USA United States police department Surveillance Drones Spying on us
citizens civilians end times news 4-26-13 April 2013 Government arms
race kicks into high gear as DHS Department Homeland security buys 2,700
armored vehicles for streets of America
When DHS purchased 1.6
billion rounds of ammunition to be used domestically, inside the USA,
and I said this looks like a government agency preparing for war with
the American people, I was told, "That's crazy. The government would
never do that."
When DHS purchased 7,000 full-auto assault rifles
to be used inside the United States, calling them "personal defense
weapons" that could be used in urban warfare, I was once again told I
was crazy for suggesting the government was arming up for war with the
American people.
Now DHS has retrofitted 2,717 "Navistar Defense"
armored vehicles for service on the streets of America. Click here to
see pictures and specs for this vehicle from the manufacturer's website.
Learn more:
http://www.naturalnews.com/039345_DHS...The
prospect of identifying armed Americans concerns Second Amendment
advocates, DHS built civilian surveillance tech into Predator drones.
Homeland
Security's specifications say drones must be able to detect whether a
civilian is armed. Also specified: "signals interception" and "direction
finding" for electronic surveillance.Homeland Security required that
this Predator drone, built by General Atomics, be capable of detecting
whether a standing human at night is "armed or not."
(U.S. Department of Homeland Security)
Homeland
Security's Predator B drone can stay aloft conducting surveillance for
20 hours. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has customized its
Predator drones, originally built for overseas military operations, to
carry out at-home surveillance tasks that have civil libertarians
worried: identifying civilians carrying guns and tracking their cell
phones, government documents show.
The documents provide more
details about the surveillance capabilities of the department's unmanned
Predator B drones, which are primarily used to patrol the United
States' northern and southern borders but have been pressed into service
on behalf of a growing number of law enforcement agencies including the
FBI, the Secret Service, the Texas Rangers, and local police.
Homeland
Security's specifications for its drones, built by San Diego-based
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, say they "shall be capable of
identifying a standing human being at night as likely armed or not,"
meaning carrying a shotgun or rifle. They also specify "signals
interception" technology that can capture communications in the
frequency ranges used by mobile phones, and "direction finding"
technology that can identify the locations of mobile devices or two-way
radios.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center obtained a
partially redacted copy of Homeland Security's requirements for its
drone fleet through the Freedom of Information Act and published it this
week. CNET unearthed an copy of the requirements that provides
additional information about the aircraft's surveillance capabilities.
Concern about domestic use of drones is growing, with federal
legislation introduced last month that would establish legal safeguards,
in addition to parallel efforts underway from state and local
lawmakers. The Federal Aviation Administration recently said that it
will "address privacy-related data collection" by drones.
"I am
very concerned that this technology will be used against law-abiding
American firearms owners," says Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive
vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation. "This could violate
Fourth Amendment rights as well as Second Amendment rights."
A
Homeland Security official, who did not want to be identified by name,
said the drones are able to identify whether movement on the ground
comes from a human or an animal, but that they do not perform facial
recognition. The aerial surveillance would comply with the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act and other applicable federal laws.
The
documents show that CBP specified that the "tracking accuracy should be
sufficient to allow target designation," and the agency notes on its
Web site that its Predator B series is capable of "targeting and weapons
delivery" (the military version carries multiple 100-pound Hellfire
missiles). CBP says, however, that its Predator aircraft are unarmed.