The FBI Flies Secret Surveillance Planes Under Fake Company Names

The FBI is using fake front companies to fly very real surveillance planes over at least 30 cities across 11 states, the Associated Press reports. The nature of the aircraft and the specific investigations are a tightly held secret by the Justice Department, but according to the report, many of the investigations take place without a warrant.

The AP mentioned 13 fictive companies under whose names the FBI flies, including FVX Research, KQM Aviation, NBR Aviation and PXW Services. The companies are registered under the possibly pseudonymous name Robert Lindley, but sometimes use the name Robert Taylor. There are at least 115 planes in the fleet, including 90 made by Cessna.

The planes at times used technologies that spoof cell phone towers, gathering subscriber information in bulk collections. More frequently, they conducted video and photographic surveillance during low-speed, low-altitude flights over events such as the recent riots in Baltimore.

Source: Associated Press