The Other Drone Question: Is Obama Building A Federal Police Force?

[Wehrwolfen]

By Tara Servatius
Mar. 18, 2013


Less than two weeks ago, Sen. Rand Paul's demanded to know whether the president believed he had a right to kill an American citizen on American soil with a drone, finally getting an answer that had to be dragged out Attorney General Eric Holder. An equally important, but still unasked question is whether the president intends to build a federal, drone-based "public safety" force to police local communities.

Somebody had better ask the president about this quickly, because it appears that his administration intends to use drones to actively usurp what were once local police and sheriff's department functions.

Put it all together, and it sure looks like Obama is building the backbone for that national police force he wanted the first time he ran for office.

Worse yet, both Democrats and Republicans are now openly discussing a plan to put all the drones flown in America's skies, including those owned and operated by local police departments, under the ultimate supervision of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, consolidating the country's surveillance and law enforcement powers under one powerful federal police jurisdiction.

According to Wired.com, DHS is now experimenting with how its drones can be used in "first responder, law enforcement and border security scenarios."

The DHS's drones could also be used, Nextgov.com reported, "to support emergency and non-emergency incidents nationwide" and to give the department "situational awareness" in public safety matters or disasters, including forest fires. The department also plans to use its drones, and their attached cameras to surveil and police sporting events, political events and large public gatherings.

The problem with DHS's plans is that many of the above functions used to be handled by local law enforcement without any help from the federal government.


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Articles: The Other Drone Question: Is Obama Building A Federal Police Force?

 

[Oddball]

DHS/FEMA...Gestapo...KGB...

An authoritarian goon squad by any other name....

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - the better to spy on terrorists with...

Coming soon to a sky near you: a Pentagon-backed "bat drone"
March 19, 2013 — It's not quite the Batplane. But a new Pentagon-backed autonomous "bat drone" that can use a long claw to pluck objects off of the ground is ready for deployment.

Earlier this week, California drone developer MLB Company announced that it had completed a project, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, to develop a specialized "V-Bat" unmanned aircraft. Kitted out with high-res cameras and laser sensors, the drone is designed to be used for everything from urban surveillance to wildlife monitoring. It can take off vertically and hover steadily, and it can also fly like a normal winged aircraft at heights of up to 15,000 feet for 10 hours at a time.

The V-Bat is able to fly pre-programmed missions using GPS navigation and the DARPA version can search for objects on the ground, which it can pick up with a 6-foot extending claw. Last year, DARPA said in a press release that the V-Bat technology "paves the way for precise long-range delivery of small payloads into difficult-to-reach environments." It is another example of how the U.S. military has invested heavily in developing new drone technology, from stealth unmanned aircraft capable of flying pre-programmed missions to 1.8 billion gigapixel drone cameras.

But the V-Bat isn't only intended for military applications. MLB Co. is selling the drones for about $320,000 each and is marketing them for a host of purposes — like agricultural mapping and border patrol. With the FAA working to open up U.S. airspace to drones by September 2015, it might not be long until you see a V-Bat in American skies.

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