S.\u00a0surfaced in 2013 when then-FBI director\u00a0Robert Mueller\u00a0testified before Congress that the bureau employed spy drones to aid investigations, but in a “very,very minimal way, very seldom.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The inspector general analysis was completed\u00a0March 20, 2015, but not released publicly until last Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said that\u00a0with advancements in drone technology along with widespread military use overseas,\u00a0the Pentagon established interim guidance\u00a0in 2006 governing when and whether the unmanned aircraft could be used domestically. The interim policy allowed spy drones to be used for homeland defense purposes in the U.S. and to assist civil authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the policy said that any use of military drones for civil authorities had to be approved by the Secretary of Defense or someone delegated by the secretary. The report found that defense secretaries have never delegated that responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report quoted\u00a0a military law review article that said\u00a0“the appetite to use them (spy drones)\u00a0in the domestic environment to collect airborne imagery continues to grow, as does\u00a0C<\/span>congressional\u00a0and media interest in their deployment.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Military units that operate drones told the inspector general they would like more opportunities to fly them on domestic missions if for no other reason than to give\u00a0pilots more experience to improve their skills,\u00a0the report said. “Multiple units told us that as forces using the UAS capabilities continue to draw down overseas, opportunities for UAS realistic training and use have decreased,” the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A request\u00a0for all cases between 2006 and 2015 in which\u00a0civil authorities asked the military for use of spy drones produced a list\u00a0of “less than twenty events,” \u00a0the report said. The list included\u00a0requests granted and denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The list was not made public in the\u00a0report. But a few examples were cited, including one case in which\u00a0an unnamed mayor asked the Marine Corps to use a drone to find potholes in the mayor’s city. The Marines denied the request because obtaining the defense secretary’s “approval to conduct a UAS mission of this type did not make operational sense.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shortly before the inspector general report was completed a year ago, the Pentagon issued a new\u00a0policy\u00a0governing the use of spy drones. It requires the defense secretary to approve\u00a0all domestic spy drone operations. It says that unless permitted by law and approved by the\u00a0secretary, drones “may not conduct surveillance on U.S. persons.” It also\u00a0bans the use of armed drones over the United States for anything other training and testing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Pentagon has deployed drones to spy over U.S. territory for non-military missions over the past decade, but the flights have been rare and lawful, according to a new report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":54578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[15,88],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2653],"class_list":["post-48124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-your-military"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"CAFAG2XCCVAVTIN5MLTDDV3TGU","arc_canonical_url":"\/2016\/03\/09\/pentagon-admits-it-has-deployed-military-spy-drones-over-the-u-s\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n