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Unmanned aircraft from an Air Force base in North Dakota help local police with surveillance, raising questions that trouble privacy advocates. Armed with a search warrant, Nelson County Sheriff Kelly Janke went looking for six missing cows on the Brossart family farm in the early evening of June 23. Three men brandishing rifles chased him off, he said. Janke knew the gunmen could be anywhere on the 3,000-acre spread in eastern North Dakota. Fearful of an armed standoff, he called in reinforcements from the state Highway Patrol, a regional SWAT team, a bomb squad, ambulances and deputy sheriffs from three...

Two themes have already emerged in the still-early 2012 presidential contest:Republicans are running against Washington and President Obama is running against part of Washington, the Congress that gave him his early legislative achievements.The newest entrant to the GOP race is Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who touched on one of the most emotional and volatile issues sitting on the nation's debate table: border security, illegal drugs from Mexico and illegal immigrants.In his announcement speech in South Carolina on Saturday, Perry said:America’s standing in the world is in peril, not only because of disastrous economic policies, but

CORPUS CHRISTI — One $30 million unmanned aerial vehicle is not enough to patrol 1,200 miles of border between Texas and Mexico, according to a group of South Texas lawmakers. Three members of the Texas congressional delegation, including U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, on Wednesday met with state and federal officials at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi to push for additional unmanned flight operations in South Texas. Flanked by U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and Michael McCaul, R-Katy, Farenthold stood beside the nose of the menacing — but unarmed — Predator B drone and said Texas is a prime...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States beginning Wednesday will add a third Predator drone to patrol its border with Mexico, allowing authorities for the first time to monitor the entire stretch of land separating the two neighbors using the unmanned aircraft. The latest drone joins two others in covering the 2,000-mile (3,200 kilometer) frontier which runs across the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, the US Department of Homeland Security said. With immigration a hot-button issue ahead of looming midterm elections in November, US President Barack Obama earlier this month signed a 600 million dollar bill aimed at...

WASHINGTON — Safety concerns and a shortage of remote pilots have slowed the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles into security plans for the Southwest border, officials told a House Homeland Security panel Thursday. Federal Aviation Administration officials said the UAVs operated in U.S. airspace initially were designed for military applications. While the technology has advanced, “their safety record warrants careful review.” “The limited safety and operational data available does not support expedited or full integration into the national air space,” said Nancy Kalinowski, FAA vice president for system operations services. The FAA recently approved the use of a UAV for...

Arizona to White House: Send us helicopters, recon dronesAaron Smith, CNNMoney.com staff writer Monday May 24, 2010, 1:04 pm EDT Unbowed by a raft of boycotts over her immigration policy, Arizona Gov. Janice Brewer has requested helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles from the White House to patrol the border region with Mexico. Brewer, in a letter to President Obama, asked that the National Guard reallocate reconnaissance helicopters and robotic surveillance craft to the "border states" from other parts of the country. The governor specifically asked for OH-58 Kiowa helicopters, used by the military for reconnaissance, noting that Arizona currently has...

  After years of political pressure from Texas politicians, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said Monday that he expects the federal government to deliver unmanned aircraft to watch over the border with Mexico by this fall.Cuellar, a Democrat from Laredo, said he has had discussions with top officials from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's office of air and marine operations, and they agreed to the timetable, subject to Federal Aviation Administration approval to allow the surveillance planes — often referred to in the political vernacular as "Predator drones" — to fly over Texas.Laura Brown, an FAA spokeswoman, said the...

FAA says it's working on approval that would allow the flights.After years of political pressure from Texas politicians, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said Monday that he expects the federal government to deliver unmanned aircraft to watch over the border with Mexico by this fall. Cuellar, a Democrat from Laredo, said he has had discussions with top officials from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's office of air and marine operations, and they agreed to the timetable, subject to Federal Aviation Administration approval to allow the surveillance planes — often referred to in the political vernacular as "Predator drones" — to...

President Bush wants unmanned drones used along the U.S.-Mexican border as part of his broader immigration initiative unveiled this week, but border patrol officials are still negotiating with the Federal Aviation Administration about where and when it can deploy the systems. "We're going to use drones to be able to help enforce the border in rural Texas and in rural New Mexico and rural Arizona," Bush said Tuesday. "Slowly, but surely, technology is being employed up and down the border, and that's a key part of our strategy." The president's proposal also includes a guestworker program and bolstering immigration laws.After...

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Homeland Security is considering the use of unmanned drones along U.S. borders to find illegal immigrants, but a citizen group is beating the agency to the punch.The group, American Border Patrol, purchased and equipped three large model airplanes with cameras and night vision systems and began using them for patrols last week. It has set up radio sensors along a stretch of the Texas-Arizona border to help guide the drones."We're ready to go," said Glenn Spencer, who leads and largely finances the Sierra Vista, Ariz., group. "We'll be out there flying along the border, sending...

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Homeland Security is considering the use of unmanned drones along U.S. borders to find illegal immigrants, but a citizen group is beating them to the punch.The group, American Border Patrol, has bought and souped up three large model airplanes with cameras and night vision equipment and will begin patrolling in two weeks. It has also set up radio sensors along a stretch of the Texas-Arizona border to help guide the drones."We're ready to go," said Glenn Spencer, who leads and mostly finances the group in Sierra Vista, Ariz.The group's goal is to eventually monitor the...

American Border Patrol is seeding a Huachuca Mountain canyon with ground sensors in final preparation for its first operational testing of a tracking system that will also use GPS-guided unmanned drones. In the testing, the private border-watch group will try to detect, document and then broadcast live images of the flow of illegal border crossers trekking across a sparsely populated canyon south of Sierra Vista. The area has become a major footpath for illegal border crossers. American Border Patrol founder Glenn Spencer said the location was selected after area residents approached his group seeking help in curbing the ongoing flow...

Unmanned Planes May Patrol Border Government Officials Consider Drones For Remote Surveillance POSTED: 10:57 a.m. PDT June 13, 2003 SAN DIEGO -- The effort to stop illegal immigration between the United States and Mexico may soon include small, unmanned planes called drones. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security are considering whether to use drones to patrol portions of the California-Mexico border. But some immigrant advocates say the drones will only endanger more lives by driving people into even more remote parts of the desert. From NBC San Diego The drones look like model planes and operate on two AA...

WASHINGTON – Unmanned spy planes, or drones, could be flying over the U.S.-Mexico border by year's end, said Homeland Security Department Secretary Tom Ridge. While some advocates for looser border controls, including California Rural Legal Assistance, oppose the move, a group that seeks tighter controls already is testing its own drones along the border. Glenn Spencer, 65, owns three drones ranging in cost from $12,000 to $21,000. The planes, equipped with four-ounce internal electronic guidance systems and camera transmitters the size of a thumb, operate on two "AA" batteries and could monitor illegal crossing along the 350-mile Arizona-Mexico border, he...

(Temporary Link) WASHINGTON -- The Homeland Security Department is considering the use of unmanned aircraft to track drug smugglers, illegal immigrants and terrorists along the porous U.S. border with Mexico, a top official told a Senate panel Tuesday. "There's a lot of interest in this," Robert Bonner, commissioner of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, told the homeland security subcommittee. "I think there's potential there." With no human on board, Predators and other remote-controlled aircraft can watch over a potential target for 24 hours or more and fly for hundreds of miles. The aircraft can carry cameras, sensors, communications...

Reuters Tuesday, May 13, 2003; 7:40 PM By Deborah Tedford MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - An Arizona vigilante group is testing homemade "drone" reconnaissance planes on the U.S.-Mexican border to monitor illegal immigrants entering the United States in lonely desert areas. Glenn Spencer, head of the American Border Patrol vigilante group, said on Tuesday the group has been testing two Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for about a month and plans to have a fleet making passes over the border by early July. "We want to show how the application of this technology can solve the border problem," Spencer told Reuters. Police and...

ReutersTuesday, May 13, 2003; 7:40 PM By Deborah TedfordMONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - An Arizona vigilante group is testing homemade "drone" reconnaissance planes on the U.S.-Mexican border to monitor illegal immigrants entering the United States in lonely desert areas.Glenn Spencer, head of the American Border Patrol vigilante group, said on Tuesday the group has been testing two Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for about a month and plans to have a fleet making passes over the border by early July."We want to show how the application of this technology can solve the border problem," Spencer told Reuters.Police and residents say they are aware...

Arizona delegation seeks drones for border patrol Mike Sunnucks The Business Journal Republican members of Arizona's congressional delegation have put their letter-writing hats on the past few days. U.S. Sen. John McCain and U.S. Reps. Jim Kolbe, John Shadegg, Jeff Flake, J.D. Hayworth, Rick Renzi and Trent Franks penned a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge asking for unmanned aerial vehicles to be used to help patrol the Mexican border. The May 7 letter asks Ridge to develop a UAV patrol program in southern Arizona. The congressional members endorse Fort Huachuca as a good location for unmanned drone...

After nearly a year in operation, the United States is pulling its Unmanned Aerial Vehicles off the Arizona border, grounding the drone planes to weigh their effectiveness. The two UAVs - RQ-5 Hunters made by Northrop Grumman Corp that can fly up to 100 mph for half a day - cost $1 million apiece and were introduced into the Arizona desert in October, said Mario Villarreal, U.S. Border Patrol spokesman in Washington, D.C. The two Hunter planes succeeded two Israeli-made Hermes 450s that cost about $2 million each and helped nab 965 illegal entrants and about 850 pounds of marijuana,...

PHOENIX - A pilot program that uses unmanned aerial drones to monitor illegal activity along the Arizona-Mexico border is gaining momentum, border officials say. Two Hermes 450 drones, which were launched over Arizona on June 25, use thermal and night-vision equipment to spot illegal immigrants trying to cross the desert into the United States. They can detect movement from 15 miles up, read a license plate, view a vehicle's occupants and even detect weapons. ......