Department of Justice Policy Guidance 1
Domestic Use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)

INTRODUCTION

The law enforcement agencies of the Department of Justice ("the Department") work
diligently to protect the American people from national security threats, enforce our nation's
laws, and ensure public safety. In doing so, these agencies use a wide variety of investigative
methods. Some of these methods have been in use for decades; others are relatively new and
rely on technological innovation. In all cases, investigations and other activities must be
conducted consistent with the Constitution and the laws of the United States-and with our
commitment to protecting privacy and civil liberties.
In recent years, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) 2 have emerged as a viable law
enforcement tool. UAS have been used to support kidnapping investigations, search and rescue
operations, drug interdictions, and fugitive investigations. While they are, in many ways, similar
to the manned aircraft that have been in use for many years, they have the potential to provide
law enforcement with additional flexibility and yield life-saving benefits. UAS also have the
potential to be cost-effective in a time of shrinking government resources. For these reasons,
UAS are likely to come into greater use.
As technology advances and enhances our ability to use these new tools, it is important to
continue to assess how we use them. A Departmental working group3 has studied the
Department's use ofUAS over the last several years and has considered how the technology is
likely to evolve in the near future. This policy guidance flows from the working group's
discussions and sets forth principles that will apply Department-wide. This policy also applies to

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This policy guidance is intended only to improve the internal management of the Department of Justice. It is not
intended to and does not create any right, benefit, trust, or responsibility, whether substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or equity by a party against the United States, its departments, agencies, instrumentalities,
entities, officers, employees, or agents, or any person, nor does it create any right of review in an administrative,
judicial or any other proceeding.
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"Unmanned Aircraft System" means an unmanned aircraft (an aircraft that is operated without the possibility of
direct human intervention from within or on the aircraft) and associated elements (including communication links
and components that control the unmanned aircraft) that are required for the pilot or system operator in command to
operate safely and efficiently in the National Airspace System. For purposes of this policy, reference to "UAS"
includes all onboard sensor equipment.
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The Department's working group was led by the Office of Legal Policy and included the Department's Chief
Privacy and Civil Liberties Officer and representatives of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,
the Criminal Division, the Office of Community Oriented Policing, the Civil Rights Division, the Office of the
Deputy Attorney General, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau oflnvestigation, the National
Security Division, the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, the Office of Justice Programs, the Office of
Privacy and Civil Liberties, the United States Marshals Service, and the Office of the Chieflnformation Officer.

 all instances in which Department components use UAS to support Federal agencies and/or State
and Local law enforcement agencies.
This guidance will help ensure that the Department continues to carry out its law
enforcement and national security missions while respecting individuals' privacy, civil rights,
and civil liberties. It will also help ensure an appropriate level of accountability and
transparency. This policy guidance does not replace, and is complementary to, the Federal
Aviation Administration rules and regulations that control each and every UAS deployment and
help ensure the safe operation of all aircraft, including UAS. This policy guidance is also
consistent with the Presidential Memorandum, "Promoting Economic Competitiveness While
Safeguarding Privacy, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties in Domestic Use of Unmanned Aircraft
Systems," issued by President Barack Obama on February 15, 2015.

RESPECT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES
Respect for civil rights and civil liberties is a core tenet of our democracy. In executing
the Department's law enforcement and national security missions, personnel must rigorously
support and defend the Constitution and continue to uphold the laws, regulations and policies
that govern our activities and operations.
As with all investigative methods, UAS must be operated consistent with the U.S.
Constitution. The Fourth Amendment protects individuals from unreasonable searches and
seizures and generally requires law enforcement to seek a warrant in circumstances in which a
person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. Moreover, Department personnel may never use
UAS solely for the purpose of monitoring activities protected by the First Amendment or the
lawful exercise of other rights secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
Department personnel may never use UAS to engage in discrimination that runs counter to the
Department's policies on race, ethnicity, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or
gender identity. Department personnel must also be trained to understand and abide by all
relevant federal legal standards applicable to the use ofUAS, and to seek advice from legal
counsel as necessary.

In addition, UAS may only be used in connection with properly authorized investigations
and activities. Statutory authorities, the Attorney General's Guidelines, and other relevant
agency policies and guidance define the scope of authorized investigations and activities and
require regular supervisory review and approval. UAS must continue to be used within the
context of these existing safeguards.
Further, even within the context of properly authorized activities, personnel often must
choose among different investigative methods that are operationally sound, reasonable, and
effective, but may be more or less intrusive relative to individuals' privacy and civil
liberties. Prior to using UAS, Department personnel must assess the relative intrusiveness of the

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 proposed use ofUAS, and balance it against the particular investigative need. 4 This is both a
logical process and an exercise in judgment, but the overall principle remains: in deciding
whether to use UAS, Department personnel must consider and, if reasonable based on the facts
and circumstances of the investigation, use the least intrusive means to accomplish an
operational need.

PROTECTION OF PRIVACY
The Department operates under a set of rules, policies, and laws that control the
collection, retention, dissemination, and disposition of records that contain personally
identifiable information. For example, the Privacy Act contains provisions on unauthorized use
and disclosure of information about individuals, and imposes civil penalties on agencies and
criminal penalties on agency personnel for violations of applicable requirements. As with
personally identifiable information collected in the course of any investigation, these authorities
apply to information collected via UAS. Consistent with applicable existing laws and
requirements, the Department's use ofUAS shall include the practices identified below.
As noted above, the Department shall only collect, use and disseminate information
obtained.from UAS for an authorized purpose. The Department shall not retain information
collected using UAS that may contain personally identifiable information for more than 180 days
unless retention of the information is determined to be necessary for an authorized purpose or is
maintained in a system of records covered by the Privacy Act.
Data collected by UAS that is retained must be safeguarded in accordance with
applicable Federal laws, Executive Orders, directives, policies, regulations, standards, and
guidance. These authorities ensure that Department personnel with access to such data follow
practices that are consistent with the protection of privacy and civil liberties. Use of all
Department information systems may be monitored, recorded, and subject to audit, and
unauthorized collection, retention, or dissemination of data is prohibited. Further, the
Department has procedures in place to review, investigate, and address privacy and civil liberties
complaints.
Senior Component Officials for Privacy in agencies using UAS must conduct annual
privacy reviews of their agency's use ofUAS to ensure compliance with existing laws,
regulations, and Department policy, and to identify potential privacy risks. They must also,
where appropriate, make recommendations to ensure that U AS. will continue to be used in a
manner consistent with the U.S. Constitution and all applicable laws, regulations, and policies,
including those protecting privacy and civil liberties.

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In assessing the intrusiveness ofUAS and the investigative need, personnel must consider factors such as whether
the subject enjoys a reasonable expectation of privacy relative to the proposed use ofUAS, the scope of the
information sought, the scope of the proposed use ofUAS, the risk of disclosure to the subject, the seriousness of the
crime or national security threat, the strength and significance of the information to be obtained, the efficiency of the
method and alternative means available, the amount of information already known about the
subject, and the operational security needs of the investigation.

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 ACCOUNTABILITY
The Department promotes accountability by requiring its personnel to accept
responsibility for the actions they undertake-and to evaluate the potential consequences of their
decisions. The Department imposes codes of conduct to guide employees in the use of all
investigative methods, including UAS. As with the use of any technology, there must continue
to be mechanisms to hold the Department and its employees accountable.
Part of accountability is ensuring that Department personnel are appropriately trained and
supervised. Department personnel whose responsibility it is to manage, supervise, maintain, fly,
and/or otherwise use UAS must receive training on this policy and the underlying policies
incorporated herein.
Moreover, approval authority for the use ofUAS will be set at an appropriate and
consistent level across the Department. At a minimum, each time UAS are deployed, approval
must be granted (1) at the Assistant Special Agent in Charge-or-equivalent level at the relevant
field office, and (2) by an executive level supervisor within the agency's aviation support unit or
a designated executive level supervisor at the agency's headquarters. Additionally, since the
Department may only operationally deploy UAS in connection with authorized investigations or
activities, supervisors must ensure that the underlying investigations themselves have been
authorized consistent with applicable guidelines and other Department policies.
Finally, federal records must be captured, managed, and retained in a manner consistent
with the Federal Records Act and all other applicable authorities. As with federal records
collected by other investigative tools, components are obligated to retain VAS-collected data in
accordance with applicable records retention schedules.

ONGOING POLICY MANAGEMENT
As UAS technology evolves and improves, it is important that the Department continue
to have adequate information about its use to ensure strategic alignment and proper evaluation of
the Department's policy. To that end, this policy imposes certain new requirements.
Each component that uses UAS must designate a point of contact through which field
offices will report the information outlined below to the component's headquarters and
Department leadership on the use ofUAS on an ongoing basis.
In addition, Department agencies that use UAS must report annually to the Deputy
Attorney General on the use ofUAS. The report should incorporate privacy reviews, as well as
the number ofUAS operational deployments (not including training or research and development
flights) conducted· during the reporting period and a brief description of types or categories of
missions flown along with the number of each type of mission. Additionally, to the extent the
agency sought assistance from, or provided assistance to, another federal, state, local, or tribal
agency during the relevant time period, the number of these operational deployments and a brief

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 description of types or categories of missions flown along with the number of each type of
mission should also be provided.
Components that have not previously disclosed any UAS operations as part of these
annual reporting requirements, or that have discontinued UAS use for the duration of an annual
reporting period, must notify the Deputy Attorney General prior to initiating or re-introducing
UAS operations.
Department leadership will continue to engage in meaningful review of U AS as the
technology advances. To facilitate this review, a standing committee comprised of a broad range
of Department components will meet twice a year to evaluate any policy or regulatory changes
that may be needed as a result of innovations or developments in U AS technology.

TRANSPARENCY
Rigorous adherence to the requirements set forth in this policy is not enough-to be
successful in our law enforcement and national security missions, we must continue to facilitate
relationships of trust with the communities we serve. Enhancing our transparency about agency
operations, including how we operate UAS, creates an informed citizenry and greater confidence
in the Department's decision-making.
Education of the public can enhance the Department's ability to fulfill its missions and
serve the American people.· As appropriate, while not revealing information that might
compromise law enforcement or national security needs, the Department will update its website
to reflect its current policy on UAS on an ongoing basis, and will provide a general summary of
UAS operations conducted by the Department during the previous year, including a brief
description of types or categories of missions flown and the number of times the Department
provided assistance to other federal, state, local and tribal agencies or entities.

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