WAASS: HR 658 Accelerates Drone Deployment For Surveillance

[ironboltbruce]

http://veritasvirtualvengeance.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/hr658_skynet_surveillance_drones.jpg

MAKE WAY FOR WAASS: H.R. 658 ACCELERATES DRONE DEPLOYMENT FOR SURVEILLANCE OF AMERICAN CITIZENS

Perhaps emboldened by the impotence of the ACLU, BORDC, Center for Constitutional Rights, "Oath Keepers" and other toothless rights watchdogs, as well as the inability of the Occupy Movement to break through the corporate-controlled mainstream media blackout of efforts to "Undo NDAA", yesterday H.R. 658 - euphemistically entitled the "FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act" - sailed through the U.S. Senate (75-20-5) and is now headed to the White House where our corporate fascist puppet President Barack Obama is expected to swiftly sign it into law:

http://tinyurl.com/77lsh3p

As were Sections 1021 and 1022 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 - which despite Obama's signing statement and other claims to the contrary do in fact codify the indefinite detention without charge or trial of American citizens on American soil - tucked neatly away in H.R.658 (and likely never read by most of our lobbified legislators) is Section 320, officially summarized as follows:

"Requires the FAA Administrator to: (1) develop plans to accelerate the integration of unmanned aerial systems [drones] into the National Airspace System, and (2) report to Congress on progress made in establishing special use airspace for the DOD to develop detection techniques for small unmanned aerial vehicles and to validate sensor integration and operation of unmanned aerial systems. Directs the DOD Secretary to establish a process to develop certification and flight standards for military unmanned aerial systems at specified test sites."

With that exposed, a more fitting moniker for H.R. 658 might be the "Skynet Surveillance Enabling Act of 2012". According to USA Today, "Drones, perhaps best known for their combat missions in Afghanistan, are increasingly looking to share room in U.S. skies with passenger planes... Now, organizations from police forces searching for missing persons to academic researchers counting seals on the polar ice cap [are] eager to launch drones." In more specific and less candy-coated terms, once the Wide Area Aerial Surveillance System - or WAASS (think Skynet) - drone surveillance network enabled by H.R.658 is in place, privacy in real as well as virtual space will become a thing of the past as Big Brother will be able to spy on just about anyone doing just about anything just about anywhere in the United States or elsewhere. As the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated:

"The primary objective of WAASS is to provide persistent, long-term surveillance over urban and rural terrain at least the size of 16 km2. The surveillance system shall have an electro-optical capability for daylight missions but can have an infrared capability for day or night operations. The sensor shall integrate with an airborne platform for data gathering. The imagery data shall be displayed at a DHS operations center and have the capability for forensic analysis within 36 hours of the flight."

http://tinyurl.com/79n7o33

And as we previously reported, "Skynet" citizen surveillance has already begun:

http://tinyurl.com/82ld3vu

Welcome to 1984...

NO MORE LEFT. NO MORE RIGHT. TIME TO UNITE. STAND AND FIGHT!

IronBoltBruce via VVV PR ( http://vvvpr.com | @vvvpr )

Img: http://veritasvirtualvengeance.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/hr658_skynet_surveillance_drones.jpg

Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6xERbRHH-E

Tag: #hr658, #waass, #drones, #dhs, #surveillance, #privacy, #ndaa, #fascism, #ows, #worldwarweb, #vvvpr

Key: h.r. 658, hr 658, h.r.658, hr658, dhs, waass, drones, police drones, dhs drones, surveillance drones, surveillance, privacy, ndaa, ndaa 2012, fascism, corporate fascism, ows, occupy wall street, world war web, vvv pr

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[Conley]

So now we're going to have drones flying over American soil. It's the next logical step I suppose. I wonder how long until local law enforcement starts using them.

[MMC]

http://ts2.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=1617381433649&id=28a83d7737ea4204bb1b2b31d3d90361&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.gbpics24.eu%2fdata%2fmedia%2f 175%2f956-067Terminator-2-Posters.jpg

We have the Answer. :wink:

[ironboltbruce]

So now we're going to have drones flying over American soil. It's the next logical step I suppose. I wonder how long until local law enforcement starts using them.

As per above...

And as we previously reported, "Skynet" citizen surveillance has already begun:

http://tinyurl.com/82ld3vu

[Conley]

As per above...

And as we previously reported, "Skynet" citizen surveillance has already begun:

http://tinyurl.com/82ld3vu

Thanks IBB. Any idea where these bad boys are flying? I checked out the link but didn't see any specifics.

[Conley]

Ahh, looks like Houston:

A local police force north of Houston is about to become the first in Texas and one of the first in the nation to deploy an unmanned drone for police work, and this one could someday carry weapons.

It's called the "ShadowHawk" remote controlled helicopter and police brag that people on the ground can barely hear it when it's flying at ideal altitudes.

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office in Conroe paid $300,000 in federal homeland security grant money and Friday it received the ShadowHawk unmanned helicopter made by Vanguard Defense Industries of Spring.

A laptop computer is used to control the 50-pound unmanned chopper, and a game-like console is used to aim and zoom a powerful camera and infrared heat-seeking device mounted on the front.

http://www.examiner.com/page-one-in-houston/first-unmanned-police-drone-texas-set-to-launch-north-of-houston

$300,000 YGBSM!!!

[MMC]

As well as Homeland Security Using them for the Border. Looks like the Montgomery County Citizens will be paying for that one.....huh? Not only will we be watching you. But we will let you pay us to watch you. :wink:

[waltky]

Domestic spying case being heard at the Supreme Court...
:huh:
Supreme court hears arguments on secret domestic surveillance
October 29th, 2012 - David Nevin is an American private attorney defending accused 9/11 terror mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.


Human Rights Watch is an international group that has monitored the U.S. government's treatment of accused terrorists held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, including Mohammed. Journalist/activists Naomi Klein and Chris Hedges have written about the war on terror and have overseas sources as part of their jobs. These key plaintiffs asked the Supreme Court on Monday to allow them to proceed with a lawsuit over the constitutionality of the federal government's sweeping electronic monitoring of targeted foreigners suspected of terrorism or spying.

At issue: Can these American plaintiffs who deal with overseas clients and co-workers file suit if they reasonably fear the government was reading and hearing their sensitive communications? The specific question now is whether they have "standing" to challenge the federal law, without a specific showing they have been monitored. The National Security Agency has in turn refused to disclose specifics, which detractors call "Catch-22" logic. The personal liberty versus national security is one of the biggest cases the high court is addressing this term.

The justices appeared divided after a spirited one-hour oral argument. But a majority appeared reluctant to dismiss the lawsuit entirely, as the Obama administration requests. Several justices showed strong sympathy for the plight of the plaintiffs. The court was in session for the morning despite most of the rest of Washington shut down for Hurricane Sandy. Public sessions were canceled Tuesday because of the storm.

The rhetorical tempest inside the court pitted two competing narratives - whether a "reckless" federal government was spying on its citizens without check, or whether a politically-driven "fishing expedition" by human rights activists was compromising legitimate national security surveillance of foreign terrorists. The justices wasted little time exploring the privacy limits of the law.

MORE (http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/29/supreme-court-hears-arguments-on-secret-domestic-surveillance/)

See also:

Obama Adviser Puts al Qaeda in Perspective: U.S. and Europe Have ‘Long, Painful History of Violent Extremism'
October 29, 2012 – Speaking Friday at the Institute of Institutional and European Affairs in Dublin, Ireland, John Brennan, President Obama's assistant national security adviser for homeland security and counter-terrorism put al Qaeda's terrorism in perspective by comparing it to what he called the “long and painful history of violent extremism” in the United States and Europe.


"Sadly, the threat of violent extremism did not start—and will not end—with al-Qa‘ida,” Brennan said. “On both sides of the Atlantic, we have a long, painful history of violent extremism, from violent anarchists to violent white supremacists to neo-Nazis. “This summer, we saw a white supremacist in Wisconsin kill six worshippers and wound four others at a Sikh temple,” Brennan said. “Last year in Norway, we saw Anders Breivik—steeped in a racist and xenophobic ideology—murder 77 innocent men, women and children in a tragedy that truly shocked the world." Brennan, who was director for the National Counterterrorism Center in the George W. Bush administration, said that the challenge the U.S. and Europe faces is “to meet the full range of violent extremism threats in our communities regardless of ideology.”

He then warned that the West should not “stigmatize” Muslims who are “fellow citizens.” "The bottom line—on both sides of the Atlantic—is that we have to work with communities rather than stigmatize them,” Brennan said. “That is especially true when it comes to our fellow citizens who are Muslim. “In word and deed, we need to show Muslim communities that they are just as much a part of our countries as people of any other faith,” Brennan said. “This is a message of inclusion and opportunity that President Obama has conveyed on many, many occasions. “As he has said, the United States is not and never will be at war against Islam; our nation is strengthened by all its citizens, including those who are Muslim,” Brennan said. “We are at war against al-Qa’ida—a band of thugs who offer nothing but death and destruction. “And when it comes to preventing violent extremism and terrorism in our countries, Muslim communities are part of the solution,” Brennan said.

Violent extremism was one of what Brennan said are the four threats facing the West. Another is Lebanese Hizballah, which Brennan described as “one of the world’s most dangerous terrorist organizations.” The others are “kidnapping for ransom” by “criminals and terrorists around the world” and modern day piracy.

Source (http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-adviser-puts-al-qaeda-perspective-us-and-europe-have-long-painful-history-violent)

[Peter1469]

It is going to be interesting to see how case law evolves to reconcile privacy rights with all of this new technology.