Posted on 03/30/2006 6:38:10 AM PST by af_vet_rr
Unmanned aerial vehicles have soared the skies of Afghanistan and Iraq for years, spotting enemy encampments, protecting military bases, and even launching missile attacks against suspected terrorists.
Now UAVs may be landing in the United States.
A House of Representatives panel on Wednesday heard testimony from police agencies that envision using UAVs for everything from border security to domestic surveillance high above American cities. Private companies also hope to use UAVs for tasks such as aerial photography and pipeline monitoring.
"We need additional technology to supplement manned aircraft surveillance and current ground assets to ensure more effective monitoring of United States territory," Michael Kostelnik, assistant commissioner at Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection Bureau, told the House Transportation subcommittee.
Kostelnik was talking about patrolling U.S. borders and ports from altitudes around 12,000 feet, an automated operation that's currently underway in Arizona. But that's only the beginning of the potential of surveillance from the sky.
In a scene that could have been inspired by the movie "Minority Report," one North Carolina county is using a UAV equipped with low-light and infrared cameras to keep watch on its citizens. The aircraft has been dispatched to monitor gatherings of motorcycle riders at the Gaston County fairgrounds from just a few hundred feet in the air--close enough to identify faces--and many more uses, such as the aerial detection of marijuana fields, are planned.
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"It is quite easy to envision a future in which (UAVs), unaffected by pilot fatigue, provide 24-7 border and port surveillance to protect against terrorist intrusion," said Mike Heintz on behalf of the UNITE Alliance which represents Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. "Other examples are limited only by our imagination."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.com ...
2009: Highway Patrol Predator Drone Issues Thousands of Speeding Tickets Annually.
You will be protected, and you will appreciate it.
Were from the government and were here to help you....
A whole new arena of "spying on your neighbor".
The urge to save humanity is nearly always a cover for the urge to rule. - H.L. Mencken
Ooh, wait! Yet another chance to trot out this old line: "If you're not doing anything wrong, then you don't have anything to worry about."
Ah, there, it's been said.
This country just keeps getting scarier and scarier...I'm glad I'm not 40yr younger.
I'm sure that if you happened to have a target range setup where you liked to exercise your Second Amendment rights, that would get you a little note in a file somewhere.
I've heard that the US Border Patrol wants to buy a fleet of Predator drones (without the armed capability, of course!) to monitor the entire US-Mexican border. At the cruising altitude of 10,000 feet those things are pretty quiet and very difficult to see.
So who's going to patent the first DIY Surface to Air Missile kit?
This may seem innocent enough; however, when you think of the bullying and abuse inflicted upon average, law abiding citizens by draconian "environmental protection" laws and the bullies and morons who direct and enforce them, it becomes frightening and antithetical to freedom, the pursuit of happiness, and everything the United States stands for, and it renders the American people highly vulnerable to oppression, injustice, and abuse.
I have no doubt the border patrol will buy them, but an issue will be discovered which prevents their use on the Mexican - US border.
They'll just keep repeating...'remember 9/11'...
Border patrol is a great use. Just flying around watching the citizens and making them feel like subjects...used to be you were innocent until proven guilty, now I guess we can all eventually become suspects.
Bill (clinton) and Barbra (baby babs) had better be carefull now....with that thing soaring above us, no telling what it will see......hahahahahaha
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