Tracking Domestic Terrorists with Spy Planes

October 23, 2015

At a congressional hearing Thursday, FBI Director James Comey addressed the controversial spy planes that flew over Dearborn, Mich., earlier this year.

He re-emphasized earlier statements that the planes are only for watching specific criminals, spies and terrorists.

“We do not use planes for mass surveillance,” he added.

Comey’s testimony came at the beginning of a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing about the FBI. It was one of several questions he fielded over a multi-hour hearing.

The question about the spy planes came from U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit. Conyers noted that the flights caused serious concern in Dearborn when they became public.

“Many citizens feel reason to distrust the FBI because of their religious or ethnic background,” Conyers said when asking about the planes.

The Detroit News reported in August that a single-engine Cessna repeatedly circled Dearborn, where 40% of the residents are of Middle Eastern origin.

In response, then-special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit field office Paul Abbate met with Arab-American leaders, while several Arab-American groups released statements denouncing fly-overs.

The News followed an Associated Press story that revealed several other flights across the country could be traced back to the FBI.

But Comey emphasized the planes were simply another tool to follow suspects when traditional methods, like following people by car or on foot, aren’t possible.

He added: “We have a small number of airplanes. I wish we had more.”

The entire testimony can be viewed here.