Predator drones coming to a riding area near you

[Dogmeat]

http://magazine.localsounds.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Humpback-Whale-Songs.jpg

By Brian Bennett, Washington Bureau

December 10, 2011, 6:12 p.m.
Reporting from Washington—
Armed with a search warrant, Nelson County Sheriff Kelly Janke went looking for six missing cows on the Brossart family farm in the early evening of June 23. Three men brandishing rifles chased him off, he said.

Janke knew the gunmen could be anywhere on the 3,000-acre spread in eastern North Dakota. Fearful of an armed standoff, he called in reinforcements from the state Highway Patrol, a regional SWAT team, a bomb squad, ambulances and deputy sheriffs from three other counties.

He also called in a Predator B drone.

As the unmanned aircraft circled 2 miles overhead the next morning, sophisticated sensors under the nose helped pinpoint the three suspects and showed they were unarmed. Police rushed in and made the first known arrests of U.S. citizens with help from a Predator, the spy drone that has helped revolutionize modern warfare.

But that was just the start. Local police say they have used two unarmed Predators based at Grand Forks Air Force Base to fly at least two dozen surveillance flights since June. The FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration have used Predators for other domestic investigations, officials said.

"We don't use [drones] on every call out," said Bill Macki, head of the police SWAT team in Grand Forks. "If we have something in town like an apartment complex, we don't call them."

The drones belong to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which operates eight Predators on the country's northern and southwestern borders to search for illegal immigrants and smugglers. The previously unreported use of its drones to assist local, state and federal law enforcement has occurred without any public acknowledgment or debate.

Congress first authorized Customs and Border Protection to buy unarmed Predators in 2005. Officials in charge of the fleet cite broad authority to work with police from budget requests to Congress that cite "interior law enforcement support" as part of their mission.

In an interview, Michael C. Kostelnik, a retired Air Force general who heads the office that supervises the drones, said Predators are flown "in many areas around the country, not only for federal operators, but also for state and local law enforcement and emergency responders in times of crisis."

But former Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice), who sat on the House homeland security intelligence subcommittee at the time and served as its chairwoman from 2007 until early this year, said no one ever discussed using Predators to help local police serve warrants or do other basic work.

Using Predators for routine law enforcement without public debate or clear legal authority is a mistake, Harman said.

"There is no question that this could become something that people will regret," said Harman, who resigned from the House in February and now heads the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a Washington think tank.

In 2008 and 2010, Harman helped beat back efforts by Homeland Security officials to use imagery from military satellites to help domestic terrorism investigations. Congress blocked the proposal on grounds it would violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the military from taking a police role on U.S. soil.

Proponents say the high-resolution cameras, heat sensors and sophisticated radar on the border protection drones can help track criminal activity in the United States, just as the CIA uses Predators and other drones to spy on militants in Pakistan, nuclear sites in Iran and other targets around the globe.

For decades, U.S. courts have allowed law enforcement to conduct aerial surveillance without a warrant. They have ruled that what a person does in the open, even behind a backyard fence, can be seen from a passing airplane and is not protected by privacy laws.

Advocates say Predators are simply more effective than other planes. Flying out of earshot and out of sight, a Predator B can watch a target for 20 hours nonstop, far longer than any police helicopter or manned aircraft.

"I am for the use of drones," said Howard Safir, former head of operations for the U.S. Marshals Service and former New York City police commissioner. He said drones could help police in manhunts, hostage situations and other difficult cases.

But privacy advocates say drones help police snoop on citizens in ways that push current law to the breaking point.

"Any time you have a tool like that in the hands of law enforcement that makes it easier to do surveillance, they will do more of it," said Ryan Calo, director for privacy and robotics at the Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society.

Yeah, I already know where this is going.

 

[m8sandman]

big brother is always watching... THEY SUCK!!!

 

[joshkoltes]

dang

i guess im going to have to shut down my meth lab in the back yard, shucks!

 

[tmk50]

I know losing the drones is not funny (national security) - but if you guys get a chance, Google "Beavis and Butthead Drone Episode" for some comic relief.

The drone stuff starts at about 5:30 into the show and it goes on from there.

As for the drones over riding areas - Arctic Cat is ahead of the curve on this one with the all white "wilderness special" sleds for 2012. Now we just need a way to mask the heat given off by our bodies and the sleds and the drones won't be able to see us!

 

[m8sandman]

or a way to shoot them down!!! government spying on its own peeps bites...

 

[PJ-Hunter]

I'm working on a high velocity long range anti-aircraft weapon made from carbon fiber and titanium. It will be able to mount to the tunnel and be stored where the Hi-jacker goes. It won't weigh anymore than the hi-jacker. Recoil will be minimum.

 

[hatchers]

RICK PERRY for PREZ!!!!!

 

[PJ-Hunter]

RICK PERRY for PREZ!!!!!

No.

The NUGE for President.

 

[toddb]

No worries Gentlemen,

Due to Iran bringing down our stealth drone I anticipate this technology to be availible to the consumer market in the next 6-8 mo.

Look for it as a smart phone app (Down a Drone 1.0).

 

[snowmobilesrme]

RICK PERRY for PREZ!!!!!

you want this guy for president??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSJv-2qfDNc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhDhDRvHaGs

 

[tudizzle]

not cost effective....next


dog wouldn't the EMP that your are constantly thinking is going to disable your sled take care of the drones too?

 

[B C]

Sweet, more sheet to shoot at when taking wilderness tours!

 

[WyoBoy1000]

Why do you thing they bought GM and chrysler, anyone ever think of there on board navigation systems that can listen, follow or shut down anytime they want.

Hows that for a conspiracy theory.

 

[hatchers]

i agree wyboy, this is why we must vote for RICK PERRY and fight stupid with stupid

#help #needmorefriendsonmyspace

 

[modsledr]

the paranoid are a constant source of comic relief!! Thanks!!

 

[FCR112]

If my job was to fly one of those things around you can be da mn sure I'd be flying over all the riding areas with some snow depth sensor and a camera to video Dogmeat and all of the other badasses carving up the POW while my sorry *** was at work...

 

[Goin For Snow]

As for the drones over riding areas - Arctic Cat is ahead of the curve on this one with the all white "wilderness special" sleds for 2012.

haha

 

[Dogmeat]

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/02/faa_drones.html

Congress Calls for Accelerated Use of Drones in U.S.
February 3rd, 2012 by Steven Aftergood

Updated below

A House-Senate conference report this week called on the Administration to accelerate the use of civilian unmanned aerial systems (UAS), or “drones,” in U.S. airspace.

The pending authorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration directs the Secretary of Transporation to develop within nine months “a comprehensive plan to safely accelerate the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system.”

“The plan… shall provide for the safe integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system as soon as practicable, but not later than September 30, 2015.”

The conference bill, which still awaits final passage, also calls for establishment of UAS test ranges in cooperation with NASA and the Department of Defense, expanded use of UAS in the Arctic region, development of guidance for the operation of public unmanned aircraft systems, and new safety research to assess the risk of “catastrophic failure of the unmanned aircraft that would endanger other aircraft in the national airspace system.”

The Department of Defense is pursuing its own domestic UAS activities for training purposes and “domestic operations,” according to a 2007 DoD-FAA memorandum of agreement. (“Army Foresees Expanded Use of Drones in U.S. Airspace,” Secrecy News, January 19, 2012.)

Update: In the recently enacted FY2012 National Defense Authorization Act (section 1097), Congress mandated that “the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall establish a program to integrate unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system at six test ranges.” This new test range program is supposed to be established within 180 days.

As of 2010, hundreds of FAA authorizations had already been granted for use of unmanned aerial systems within U.S. airspace.

BANZ THE EEEEW-DOOERZZZ!!!!!

I can already see where this is going.

If president jackass gets re-elected this year, kiss it all goodbye after 2012. There is a good reason the mayans said the world would end this year.

 

[Dogmeat]

http://mobile.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/04/08/peta-plans-to-fly-drones-that-would-stalk-hunters

PETA Plans to Fly Drones That Would 'Stalk Hunters'
By Jason Koebler | April 8, 2013

(Mercado Livre)
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is actively shopping for a drone that would "stalk hunters," the organization said Monday.

[READ:*Drones to Monitor Endangered Animals in Africa]

The group says it will "soon have some impressive new weapons at its disposal to combat those who gun down deer and doves" and that it is "shopping for one or more drone aircraft with which to monitor those who are out in the woods with death on their minds."

The group says it will not weaponize the drones, but will use them to film potentially illegal hunting activity and turn it over to law enforcement.

[PHOTOS:*The Expansion of the Drone]

"The talk is usually about drones being used as killing machines, but PETA drones will be used to save lives," PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk said in a statement.

They are currently considering purchasing the CineStar Octocopter, which is capable of carrying a DSLR camera for up to 5 minutes. With smaller cameras, the drone can fly for about 20 minutes. The group says it also hopes to fly drones over factory farms, fishing spots and "other venues where animals routinely suffer and die."

[READ: Drone Wars in America]

In order to legally operate the drone, it will likely need a certificate of authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration, a process which can take several months.

The group may want to carefully monitor its drone—last year, an animal rights group drone was shot down while it was attempting to monitor pigeon hunters in South Carolina.



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I'll just leave that one there.....