Spy plane was sent to monitor protest in affluent suburb, home to head of California National Guard

In early June, four National Guard spy planes took to the skies over several cities to monitor street protests following the killing of George Floyd, triggering concerns that the military was improperly gathering intelligence on U.S. citizens.

Three of the reconnaissance planes kept watch on demonstrations in Minneapolis, Phoenix and Washington, D.C., that drew hundreds or thousands of protesters and were marred by violence.

But the target of the fourth plane was far more surprising: the affluent Sacramento suburb of El Dorado Hills, the scene of much smaller and entirely peaceful protests.

Local and state authorities have not explained in detail how and why the normally sleepy neighborhood was chosen for the mission when other cities that had recently experienced property destruction and street clashes amid large protests — such as Los Angeles, Oakland and Long Beach — were not.

El Dorado Hills happened to be the home of the head of the California National Guard, Maj. Gen. David S. Baldwin, The Times has learned. In addition to deploying the RC-26B reconnaissance plane, the Guard sent a Lakota helicopter to hover over El Dorado Hills, according to Guard officials and records. The aircraft were requested by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office, state records show.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-18/spy-plane-george-floyd-protests-el-dorado-hills-california-national-guard