FBI claims need no warrant for drone surveillance in US airspace

The FBI has clarified to Congressmen that the agency does not need to get a warrant to conduct drone surveillance on U.S. soil.

The Washington Times reports that Stephen D. Kelly, assistant director for the FBI's congressional liaison office, has written a follow-up letter to Senator Rand Paul saying that FBI is not violating any guidelines by conducting drone surveillance in United States.

According to Kelly, the top federal law enforcement agency's policies has ruled that as long as the areas observed were in public view and no law enforcement officer was trespassing, no privacy rights were violated.

Earlier, Kelly had written a letter to Paul claiming that the agency had used drones in 10 instances, including twice for national security and eight times for criminal cases.

Meanwhile, Paul had been holding up the nomination of James B. Comey Jr. to become the new FBI director so as to force the administration to divulge more information on the FBI's drone surveillance, the report added.