uavs domestic spying

There are plenty of other drone users out there, between hunters scouting game or nosy neighbors, and government surveillance entities: news outlets, TV and film producers, private surveyors, agriculture/forestry management outfits, mining firms, weather forecasters, safety & security monitors, wildland firefighters, mountain-rescue organizations - just to name a few. Many are private companies.

We live in the rural hinterlands of western South Dakota, and connect to the power grid via a rural electrical cooperative. Our coop maintains miles and miles of powerline, which must be monitored for breaks and incipient hazards to line integrity: broken branches, fallen trees and the like. It’s a lot cheaper - and quicker - to eyeball power lines remotely, through a camera on a small drone. Line-checkers who traveling by truck, or on foot (sometimes by snowshoe), cost the coop a lot more, and take much longer to do the job.

Personal safety risks to line-checkers are thus lowered too: drones don’t sprain their ankles stomping about the wilderness; neither do they fall off cliffs nor tumble into ravines. Even if a drone cracks up, the financial loss is smaller than if humans were to get injured or (worse) killed on the job. To say nothing of losses in human terms: if a drone get smashed to bits, families don’t grieve.

“...Military drones are going to be operating at heights where they’re just a small speck in the sky. WAY outside your shotgun or most rifle ranges.” [Svartalfiar, post 20]

There are now drones the same size as radio-controlled model aircraft: launched by hand, they operate daily. We will soon see drones as small as songbirds, capable of flying through storm-drain tunnels; drones no larger than dragonflies won’t be far behind.

No, but I’m helping design a new SatCom antenna for Predator domestic surveillance. You probably wouldn’t see the Predator though.

That’s cool; and a recommended upgrade from the one I did SIGINT trials and intercept of the early 90’s at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. The video downlink, among other signals, were all in-the-clear (aka, not encrypted). That was the first thing I noticed, reported, and strongly encouraged them to re-do before we continued any intercept ops. They declined, and the exercise continued.

The military establishment operates unmanned air vehicles over a much greater span of sizes, performance, and capabilities than citizens realize: it’s gone well beyond Global Hawk cruising above 40,000 feet.

There are now drones the same size as radio-controlled model aircraft: launched by hand, they operate daily. We will soon see drones as small as songbirds, capable of flying through storm-drain tunnels; drones no larger than dragonflies won’t be far behind.

True, but not every unit is going to have Ravens or Pumas. Few do. And having that capability is irrelevant, we are NOT allowed to originate imagery of USPERs domestically. Period. Even a civilian vehicle driving on a highway next to a military base can't be tracked, even for training purposes. Hikers or kids lost in the woods, cannot be tracked. USPERs cannot be imaged outside of being incidental to approved imagery, and can't be targeted. The only exception is with approval of SecDef. Himself. Not his office. Him. And that requires paperwork and days of time at best. The military is not going to be tracking anyone at their backyard pool party.

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