In 2015, NBC News reported that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms spent $600,000 on six drones, “then never flew them because of technical problems with flight time, maneuverability and more.” Has ATF figured them out yet? AP reported that the DEA was using drones domestically, too. That brings us to 2016. On Wednesday, USA Today reported that the Pentagon “has deployed drones to spy over U.S. territory for non-military missions over the past decade,” citing a report by a Pentagon inspector general who declared that the flights are “rare and lawful.” That’s the narrative that officials speaking on behalf of the federal government keep conveying––that the instances of aerial surveillance over U.S. soil are safe, legal, and rare. But it isn’t so. There are too many federal, state, and local agencies with too many surveillance aircraft to pretend any longer that aerial spying is rare. There is too little oversight to presume all these government entities are acting legally. As for safety, Americans know neither what sort of aerial-surveillance data has been archived nor how secure it is. And security researcher Nils Rodday learned that he could successfully hack into professional drones and take over their operations on a $40 budget. The ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation are trying to draw attention to these issues; the Department of Justice has issued its own guidelines on domestic drone use. But there’s still not much public discussion, debate, or oversight of domestic drone surveillance. My sense of public opinion is that Americans don’t particularly want to be spied on from above. By keeping various aerial-surveillance programs hidden or very quiet, the government will continue to achieve a rapid fait accompli unless it is stopped. We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com. is a California-based staff writer at where he focuses on politics and national affairs. He is the founding editor of , a newsletter devoted to exceptional nonfiction.
Despite government assurances that drone surveillance over US territory for non-military missions are safe, legal and rare, there has been a rapid rise in how many federal, state and local agencies own, or have access to, fleets of drones. However, with little oversight or transparency, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are calling for more public discussion and policy change to address the rise of domestic drone surveillance.