U.S. used aerial surveillance to watch protests in over 15 cities

GRAND FORKS, N.D.» The Department of Homeland Security deployed helicopters, airplanes and drones over 15 cities where demonstrators gathered to protest the death of George Floyd, logging at least 270 hours of surveillance, far more than previously revealed, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

The department’s dispatching of unmanned aircraft over protests in Minneapolis last month sparked a congressional inquiry and widespread accusations that the federal agency had infringed on the privacy rights of demonstrators.

But that was just one piece of a nationwide operation that deployed resources usually used to patrol the U.S. border for smugglers and illegal crossings. Aircraft filmed demonstrations in Dayton, Ohio; New York City; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Philadelphia, among other cities, sending video footage in real time to control centers managed by Air and Marine Operations, a branch of Customs and Border Protection.

The footage was then fed into a digital network managed by the Homeland Security Department, called “Big Pipe,” which can be accessed by other federal agencies and local police departments for use in future investigations, according to senior officials with air and marine operations.

The revelations come amid a fierce national debate over police tactics and the role that federal law enforcement should play in controlling or monitoring demonstrations. The clearing of demonstrators from Lafayette Park in Washington for a presidential photo op is still under scrutiny. The Air Force inspector general is investigating whether the military improperly used a reconnaissance plane to monitor peaceful protesters in Washington and Minneapolis

this month.

And the National Guard in the District of Columbia has already reached a preliminary conclusion that a lack of clarity in commands led to one of its medical evacuation helicopters swooping low on protesters in the nation’s capital.

Officials at the Customs and Border Protection base here rejected any notion that their fleet of aircraft had been misused, either to violate privacy rights or intimidate protesters.

“The worst part for me is when we’re made out to be storm troopers,” said David Fulcher, the deputy director for air operations at the National Air Security Operations Center in Grand Forks. “We believe in peaceful protests.”

The aircraft, they said, were used to provide an eagle-eyed view of violent acts and arson. The Predator drone deployed to Minneapolis, like eight other unmanned aircraft owned by air and marine operations, was neither armed nor equipped with facial recognition technology and flew at a height that made it impossible to identify individuals or license plates, according to senior officials here.

But House Democrats and privacy advocates still worry over the potential dissemination of the footage and the chilling effect that militarized aircraft could have on peaceful protests.

The agency’s AS350 helicopters conducted more than 168 hours of surveillance of protests in 13 cities, the longest stretch being 58 hours over Detroit, according to data provided by Air and Marine Operations. The agency also deployed a Black Hawk helicopter for nearly 13 hours, assisting other federal agencies with surveillance in Washington, D.C. Kris Grogan, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, said the agency’s Black Hawk was not one of the helicopters that flew low over the demonstrators and caused panic.