This silence on FOIA requests is in line with what the FBI has been instructing local law enforcement to do[1]. Here's the relevant FBI letter:<p><pre><code> In the event that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension receives a
request pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (5 USC 552) or an equivalent
state or local law, the civil or criminal discovery process, or other judicial,
legislative, or administrative process, to disclose information concerning the
Harris Corporation [REDACTED] the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will
immediately notify the FBI of any such request telephonically and in writing in
order to allow sufficient time for the FBI to seek to prevent disclosure through
appropriate channels.
</code></pre>
This is a written policy that FOIA requests should by default be resisted. This combined with the change from a mission of "law enforcement" to "national security"[2] signifies a huge shift in the FBI away from a rule-of-law culture to a rule-of-man culture.<p>[1]: <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/fbi-really-doesnt-want-anyone-to-know-about-stingray-use-by-local-cops/" rel="nofollow">http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/fbi-really-doesnt...</a><p>[2]: <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/fbis-main-mission-now-not.." rel="nofollow">http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/fbis-main-mission-now-not...</a>.
Has anyone ever quantified the dollars spent per criminal captured for these kinds of programs? I mean flying a small plane, using proprietary technology, agents' time... I'm guessing this is in the millions of dollars, but who are we catching with this?
Why are these planes even required? Cant the US government simply get this information directly from the phone carriers? Given all of the power the NSA seems to have, surely they have this capability already.