FBI spy aircraft tracking terrorism suspects WASHINGTON (AP) =97 The FBI has a fleet of aircraft, some equipped with= night=20 surveillance and eavesdropping equipment, flying America's skies to track=20 and collect intelligence on suspected terrorists and other criminals. The= =20 FBI will not provide exact figures on the planes and helicopters, but more= =20 than 80 are in the skies. There are several planes, known as=20 "Nightstalkers," equipped with infrared devices that allow agents to track= =20 people and vehicles in the dark. Other aircraft are outfitted with electronic surveillance equipment so=20 agents can pursue listening devices placed in cars, in buildings and even=20 along streets, or listen to cell phone calls. Still others fly photography= =20 missions, although officials would not describe precise capabilities. The= =20 FBI, which has made counterterror its top priority since Sept. 11, has=20 sharply increased its use of aircraft. "You want to watch activity, and you want to do it discreetly. You don't=20 want to be sitting around in cars," said Weldon Kennedy, a former FBI=20 deputy director who retired in 1997 after 33 years with the bureau.=20 "Aviation is one way to do that. You don't need to get close to that person= =20 at all." Some critics say the surveillance technology further blurs the=20 boundaries on domestic spying. They point to a 2001 case in which the=20 Supreme Court found police had engaged in an unreasonable search by using=20 thermal imaging equipment to detect heat lamps used to grow marijuana=20 plants indoors (Related story: High court rejects heat detector=20 search). "The cop on the beat now has Superman's X-ray eyes," said Barry=20 Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty program at the American= =20 Civil Liberties Union. "We need to fundamentally rethink what is a=20 reasonable expectation of privacy." All 56 FBI field offices have access to aircraft, piloted by FBI agents who= =20 have other investigative duties as well. Most aircraft are propeller-driven= =20 civilian models, favored for their relatively slow speed and unobtrusive=20 appearance. Legally, no warrants are necessary for the FBI to track cars=20 or people from the air. Law enforcement officials need warrants to search=20 homes or to plant listening devices or monitor cell phone calls =97 and that= =20 includes when the listener is flying in an airplane. A senior FBI=20 official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the FBI does not do=20 flyovers to listen to telephone calls and gather electronic data from=20 random citizens in hopes the data will provide leads. Rather, the planes=20 are used to follow specific individuals, some of whom may already have been= =20 bugged or for whom the FBI has a warrant to listen to cell phone=20 calls. Still, the idea of an FBI air force gives at least some people= pause. The FBI will not disclose where the planes are being used. This month,=20 however, in the college town of Bloomington, Ind., residents spotted a=20 Cessna aircraft flying overhead at roughly the same times every day for=20 more than a week. After first issuing denials, local FBI agents admitted it= =20 was their plane, involved in a terrorism investigation. FBI officials also= =20 were quick to say it was not doing electronic eavesdropping. "There should= =20 be no concern that the aircraft is doing anything other than assisting with= =20 physical surveillance," said FBI agent James Davis. The FBI has been using airplanes since 1938, when an agent in a Stinson=20 monoplane helped stop an extortion attempt that involved a payoff package=20 thrown from a moving passenger train. The first major deployment happened=20 in 1975 during the investigation of the killings of two FBI agents at the=20 sprawling Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The program has=20 been particularly useful in investigations of organized crime and drug=20 trafficking. Mobsters who suspected their homes and telephones were bugged= =20 frequently held meetings in moving cars, not realizing that bugs also were= =20 placed there and were being monitored from the air. Aircraft are now seen= =20 as ideal in the FBI's domestic war on terror. FBI Director Robert Mueller=20 said last year there was a 60% increase in field office requests for=20 airplanes in the year after the Sept. 11 attacks, with almost 90% of air=20 missions now dedicated to surveillance. "You don't have a criminal case. You don't necessarily have a terrorism=20 case. You want to know what they are doing, who their associates are, who=20 they are meeting with," retired agent Kennedy said. "Surveillance is going= =20 to have a pretty big role in that." Congress approved this year a $20=20 million increase in the FBI's aviation budget but denied a request for two= =20 new Black Hawk helicopters. It also ordered the bureau to develop a master= =20 plan for its aviation program. The FBI also can request aviation help from= =20 the Defense Department. That can involve a great deal of bureaucracy and=20 care, however, to ensure the military does not violate laws preventing them= =20 from doing law enforcement work within the United States. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.thehummingbirdonline.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************