The Trump Administration's Eye in the Sky

Small drones are becoming the backbone of the Department of Homeland Security's domestic surveillance state.

Illustration by Riley Levine

The only resources getting smaller at the Department of Homeland Security are their drones, and that should be a big concern. In a December 17 report in WIRED, we learned that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) plans to expand its vast surveillance program by placing smaller, portable drones at the heart of its strategy. When it comes to safeguarding not only our nation, but our civil liberties, size really does matter.

The report relied on a review of federal contracting documents, including market analyses, that reveal a planned shift from CBP’s big, clearly branded and centrally controlled drones, toward light, nimble devices that can be quickly deployed to relay real-time data to boots on the ground agents. It’s that kind of mobility and capability that could easily be deployed well beyond our borders and deep into cities and towns across the country to support not only border enforcement but the myriad missions of all DHS agencies, local law enforcement generally, and, if abused, a more nefarious agenda of domestic spying and a growing surveillance state.

CBP seeks a new fleet of drones that can take-off vertically, fly for hours, be carried by individuals and small teams, and operate under all conditions. Already, CBP owns a fleet of about 500 aerial surveillance systems, but in testimony this month to Congress, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stated that her over-sized agency was “investing upwards of $1.5 billion” in drone technology. Noem’s testimony pointed to a plan for drone use at special events but also through agreements that let DHS “partner with cities and states” on protection they “don’t already have.” DHS also announced plans this month to enable the purchase of as many as 11 MQ-9 unmanned aircraft that can stay airborne for over 27 hours at an altitude of 50,000 feet.

I spent 25 years as an FBI special agent – mostly in national security work. There’s no question that drones are becoming a “must have” for effective law enforcement almost everywhere. Increasingly, in cities and towns around America, a small drone is arriving at the location of an urgent 911 call before dispatched patrol cars can get there. The intelligence that drones relay to responding officers can save lives. Yet, as is often the case, policies governing how, when and where law enforcement should lawfully use drones, and how long and for what purpose surveillance images can be stored, are not keeping pace with rapidly advancing technologies.

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Sadly, policies and laws to help ensure protection of privacy and civil liberties must be drafted with a presumption that abuses will and already may be happening. Perhaps at no time is that more true than under a Trump administration that has ordered its FBI to hunt down left-leaning opposition, fires pepper-spray rounds at clergy praying at protests, and suppresses the media and dissenting opinions.

Congress must act to curtail DHS budget expenditures on small drone platforms and tie approval for any such spending to mandated policy and legislative controls on federal drone use beyond our border areas. Crossing our fingers and hoping for the best when it comes to preserving our freedoms isn’t a plan – it’s a guarantee that the slippery slope to a surveillance state will get more slick with every dollar spent on a DHS drone.

Frank Figliuzzi is an FBI Assistant Director (retired); 25-year veteran Special Agent; author of the national bestseller, The FBI Way, and Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers.

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