Covert Program: FBI Spying on You from the Sky?

The FBI has been secretly spying on Americans from the skies.

A recent 30-day period reveals that the agency flew above more than 30 cities in 11 states, recording video and listening in on the cell phone conversations of Americans.

An Associated Press investigation unveiled this covert program.

"People for years, going back more than a decade, have been concerned when they see these low-flying airplanes cycling above their house, so much so that some people even called 911 and asked the police 'who is this person circling above?'" AP investigative reporter Jack Gillum said.

One plane was spotted at an airport in northern Virginia and over the skies in Baltimore.

"The key thing on that aircraft is that if you look on the left-hand side there's like a white basketball-looking object, and what that is a camera," Gillam said.

All those surveillance efforts are disguised, hidden behind fictitious companies that act as fronts for the government.

U.S. law enforcement officials have confirmed the wide-scale use of planes traced to at least three fake companies.

The FBI says their activities are related to ongoing investigations, but judges are not involved in approving these surveillance flights.

"When the government is collecting information on people, searching what's going on in people's private lives, they need to have a warrant," Brad Jacob with Regent University School of Law told CBN News. "That's the heart of our traditional protection is that a judge has to look at what they've got and say yes, there's enough here to search."

*Professor Brad Jacob shares more about the legal implications of the FBI surveillance program and its impact on civil liberties below.

In a statement, the intelligence agency says, "The aircraft are not equipped, designed or used for bulk collection activities or mass surveillance. The FBI uses all tools and equipment and conducts all investigations in accordance with the attorney general guidelines.

But Jacob still finds the program to be problematic.

"The biggest concern here, I think, is these flights are not only going overhead and looking down, but they're using quite a bit of hi-tech equipment while they're flying over to find out what's going on," Jacob explained.

"They have technology that simulates being a cell tower so they can find out whose cell phones are underneath and track the movement of people and that one is very problematic from a constitutional perspective," he said.

Until now, the public was unaware of the spy program.

"This is all coming at a time when the government, particularly President Obama, has said he encourages a debate on surveillance and privacy," Gillum said.

Meanwhile, aerial surveillance represents a changing landscape for law enforcement -- something the government maintains is an important tool in criminal, terrorism, and intelligence cases.