A new report revealed that the Pentagon has flown spy drones over U.S. territories for non-military missions for close to a decade. Specifically the report states that the Pentagon flew “less than 20 drone missions between 2006 and 2015.”
These facts from the domestic military drone program were revealed after the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) filed a Freedom of Information Act request. The response from the Department of Defense (DoD) Inspector General included a March 20, 2015 report released to FAS earlier this month, which was titled “Evaluation of DoD’s Use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Support to Civil Authorities.”
A model of a military drone. Image source: AFP.
According to the report, there is “no evidence that any DoD entity using UAS's [drones] in support of domestic civil authorities, to date, has violated or is not in compliance with all statutory, policy, or intelligence oversight requirements.” Though there is a policy that “encourages the use of DoD drones to support appropriate domestic mission sets.”
It’s revealed that those mission sets may be broad since they allow for requests for assistance “from civil authorities for domestic emergencies, law enforcement support, and other domestic activities, or from qualifying entitles for special events.” Though it’s not clear what “special events” refers to, the term is broad enough to cover a number of unknown scenarios.
Also included in the report is the DoD’s general policy on domestic drone use, stating, “Armed DoD [drones] may not be used in the United States for other than training, exercises and testing purposes.”
The confirmed presence of military drones in U.S. air space will likely be of concern to those who have previously spoken out about the potential use of force via drone on U.S. soil. And while to many others, military drones are thought of as components in faraway conflicts, there have been indications of domestic use for several years.
Protesters outside of Washington, D.C. Image source: AFP.
Back in 2012, FAS unveiled a government plan to station 110 drone bases in 39 U.S. states, including New York, New Jersey, California, Florida, Texas, and Ohio.
In 2011, the ACLU published a report, “Protecting Privacy From Aerial Surveillance: Recommendations for Government Use of Drone Aircraft,” warning of the arrival of military drones in U.S. skies.
In recent years, international scrutiny regarding drones used to kill people in various countries has increased. In response to that, the United Nations devoted an entire research and recommendation paper in 2015.
Just this month, the Obama Administration announced plans to release figures to the public that will tally fatalities from U.S. drone strikes.
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Source: Mashable
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