Congress Didn't Notice the FBI Creating a 'Small Air Force' for Surveillance

This is part of a broader pattern. Congress is not capable of understanding or controlling what is going on in the rest of the government. They don't have the time or the resources to do more than play whack-a-mole. Many of them lack the personal and political security to attack corruption without losing their seats.

The FBI is quite capable of manufacturing a natural-looking scandal to knock down any Senator who tried to reduce its power. They might be able to do such a thing if they stuck together and presented a unified political front, but they are constantly divided, and strong forces are pushing them into chaos.

Right, but they also interrogated Eric Holder and also Loretta Lynch about the use of not just surveillance, but hellfire, drones over American skies.

The FAA's legislation further opens up the skies for surveillance drones - sets the regulations and permanent airspace for it - though everyone is going to be excited about some silly delivery service.

Wouldn't the National Security Council know about this FBI program? They know about NSA mass surveillance. It's true that Congress is kept mostly in the dark about these programs, but the NSC gets some reasonable level of summary.