Midday Roundup: The FBI's covert, aerial, at-home surveillance program

Eye in the sky. An Associated Press investigation has revealed the FBI has been conducting surveillance by way of its own covert air force. The FBI has used at least 13 front companies that operate small aircraft to carry out criminal probes. The planes fly low, counterclockwise patterns, and most only capture video. But some carry advanced surveillance equipment, like cell-site simulators that transmit a signal that captures identity information from thousands of cellphones. AP reporter Jack Gillum, who broke the story, questioned FBI officials, and said they did not add much. “Even officials we spoke with wouldn’t even give the full extent of what these aircraft are capable of doing and of course the technology improves and becomes cheaper and more advanced that imaging technology can over time get more precise and have the ability maybe one day to rewind movements of people on the ground and really do a wide swath of electronic surveillance,” he said. The Justice Department barred government agencies from using unmanned drones, in its words, “solely for the purpose of monitoring activities protected by the First Amendment.” It does not cover the FBI’s use of these piloted planes.

Protecting freedom? The Senate passed the USA Freedom Act with a 67 to 32 vote yesterday. The House already approved the bill, which restricts the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone company data, requiring individual warrants through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance courts. Under the new system, the phone service providers will hold that data—not the government. Before the final vote, senators rejected several amendments by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to strengthen the government’s hand in collecting data. McConnell said the bill as passed limits the intelligence community’s ability to protect Americans. But Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., blamed McConnell for delaying action to reform the NSA until the last minute. “My friend, the majority leader, if he’s concerned, as he should be, about why the country is less secure, especially in the last couple weeks, he should look in the mirror.” The USA Freedom Act now goes to the White House, where the president is expected to sign it without delay. The NSA’s collection of phone data was shut down Sunday night when parts of the Patriot Act expired.

Rescue attempt. Hope for finding survivors is starting to fade in China as dive teams have not managed to pull anyone else alive from the cruise ship that capsized on the Yangtze River yesterday. Only 14 of the 456 people on board have been rescued so far, all of them shortly after the accident. Rescue crews initially said they heard tapping from inside the ship, but the 200 divers working their way through the upturned ship have not been able to locate anyone trapped in air pockets, as they had hoped. Weather officials and another ship captain have corroborated The Eastern Star captain’s claims that a bad storm was responsible for the accident. The vessel was not overloaded and had plenty of life jackets for all the passengers. But it overturned in a matter of minutes, too quickly to give the mostly elderly passengers much warning.

Funding failure? IRS Commissioner John Koskinen took the hot seat at a Senate hearing yesterday. He offered new details about how the tax-collection agency failed to protect more than 100,000 taxpayers from identity theft. At one point in the hearing, the IRS chief seemed to pass the buck to Congress: He cited a 3 percent budget cut imposed earlier in the year. Koskinen said more money for new technology should solve the problem: “We are running an antiquated system with some applications over 50 years old. We don’t even have patches because they are no longer supported.” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., noted $10 billion has been devoted to the IRS budget over the last decade for IT services, and taxpayers should expect a better security return for their investment. The data theft enabled 13,000 fraudulent returns this year, worth about $39 million. Thieves hacked into a system called “Get Transcript,” that allowed taxpayers to upload tax returns and other filings from previous years. The IRS shut down that system and it’s working on unspecified improvements. But Koskinen emphasized the agency’s technology is typically a step behind the hackers.

Go big or go home. Texans will soon be able to openly carry handguns in public and on college campuses. State legislators passed the bills by a large majority after fierce debate, and Gov. Greg Abbott vows to sign them into law. “Texas will be one of eight states that now has campus carry and there have been no problems with those states at all,” said Lars Dalsaide of the National Rifle Association. The law specifies openly carried weapons must be in a holster. Only people over 21 who pass a background check and undergo classroom and range training are eligible. But the Texas Police Chiefs Association worries a provision restricting law enforcement power to question those carrying weapons will endanger the public. Once signed, the law goes into effect Jan. 1.

WORLD Radio’s Mary Reichard, Margaret Tazioli, and Abigail Reese contributed to this report.