THREAD: The FBI's most advanced spy plane flew over #BlackLivesMatter protests in Washington DC 1/ Here are those flights
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/fbi-surveillance-plane-black-lives-matter-dc
2/ The same plane flew over Baltimore in 2015 after Freddie Gray died from severe injuries sustained in police custody
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/fbi-surveillance-plane-black-lives-matter-dc
3/ In that case Baltimore police requested FBI aerial support. The DC Metropolitan Police Department told me that it did not request the flights above the nation’s capital in early June. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/fbi-surveillance-plane-black-lives-matter-dc
The FBI Used An Advanced Spy Jet To Conduct Surveillance Of Black Lives Matter Protests

The aircraft is normally used to provide surveillance for big federal drug and gang busts — but flew over the Black Lives Matter protests in DC earlier this month, as well as over Baltimore during...

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/fbi-surveillance-plane-black-lives-matter-dc
4/ Normally, this elite spy plane provides eyes in the sky when federal agents arrest drug traffickers or violent gang members, such as these raids in Puerto Rico:
https://www.justice.gov/usao-pr/pr/26-individuals-charged-drug-trafficking-puerto-rico-project-safe-neighborhoods
https://www.justice.gov/usao-pr/pr/104-individuals-indicted-drug-trafficking
https://www.justice.gov/usao-pr/pr/75-individuals-charged-drug-trafficking-puerto-rico-project-safe-neighborhoods
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/fbi-surveillance-plane-black-lives-matter-dc
5/ The plane carries a Wescam MX-20 camera turret for long-range persistent surveillance. It can monitor targets day and night, see through haze, and provide infrared thermal imaging.
Here's the manufacturers promotional video:
6/ FBI statement: "The FBI respects those who are exercising their First Amendment rights, including the right to peacefully protest." https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/fbi-surveillance-plane-black-lives-matter-dc
The FBI Used An Advanced Spy Jet To Conduct Surveillance Of Black Lives Matter Protests

The aircraft is normally used to provide surveillance for big federal drug and gang busts — but flew over the Black Lives Matter protests in DC earlier this month, as well as over Baltimore during...

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/fbi-surveillance-plane-black-lives-matter-dc
7/ But more than 18 hours of video footage from the FBI flights above Baltimore after Freddie Gray's death, obtained through @ACLU #FOIA, showed peaceful marches and people moving around on the streets at night.
https://vault.fbi.gov/protests-in-baltimore-maryland-2015/unedited-versions-of-video-surveillance-footage https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/fbi-video-freddie-gray-protests
Here’s What FBI Spy Planes Saw In Baltimore Above The Freddie Gray Protests

Extended video footage provides an unprecedented window on the activities of the FBI’s surveillance aircraft — and raises concerns about the monitoring of protests protected by the First Amendment.

https://vault.fbi.gov/protests-in-baltimore-maryland-2015/unedited-versions-of-video-surveillance-footage
8/ @ACLU comment:
“[A] number of federal agencies wildly overreacted to protests in DC ... To learn that the FBI deployed its state-of-the art surveillance plane to watch these historic protests raises additional troubling questions.” https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/fbi-surveillance-plane-black-lives-matter-dc
The FBI Used An Advanced Spy Jet To Conduct Surveillance Of Black Lives Matter Protests

The aircraft is normally used to provide surveillance for big federal drug and gang busts — but flew over the Black Lives Matter protests in DC earlier this month, as well as over Baltimore during...

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/fbi-surveillance-plane-black-lives-matter-dc
9/ FBI isn't the only federal agency to deploy planes above recent #BlackLivesMatter protests. Here I was interviewed by @KGWNews about flights by US Marshals over Portland, Oregon https://www.kgw.com/article/news/investigations/mysterious-plane-linked-to-federal-agents-flew-over-protesters-in-portland-st-louis/283-ffc54628-980a-432c-a2c7-f9d7f161ff4d
Mysterious plane linked to federal agents flew over protesters in Portland

A search of publicly available flight records showed the same fixed-wing aircraft plane flew similar patterns over St. Louis one week earlier.

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/investigations/mysterious-plane-linked-to-federal-agents-flew-over-protesters-in-portland-st-louis/283-ffc54628-980a-432c-a2c7-f9d7f161ff4d
10/ My earlier story from the first weekend of protests revealed flights including aircraft from Air National Guard, US Park Police, and the advanced Department of Homeland Security spy plane seen in mauve here circling Miami
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/george-floyd-protests-police-military-planes
You can follow @paldhous.
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