Posted on 12/06/2012 7:58:07 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Military drones used to track terrorists or insurgents in Afghanistan have also been flying across the U.S. homeland. Newly released documents show U.S. drone flights by the Air Force, Marine Corps and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for the first time.
The Air Force has tested drones in U.S. skies ranging from hand-launched Ravens to the larger Reaper drones responsible for targeting and killing people overseas — all recorded through the Federal Aviation Administration licenses required to fly in national airspace. That information became public through a Freedom of Information Act request from the nonprofit digital rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
"The FAA recently announced it wants to slow down drone integration into U.S. skies due to privacy concerns," the EFF said. "We are hopeful this indicates the agency is finally changing its views."
But the advocacy organization noted that the FAA documents don't show any oversight of how drone flights could affect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans.
The advocates run a U.S. drone census that aims to track drone flights made in the homeland by the U.S. military, law enforcement agencies, local police departments and universities. Part of that effort has involved requesting the FAA to release documents showing what agencies and organizations applied for licenses to fly drones in U.S. national airspace.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
So much for the Posse Comitatus Act...
Well, of course they’re flying here in the U.S.! How else are the UAV pilots going to learn how to fly them?
Point taken, though. Border Patrol has been using UAV surveillance since well before 9/11.
***But the advocacy organization noted that the FAA documents don’t show any oversight of how drone flights could affect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans.***
How convenient for Big Sis.
It's only a matter of time. I've seen articles saying that local police departments can't afford the airplanes to patrol speeders, and the same day other articles on how drones are a cheaper way for police offices to perform non-crime enforcement duties or surveillance. Combining the two is a no brainer and honestly nobody would do anything about it except say "well don't speed and it's not a problem".
New and improved ‘knock and announce’ tool.
Add this to indefinite holding of American citizens without trial, hearing, or legal representation...
But Bush wanted to listen to al-Qaeda phone calls! Remember how Pravda USA went on and on about that? But this is fine and dandy with them.
I saw a video last year, (can’t remember what site it was at), of some guys building their own drone type jobs but they had firearms mounted on ‘em and were flying around shooting up a storm! The video also demonstrated them firing from a hover! Now that is getting scary if just some advanced RC hobby guys can build ‘drones’ that can zoom around and take out somebody on the ground with gunfire from above. I don’t remember what sort of range they had/have as I don’t know anything about the RC hobby. Anybody involved with the RC hobby that might know anything about these homemade ‘drones’ I saw?
Several years ago, I had a very peculiar argument with a noob here on FR. There was a blurry photo posted to the thread, people were speculating what sort of aircraft it was, it was a photo shot during the 2008 inauguration if I’m not mistaken.
The profile of it when enlarged clearly had the distinctive, bulbous leading edge on the fuselage of a well-known military drone, the appearance of which has been published numerous times, it was obvious despite the blurring. I said so and was immediately attacked, wild accusations, denials, personal atttacks. Not possible, illegal, can’t be, not flown over CONUS said the caustic noob.
He was lying, it seemed then and it particularly seems now.
I am more concerned about Islamist drones in our skies!
Deranged fellow-citizens will soon realize that inexpensive mini-drones cans be used offensively in a number of ways ranging from spying to physically attacking other people and vulnerable targets.
The public and public safety officials need to distinguish friendly drones (drones defending public and national security) from enemy drones (foreign and domestic)!
The public needs to be educated to report suspicious drone activity to authorities, especially near airports.
(see my tag line)
DHS is spending way more money operating drones to do a mission than they would with a manned aircraft and you are stuck at altitudes and on designated tracks allowed by the FAA. The same sensors could be flown for a fraction of the cost on manned aircraft. The only thing a drone gives you is time on station, but one could argue with the number of people required for a drone you could man three Caravans for the same amount of time and fly them anywhere you wanted to. With current fixed wing safety records at DHS they wouldn't have lost or damaged the platforms compared to the loss of several Predators.
The problem with small drones is the hazard of dumping one into a neighborhood. A local department that buys a small drone will always be one mishap away from being shut down and sued.
Won’t be long, and the One will be ordering these things to take out the “infidels” within our borders.
Yet another Disruptor, it’s becoming an art-form now to spot those people. At least here on Free-Republic you can see a poster’s history and determine if they have an agenda. It’s also very interesting how many of them have sign-on dates going back for years but have a limited their posts to election years.
Was it this guy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNPJMk2fgJU
If so, it was shown to be made with CGI effects.
www.geekosystem.com/fake-cod-quadrotor/
http://www.sync-blog.com/sync/2012/04/quadrotor-machine-gun-drone.html
No it was not this guy. (Thanks for the video tho, it was interesting!). The vid I saw had an AR15, I believe, mounted on it and it was not a quad rotor design. I will see if I can find it and I will send you the link.
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