WASHINGTON — A Pentagon reports concludes that the use of National Guard reconnaissance planes in four U.S. cities to monitor the widespread protests earlier this year didn’t violate rules against the military collecting intelligence on Americans.
The investigation by the Air Force inspector general found that the planes were used to gather information about crowd size, crowd flows and fires but they did not monitor individuals.
The probe was ordered by Defense Secretary Mark Esper in response to questions about whether the military illegally conducted surveillance of American citizens during the unrest after the death of George Floyd.
