FBI Drones Flew Since 2006, Audit Says
The FBI has been deploying unmanned aircraft for domestic surveillance for seven years, though the agency first acknowledged their use in July, the Justice Department's inspector general reported Thursday.
FBI Director Robert Mueller revealed the program's existence during congressional testimony. The inspector general's first audit of the program reveals that it did not develop specific policies to protect the privacy of U.S. citizens or the integrity of the evidence the drones purport to collect, the audit found.
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Police in Gadsen, Ala., used $150,000 of their $446,165 award to stop methamphetamine trafficking until the program crashed - literally.
"In 2009, it attempted to use the UAS to perform one surveillance mission," the audit states. "However, Gadsden Police Department officials stated that during the mission the ground control station lost communication with the UAS, causing the UAS to collide with a tree. Officials told us that they believe that the rugged topography (hills and valleys) of the mission area led to the communication problem."
The department has since parked its drone in a "secure storage facility," and the program has stalled.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/09/26/61530.htm