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CNN: US government spy planes monitored George Floyd protests
CNN
By Pete Muntean and Gregory Wallace
Updated 12:59 PM ET, Thu June 11, 2020
Washington (CNN)A small Cessna Citation jet flying straight into Washington's highly restricted airspace would typically be met with fighter jets on its wing. But when one flew over the nation's capital on June 1 and circled the White House 20 times, it was hardly an accident.
The plane was only one of several aircraft -- both piloted and unpiloted -- that CNN has been able to track flying over protests in Washington, Minneapolis and Las Vegas. Government watchdogs fear the planes were used to track protesters and perhaps capture cell phone data.
The government's use of surveillance planes to watch over those protesting the police killing of George Floyd has captured the attention of nearly three dozen Democrats in Congress who want to know whether the planes -- typically equipped with live video cameras and heat sensors -- were used for "surveilling of Americans engaged in peaceful protests."
In a June 9 letter to the heads of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Customs and Border Protection and the National Guard, lawmakers demanded an end to the practice "immediately and permanently" and called the use of aircraft above protests a "deep and profound" breach of Americans' First and Fourth Amendment rights.
The letter points to a trio of government aircraft flown over protest cities. CNN has independently verified that the flights took place, using publicly available flight path data from websites such as ADS-B Exchange. The site is known as "the world's largest source of unfiltered flight data."
The plane was only one of several aircraft -- both piloted and unpiloted -- that CNN has been able to track flying over protests in Washington, Minneapolis and Las Vegas. Government watchdogs fear the planes were used to track protesters and perhaps capture cell phone data.
The government's use of surveillance planes to watch over those protesting the police killing of George Floyd has captured the attention of nearly three dozen Democrats in Congress who want to know whether the planes -- typically equipped with live video cameras and heat sensors -- were used for "surveilling of Americans engaged in peaceful protests."
In a June 9 letter to the heads of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Customs and Border Protection and the National Guard, lawmakers demanded an end to the practice "immediately and permanently" and called the use of aircraft above protests a "deep and profound" breach of Americans' First and Fourth Amendment rights.
The letter points to a trio of government aircraft flown over protest cities. CNN has independently verified that the flights took place, using publicly available flight path data from websites such as ADS-B Exchange. The site is known as "the world's largest source of unfiltered flight data."
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/11/politics/spy-planes-george-floyd-protests/index.html
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