It seems that Russia is using a friendly treaty as permission to conduct plane surveillance over the United States, according to CBS News. As signatories of the Open Skies Treaty, which allows transparency in the form of air surveillance for any of the 34 countries that are a part of it, Russia and the U.S. have the ability to conduct air surveillance on one another. Russia is now requesting permission to look at the U.S. with high tech cameras, but U.S. officials say that Russia is not requesting the surveillance in the spirit of the treaty and is trying to spy on the U.S., according to Engadget.
The Open Skies Consultative Commission in Vienna will be contacted by Russia, and it will formally make its request. However, the State Department compliance report indicates that Russia has not been in compliance with the treaty for some time now.
"The treaty has become a critical component of Russia's intelligence collection capability directed at the United States," said Commander of the U.S. Strategic Command Cecil Haney. "In addition to overflying military installations, Russian Open Skies flights can overfly and collect on Department of Defense and national security or national critical infrastructure."
The Obama administration will have to either approve or deny this request as well, which will be particularly stressful considering the U.S. and Russia have been at odds over the Syrian crisis, according to PressTV.
