Domestic Espionage Alert: Spy Drone Discovered

[Are_grits_groceries]

KPRC news in Houston recently filmed a secret experiment by law enforcement agencies including the Dept. of Homeland Security of a drone intended to spy on Americans.

The drone uncovered during this investigation are not like the large, expensive models used by the military for targeted strikes on militants half a world away. These are manufactured by Insitu out of Bingen, Washington (corporate offices located in Australia), only weigh about 40 pounds (18.1 kg) before monitoring equipment is installed. This model has the capacity to stay airborne for up to a day.

The Houston Police Department responded with the following statement, “Potential public safety applications include mobility, evacuations, homeland security, search and rescue, as well as tactical.”

Such benign excuses were also used during the passage of draconian bills such as FISA and the Patriot Act before it was revealed the much more insidious and rampant applications of those tools.

Houston is within the coastal and border zone of America, where two-thirds of the population lives and where constitutional rights are routinely disregarded according to the ACLU, yet this poses the question about whether this is pilot program and the usage of unmanned drones might become a regular policy of law enforcement agencies in surveillance operations.

http://newsjunkiepost.com/2010/01/08/domestic-espionage-alert-spy-drone-discovered/

yeah, I feel much safer.:sarcasm:

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. That ain't nothing!

There is a company in Indiana that is manufacturing surrveillance drones the size of a tennis ball and they are working hard at reducing the size to that of a fly. These drones will be able to fly INTO your house. They are even touted as being able to plant tracking devices on people without being detected. Next time you see a fly buzzing around in your office, it may just be the FBI or the local police having a looksee.

[FirstLight]

2. I don't like it, but I am also not that nervous...

Think about the ineptitude of the govt and police at large...they often can't find their ass from a hole in the ground.


Now, if these drones start packing heat, there could be a big problem.
Ya, how long would the people of our country stay silent about afganistan & pakistan drone missions of similar things started happening is rural kansas?
"oh, we were trying to hit the meth lab down the street, sorry we took out your kid's bday party and killed everyone.."

:scared: :tinfoilhat:

That is SO not funny

[shadowknows69]

3. My whole county. Thanks Fort Drum!

[TexasObserver]

4. I wonder if the police state apologists will try to rationalize this.

Throughout our police structure in America, order is prevailing over law.

[seabeyond]

8. or the full scan apologist, or the nsa apologist, or..... nt

[TexasObserver]

9. or the taser abuse apologists, or ...

[seabeyond]

10. yup yup yup. all for the illusion of being safe

true cowards, in my book

[TexasObserver]

11. True, The coward dies a thousand deaths ...

No one is more frightened than those who obsess about security. In the recent incident, just like in 9-11, intel agencies actively ignored intel and completely failed to act upon it. THAT is the problem, not everything else involving air travel.

If our intel agencies are too busy spying on Americans to do their jobs, maybe we need to clean house at all of them.

[seabeyond]

12. agreed. nt

[Igel]

13. I'll do the deed.

Consider Houston. We have hurricanes. After hurricanes we need spotters, people to go out and survey damage. Look for survivors.

After Ike people had fits because the Northern Command had planes flying and had closed off airspace to produce damage reports, locate survivors, etc., etc. They took control of the airspace for their own purposes and the assumption was that it, like the Northern Command in general, had to be nefarious. To hide the hundreds of dead--the hundreds or thousands of dead that never showed up.

Was the solution to not have the planes flying their missions? Well, no. Others demanded that somebody do the searches. These two groups obviously weren't in the same chapter, much less on the same page.

People were also concerned about crime after Ike. Given that large areas of the city was without power and the police were busy elsewhere, Houston was lucky. I suspect crime declined for that week. It could easily have gone the other way (except that Houstonians are just so danged good-natured, I guess.)

Then there are more routine uses. Monitoring high-crime neighborhoods, looking over areas where a suspect is thought to be hiding, monitoring freeways instead of helicopters. (I bet these things produce a lot less carbon dioxide than choppers do.)

Oddly, I don't consider any of these things to be police-state related. Consider this to be a dual-use tool, if you want. It could be used by a police state, it could be used by a non-police-state city governed by a dem mayor with no aspirations to dictatorhood. Consider also that police states got along just fine before this kind of tech was produced. So this is neither necessary nor sufficient.

[lunatica]

5. And then there's roboroach

[MadHound]

6. My thought is that these would make great target practice.

Better yet, build my own RC plane that is capable of firing a weapon and engage them in a remote dogfight.

[asdjrocky]

7. I feel so safe.