FBI uses drones in U.S., says Mueller – CNN Security Clearance - CNN.com Blogs
Lovely.
Paging Senator Rand Paul... come in Mr. Paul...
Lovely.
Paging Senator Rand Paul... come in Mr. Paul...
The article says that the drones are used sparingly, and only for surveillance, when agents lives may be at risk. They have been used on hostage situations before.
Manned aircraft have been used for a long time for aerial surveillance. I don't see anything in the article about armed drones or raids against the tea party. Much ado about nothing.
That is, if you believe that the government uses them sparingly and only to protect the lives of agents.
The article says that the drones are used sparingly, and only for surveillance, when agents lives may be at risk. They have been used on hostage situations before.
Manned aircraft have been used for a long time for aerial surveillance. I don't see anything in the article about armed drones or raids against the tea party. Much ado about nothing.
The capability of these military remotely piloted aircraft/unmanned aerial systems (they ain't drones) is staggering. I remember seeing Predator feed video that looked like it was flying at 50 feet and that was over 10 years ago. The weapons came later (Hellfire was fired from an MQ-1 in early 2001 if memory serves), these are recon aircraft. Sure we've had police helicopters for years, but MQ-1s and MQ-9s gather huge amounts of video imagery to be analyzed. It's what they do.
Not sure where you're going here Jetta. The US Border Patrol Air and Marine Service operates Predators and Predator-B Models (AKA MQ-9 Reaper). DHS has MQ-1/9s, you think DOJ is flying those Styrofoam spy plane things the Air Force cops launch with a giant slingshots?Predators and Reapers are used by the USAF. But, what does the FBI have? My intelligent guess is something far, far less sophisticated.
Do I like all this drone stuff? No. Can it be stopped? About as well as buggy whip manufacturers stopped the automobile.
A remotely piloted aerial vehicle has all the surveillance of a helicopter, but it has a much lower total cost, it's smaller, it can be deployed quicker, has lower risk, it's quieter, it has a longer operational time - need I go on?
Well, I guess I stand corrected.Not sure where you're going here Jetta. The US Border Patrol Air and Marine Service operates Predators and Predator-B Models (AKA MQ-9 Reaper). DHS has MQ-1/9s, you think DOJ is flying those Styrofoam spy plane things the Air Force cops launch with a giant slingshots?
My point is that it's real hard to stop progress. The aerial remote controlled vehicles has so many advantages that preventing their use isn't truly possible or desirable. Look what Texas is doing - Cops can have drones, journalist can't. Geologist, maybe. Ranchers, doubtful.Not sure what buggy whip makers not stopping cars has to do with this...