Whatever you say, Kyle...

California law enforcement moves to buy drones

Since Congress passed legislation in February ordering the Federal Aviation Administration to fast-track the approval of unmanned aerial vehicles—more colloquially known as drones—for use by law enforcement agencies, police and sheriff departments across the country have been scrambling to purchase the smaller, unarmed cousins of the Predator and Reaper drones which carry out daily sorties over Afghanistan, Yemen, and other theaters of operation.

Alameda County in California has become one of the central battlegrounds over the introduction of drones to domestic police work. Earlier this year, Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern raised the hackles of local civil libertarians (and there are quite a few of those in the county, which encompasses Berkeley and Oakland) by declaring his intention to purchase a drone to assist with “emergency response.” According to Ahern, Alameda Sheriff’s personnel first tested a UAV in fall 2011 and gave a public demonstration of the machine’s usefulness for emergency responses during the Urban Shield SWAT competition in late October.

Were Alameda County to purchase a drone, it would set a precedent in California, which has long been an innovator in law enforcement tactics: from SWAT teams (pioneered in Delano and Los Angeles) to anti-gang tactics such as civil injunctions. The first documented incident of a drone being used to make an arrest in the United States occurred in North Dakota in June 2011, when local police received assistance from an unarmed Predator B drone that belonged to US Customs and Border Protection. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration have also reportedly used drones for domestic investigations.

(Source: Ars Technica)

Army's all-seeing, super blimp makes debut flight

The U.S. Army has launched the debut flight of its massive Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV), a souped-up blimp designed to fly continuously for 21 days and provide full surveillance of an area.

(Source: CNN)

They got drones? So do we

Drones transformed the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan. But their use has been extremely limited in U.S. skies. The Federal Aviation Administration essentially bans the commercial use of drones, and government use is still highly restricted.

But that’s changing.

Congressman presses for limits on domestic drone data collection

By the FAA’s estimation, there could be over 30,000 unmanned aircraft in use in the United States by 2020. But there have been significant concerns voiced over the safety of drones and the potential threat to privacy. A House Homeland Security subcommittee heard testimony late last month on the threat posed by drones to citizens’ civil rights, and how some drones currently deployed by some law enforcement agencies could be fooled by GPS jammers to be flown off course or crashed.

(Source: Ars Technica)

America's Surveillance State Breeds Conformity and Fear

Once the government is able to monitor everything we do and say, we will be unable to fight back.

Here comes Skynet: Army drones almost ready to share sky with airlines

UAS industry promises to not be evil as domestic drone deadline looms.

(Source: Ars Technica)

Terminator Planet: How America Became an Empire of Drones

The New Obama Doctrine, A Six-Point Plan for Global War

What looks today like a formula for easy power projection that will further U.S. imperial interests on the cheap could soon prove to be an unmitigated disaster — one that likely won’t be apparent until it’s too late.

(Source: tomdispatch.com)

Drone Killings, Cyber Attacks, War on Whistleblowers: Does Obama Think He Is Above the Law?

The United States rains Hellfire missiles down on its enemies, with the president alone sitting in judgment of who will live and who will die by his hand.

EFF: Police May Use Armed Drones to Watch You, Citizen Help Needed

The U.S. is no warzone, but in what some would call another sign of the rising U.S. “police state”, some local police departments are looking to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). 

(Source: anandtech.com)

U.S. government to use 'drones the size of GOLF BALLS to spy on AMERICAN citizens'

…for the first time since the Civil War, the federal government will deploy military personnel insidetheUnitedStates and publicly acknowledge that it is deploying them “to collect information about U.S. persons.”

Your Future Be Full of Robot Assassins and Spy Aircraft

Washington has ensured that drones will proliferate everywhere on what, for all of us, will turn out to be the worst possible terms.  Assassination was once a complex, secret, shameful, difficult to arrange, and relatively rare act of state.  Now, it’s as normal, easy, and — amazingly enough — almost as open as sending a diplomat to another country.

Drones in Texas and Tanks in Tampa: Inside the Out-Of-Control Weaponized Homeland Security State

Unmanned Drones Are Already Being Used in the U.S. - Against it's own citizens!