C|Net is reporting that the
Department of Homeland Security has put a request into Congress to use UAVs (Unmanned aerial vehicles) for surveillance inside U.S. Airspace.
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.
"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.
UAVs are already used on the Mexican border, which has
raised the concern of local pilots for safety reasons.
But UAVs have been tested for surveillance else where as well:
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.
Given all the recent press on Domestic Spying, this is a huge red flag for me. But of course, the usual suspects are blindly pushing for this on a national scale:
Egging on Congress and the FAA are manufacturers of UAVs, who see a lucrative market in domestic surveillance and aerial photography.
"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."
Corporate interests are once again willing to sell our freedoms in exchange for profits. Is the nation really still afraid enough to let this happen?