Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on March 2, 2013
Pres. Obama?s Homeland Security has a dubious track record. When DHS isn?t targeting military veterans and conservatives as ?potential terrorists,? or wasting millions of taxpayers? dollars on a ?Project Shield? camera surveillance system that failed because it was not built to withstand Chicago?s harsh weather, as well as on underwater robots and 13 expensive sno-cone machines, it?s creating Orwellian drones that can detect, from high in the sky, people below who are carrying guns. These drones can also intercept the mobile phone communications of citizens.
Shredding the Constitution. Again. Expanding government power. Again. And will Team Obama find a weaselly way to pin this on George W. Bush?
Orwellian ?Big Brother?: Obama?s DHS has created Predator B drones that can identify if a citizen is armed and intercept mobile phone communications
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Author George Orwell was right. However, his futuristic novel?s predicted date of ?1984? was off by a few decades ? reported by CNET News, DHS built domestic surveillance tech into Predator drones:
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has customized its Predator drones, originally built for overseas military operations, to carry out at-home surveillance tasks that have civil libertarians worried: identifying civilians carrying guns and tracking their cell phones, government documents show.
The documents provide more details about the surveillance capabilities of the department?s unmanned?Predator B drones, which are primarily used to patrol the United States? northern and southern borders but have been pressed into service on behalf of a growing number of law enforcement agencies including the FBI, the Secret Service, the Texas Rangers, and local police.
Homeland Security?s specifications for its drones, built by San Diego-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, say they ?shall be capable of identifying a standing human being at night as likely armed or not,? meaning carrying a shotgun or rifle. They also specify ?signals interception? technology that can capture communications in the frequency ranges used by mobile phones, and ?direction finding? technology that can identify the locations of mobile devices or two-way radios.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center obtained a partially redacted copy of Homeland Security?s requirements for its drone fleet through the Freedom of Information Act and published it this week. CNET unearthed an unredacted copy of the requirements that provides additional information about the aircraft?s surveillance capabilities.
Homeland Security?s Predator B drone can stay aloft conducting surveillance for 20 hours.
Concern about domestic use of drones is growing, with federal legislation introduced last month that would establish legal safeguards, in addition to parallel efforts?underway from state and local lawmakers. The Federal Aviation Administration recently said that it will ?address privacy-related data collection? by drones.
The prospect of identifying armed Americans concerns Second Amendment advocates, who say that technology billed as securing the United States? land and maritime borders should not be used domestically. Michael Kostelnik, the Homeland Security official who created the program, told Congress that the drone fleet would be available to ?respond to emergency missions across the country,? and a Predator drone was dispatched to the tiny town of Lakota, N.D., to aid local police in a dispute that began with reimbursement for feeding six cows. The defendant, arrested with the help of Predator surveillance,?lost a preliminary bid to dismiss the charges.
?I am very concerned that this technology will be used against law-abiding American firearms owners,? says Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation. ?This could violate Fourth Amendment rights as well as Second Amendment rights.?
Homeland Security?s Customs and Border Protection agency declined to answer questions about whether direction-finding technology is currently in use on its drone fleet.
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If the Predator drones were used only to identify smugglers or illegal immigrants crossing the Mexican and Canadian borders, or for disaster relief, they might not be especially controversial. But their use domestically by other government agencies has become routine enough ? and expensive enough ? that Homeland Security?s inspector general said (PDF) last year that CBP needs to sign agreements ?for reimbursement of expenses incurred fulfilling mission requests.?
?The documents clearly evidence that the Department of Homeland Security is developing drones with signals interception technology and the capability to identify people on the ground,? says Ginger McCall, director of the Open Government Project at the Electronic Privacy Information Center. ?This allows for invasive surveillance, including potential communications surveillance, that could run afoul of federal privacy laws.?
A Homeland Security official, who did not want to be identified by name, said the drones are able to identify whether movement on the ground comes from a human or an animal, but that they do not perform facial recognition.
Looks like Code Pink is finally taking some anti-drone action ? they scheduled a protest outside California Democrat Sen. Dianne ?Take All the Guns!? Feinstein?s home. This rally cry is posted at the OccupySF forum:
Code Pink is in action AT DIANE FEINSTEIN?S house tomorrow to demand that she not go ahead with confirmation of John Brennan as Secretary of Defense until she obtains the DOJ drone memos that reveal his involvement with U.S. drone murder policy. We are telling her that, as her constituents, we are WATCHING her and demanding that she insist on getting the memos or NO CONFIRMATION. We believe that Feinstein is in the Bay Area, and that she will know we?re out there. We?ll have banners, signs, drums, flutes, good energy, videographers and photographers, and hopefully the news media.
Flutes.
Oh, yeah, that?ll work.
CNN posted an emotional story in 2011, with a shocking photo, of a little girl who was severely burned in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in 2009 when she was a baby. The photo is not for the faint of heart.
From the Twitterverse:
Obama?s old stomping grounds of Illinois isn?t pleased ? Illinois: Act Now to Nullify Drone Spying:
Illinois SB1587, Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act, is up for a hearing and possible vote in the State Senate Committee on Criminal Law. Your help is needed right now to move this bill forward!
The hearing is on March 6th, 2013 at 9am. Help nullify drone spying in Illinois by contacting the committee and telling them to vote in favor for SB1587. Attend the hearing as well. The link to the bill can be found here.
Satire Supremo: SooperMexican and Matt Dawson have produced a handy video guide for avoiding Obama?s drones:
Don?t be afraid of Obama?s Unconstitutional Drone Strike program!!! Just listen to this guide from the White House on how to avoid becoming a victim!!
One of the tips offered to not become an Obama drone target: ?Avoid racist code words, like ?budget? or ?fiscal responsibility.??
Another: ?Are you a concerned blogger? Maybe you shouldn?t be.?
White House Guide to Surviving Obama Drone Strikes
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Political analyst and White House Press Secretary for Pres. George W. Bush Dana Perino has watched the SooperMexican parody video:
In case you missed it, I posted this drone strikes news video a few weeks ago. It?s 1984 in 2013, people?
ABC News: License to Kill: Government Authorizes Drone Strikes on US Citizens | February 2013
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George Orwell?s prophetic novel of government tyranny, ?1984?
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