Report: Pentagon launching drug surveillance balloons over South Dakota, Midwest

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

Source: Sioux Falls ArgusLeader (Gannett)

"Unmanned surveillance balloons are being launched from South Dakota to conduct surveillance over the Midwest, prompting concerns that it could violate South Dakotans' privacy.

The balloons were launched to provide "a persistent surveillance system" for narcotic trafficking and homeland security threats, according to a filing with the Federal Communications Commission. The balloons were launched from Baltic, about 20 miles north of Sioux Falls, and will travel up to a maximum altitude of 65,000 feet off the ground in a radius of 250 miles, according to the filing. The FCC authorized the corporation's temporary balloons on July 12 and the authorization will expire on Sept. 1."







Read more: https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2019/08/02/pentagon-launching-drug-surveillance-balloons-over-south-dakota-guardian/1901158001/

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Another step towards a police state. Raven Industries, which makes military observation balloons and agricultural products and electronics, released them just north of Sioux Falls. This sure stinks to me.

[Me.]

1. Not Just Privacy

But when did the Pentagon become involved in policing?

[riversedge]

2. Trump can used his fake National Security to do what he wants. and he is doing

what he wants. Then he gets sued, then the courts decide.

[Nay]

3. You'd think that Posse Comitatus would apply, but I just looked it up and, guess what?

According to Wikipedia, one of the exceptions is:

"Provide surveillance, intelligence gathering, observation, and equipment for domestic law enforcement on operations such as drug interdiction and counter-terrorism missions."

Isn't that conveeeeenient???

Of course, the balloons will catch everybody -- in their search for one drug runner's car.

[riversedge]

4. The @ACLU has raised privacy concerns but does not say that

they have taken any action.


.............The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota raised concerns that the balloons' surveillance could violate South Dakotans' privacy, and called on the military to be clear about it's actions in South Dakota.

The technology is capable of recording and storing all public movement over entire cities or metro areas and that level of mass surveillance destroys any level of anonymity South Dakotans have, according to Libby Skarin, policy director for the ACLU of South Dakota.

"There are so many unanswered questions here. What kind of information is being collected? What information is being stored? Who has access to this information? Is the surveillance for law enforcement purposes?" Skarin said. "At a minimum, there should be consultation and approval from local communities before the federal government subjects South Dakotans to area-wide surveillance."

The technology was developed for the battlefield for activities such as finding improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan and it's migrated to civilian use without any oversight, according to Libby Skarin, policy director of the ACLU of South Dakota.

"Technology like this runs the risk of turning South Dakota into a surveillance stat and is violating the privacy of every South Dakotan. We're not talking about closed-circuit TV cameras or camera in discrete places," Skarin said. "This is area-wide surveillance that essentially creates a pervasive checkpoint over entire cities and metro area."

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of privacy three times in the last seven years when it comes to advances in technology. In the most recent case in 2018, the Court ruled that the government violates the Fourth Amendment by accessing without a search warrant historical records containing the physical locations of cell phones. The Court said that there's a distinction between being observable where law enforcement can follow a person and being observable in the day of technological advances where a camera can follow an entire area.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

5. My gut feeling is they are trying to destroy those three precedents...

... just another step in controlling the populace. Big Brother is everywhere.

[TeamPooka]

6. The Pentagon, our military, it's not supposed to be a police force

[LudwigPastorius]

7. ARGUS-IS

I would be surprised if wide area persistent surveillance isn't being conducted over most major cities these days.

Big Brother and his LEO little buddies are watching.

[Wellstone ruled]

8. Well,that way they can protect the

Governor's Family Farm twenty miles up the road from all those Brown Skinned Folks working at the Cheese Plant ten miles away.

[ToxMarz]

9. Considering the somewhat remote relatively innocuous location

I think this may be predominantly a testing/develpoment deployment they hoped would attract little attention. Of course that does not negate all of the concerns and inappropriatness.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

18. Yep...

... like the anti protester laws enacted in North Dakota and South Dakota.

[old guy]

10. No.

A thousand times no.

[pecosbob]

11. If they are releasing in the area of Pine Ridge, it ain't about drugs or crime...

it's about monitoring the community's leaders and activists. Don't piss on me and tell me it's raining.

[paleotn]

12. Why not TX? NM? AZ? CA?

Strange. The northern tier isn't known as a hot bed of smuggling. Some, but not like the southwest.

[cntrfthrs]

29. cramer from ND and thune from SD are trumps chief ass-kissers...

[Yeehah]

13. The "war" on some drugs continues to destroy our liberties

Maybe the government can install cameras in our homes to make sure we're not DOING DRUGS!11!11!

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. I'm sure Alexa and Gogle assistant are helping in that regard

Both programs collect anything that is uttered, while on, and there is no realistic way to get it erased.
I have a Fire tablet, and keep having to remind myself to turn it off when not using it.
More than once, alexa pops on in response to something we have said that is not directed at the tablet.

[trev]

26. I don't have Alexa.

but have had similar experiences at homes of people who do. The thing is always listening. Add a viewing screen to it, and we have 1984 Telescreens.

[onethatcares]

14. this one slipped off the radar

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-22/army-lets-slip-that-it-s-conducting-secret-operation-around-d-c

one nation,
under surveillance
with nothing for
you and me.

[40RatRod]

15. I think most Dakotan's have deer rifles...

and will take a little target practice.

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. Don't think a deer rifle can hit anything 65,000 feet up.

May have to lure the target in closer. A placard with DRUGS in big letters might work.

[duforsure]

16. He'll use this and other tactics

To go after opposition, minorities claiming they're criminals.this is to target people with who won't bow down and kiss his feet.

[Maxheader]

17. I propose everyone salute this effort to keep us safe...

[MuseRider]

24. I do that a lot.

Both places I have lived in since the late 80's are in the flight path of our airport. It is not terribly busy but it is in the state capital. Brownback got this treatment frequently when his plane flew over. Bush** did as well and a nice big sign on the roof of my barn. When Trump came in they flew over my house, they are pretty low when they come over me, and I went out every time that plane flew over, Trump in it or not, you can't be too careful. I am close enough that Security can be seen creeping around from my farm. Lately my fingers are in use when my asshole, gun totin' neighbor flies his drone. Gods I am sick of that damned thing.

It gets you out of the house and you are doing a good thing, being a true American. Show them what you think.

[Grins]

19. "..it could violate South Dakotans' privacy."

“...concerns that it could violate South Dakotans' privacy.”

Both of them?

[Igel]

20. Here's the actual source of information

as reported by the Guardian, and echoed by the Argus Leader.

https://apps.fcc.gov/els/GetAtt.html?id=233815&x=.

Title, in case it's overlooked: FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION United States of America EXPERIMENTAL SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORIZATION

Purpose Of Operation:
Conduct high altitude MESH networking tests over South Dakota to provide a persistent
surveillance system to locate and deter narcotic trafficking and homeland security threats.

Seems to me that one of the key words here is "tests." That seems to go with "experimental" from the title.

Another part that seems important, to me at least, is that it's SouthCom, whose jurisdiction is *not* South Dakota (however tempting to think that the "South" in "South Dakota" is somehow connected) but Central America, the Caribbean, and South America (minus US territories).

Now, it's precisely in those areas that there's a lot of drug interdiction. And I could see how something like the experimental MESH network could prove useful, whether over water or land.

[BadGimp]

21. Clearly part of Obama's Global Surveillance programs...

Try to imagine if Obama did this!

[CrispyQ]

25. Privacy is dead.

[dameatball]

27. Balloons have been used for years to monitor drug trafficking in Florida and the Caribbean.

Some also broadcast to Cuba, so they say. I don't know if there are nefarious other purposes, but this is nothing new, except for the locations.

[trev]

28. The government does stuff like this

whenever it gets the technology to do it. Remember CALEA?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Assistance_for_Law_Enforcement_Act

The original law allowed police agencies to expand their wiretapping authority to up to 10,000 telephone lines at a time, per switching station. It was a huge step towards surveillance of everyday citizens.