FBI Has Been Monitoring American Cities, Including Chicago

By Jim Bochnowski in News on Jun 2, 2015 8:50PM

That plane you saw fly by overhead? It could be the FBI monitoring you.

No, really. According to an Associated Press report, the FBI has been using low-flying planes registered to falsified companies to surveil suspects in at least 30 different cities, including Chicago.

Per the report, these planes are used for "specific, ongoing investigations" across the country. Every plane is capable of taking videos of potential targets and some even have the ability to retrieve cell phone data from targets.

Alarmingly, the FBI's use of surveillance planes is used without a warrant from a judge, although a recent federal policy change has required a judge to sign off on the use of the cell phone technology.

And while a recent Justice Department memo prevented the use of unmanned drones "solely for the purpose of monitoring activities protected by the First Amendment," this policy does not extend to the FBI's use of planes, which were seen hovering over Baltimore during protests following Freddie Gray's death.

The FBI has also gone to great lengths to hide this particular program from public scrutiny. The planes used by the bureau are all registered to fake companies to avoid detection. After the AP discovered this program, the FBI asked the news outlet, specifically, not to unveil the names of the shadow companies to the public because it 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 request.

Despite all this evidence, the FBI contends that this program isn't as nefarious as the media are making it out to be. "The FBI's aviation program is not secret," FBI spokesman Christopher Allen said in a statement. "Specific aircraft and their capabilities are protected for operational security purposes."

The report reveals not only a troubling surveillance policy, but a web of deceptive and peculiar efforts to keep it hidden. From the report:

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.