The controversy about the precise size and reach of surveillance designed to keep America safe and whether it intrudes on civil liberties is likely to increase with FBI Director Robert Mueller’s admission that, yes, drones have been used within the United States:

The FBI uses drones for domestic surveillance purposes, the head of the agency told Congress early Wednesday.

Robert Mueller, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, confirmed to lawmakers that the FBI owns several unmanned aerial vehicles, but has not adopted any strict policies or guidelines yet to govern the use of the controversial aircraft.
“Does the FBI use drones for surveillance on US soil?” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked Mr Mueller during an oversight hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Yes,” Mueller responded bluntly, adding that the FBI’s operation of drones is “very seldom.”

Asked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) to elaborate, Mueller added, “It’s very seldom used and generally used in a particular incident where you need the capability.” Earlier in the morning, however, Mueller said that the agency was only now working to establish set rules for the drone program.

Mueller’s assurances might work for Republican and Democratic establishment types in Congress, but his admission will likely provide “Big Mo” for liberty wings of both the Democratic and Republican parties. They will perceive this as a revelation confirming their worst fears about Big Brother being in place, just waiting to be called in one day by some future administration (of the opposing party, of course). The fact that these policies are clearly the outgrowth of trends that expanded under administrations of both parties will matter likely little to partisans in each party who will use it to say “I told you so.”

Some blog reaction:
—The Lonely Conservative:

FBI Director Robert Mueller testified that the federal government does, on occasion, use drones for domestic surveillance. But don’t worry, he said they don’t do it very often. I’m sure that makes you feel much better….Oh nice, they’ve been using the drones, but haven’t yet developed privacy guidelines. Shouldn’t they have done that first?

—Firedoglake:

Remember it’s not a police state because Washington elite hacks say it isn’t. We now have learned that not only is the government spying on American citizens’ phone calls, emails, and social media accounts, but that surveillance drones are also in use.

–Balloon Juice:

And, as predicted, the domestic escalation continues…That’s the same FBI who have managed hundreds of justified shootings without so much as one mistake in judgment. ..But hey, if you haven’t done anything wrong you don’t have anything to worry about, amirite?

JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.

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