Homeland Security Now Spying on Americans
The
deployment of the robotic killing machines in the United States for
"disaster management" is troubling to say the least and a
harbinger of things to come.
Homeland Security now spying on
Americans. Back by demand
From American Chronicle dot com
Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(UAV´s) and Space-Based Domestic Spying Surveillance technology the
U.S. Government is now watching American citizens under the guise of
disaster management and controlling the U.S. Mexican border. The
Reaper/Predator B UAV´s robotic killing machines are currently in
operation with the USAF, US Navy and the Royal Air Force. In addition
non military users of the Predator B include: NASA and Homeland
security though the US Customs and Border Protection agencies.
The
Department of Homeland Security´s (DHS) space-based domestic spy
program run by that agency´s National Applications Office (NAO) is
now in full operation. Indeed during Hurricane Ike, U.S. Customs and
Border Protection for the first time flew the Predator B unmanned
aerial vehicle in "support of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency´s relief efforts," the insider tech publication
reported.
Tom Burghardt in a recent article wrote that the
Predator B carries out "targeted assassinations" of
"terrorist suspects" across Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.
The deployment of the robotic killing machines in the United States
for "disaster management" is troubling to say the least and
a harbinger of things to come.
Despite objections by Congress
and civil liberties groups DHS, in close collaboration with the
ultra-spooky National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the agency that
develops and maintains America´s fleet of military spy satellites,
and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) that analyzes
military imagery and generates mapping tools, are proceeding with the
first phase of the controversial domestic spying program. NAO will
coordinate how domestic law enforcement and "disaster relief"
agencies such as FEMA will use satellite imagery intelligence (IMINT)
generated by military spy satellites. Burghardt wrote earlier this
year, unlike commercial satellites, their military cousins are far
more flexible, have greater resolution and therefore possess more
power to monitor human activity.
Barry Steinhardt, Director of
the ACLU´s Technology and Liberty Project, called for a moratorium
on the domestic use of military spy satellites until key questions
were answered. Steinhardt said, the domestic use of spy satellites
and UAV´s represents a big brother monster and we need to put some
restraints in place before it grows into something that will trample
Americans´ privacy rights. This program now is providing federal,
state and local officials "with extensive access to
spy-satellite imagery." Steinhardt said As we have seen however,
the use of satellite imagery during "national security events"
such as last summer´s political conventions in Denver and St. Paul
may have aided FBI and local law enforcement in their preemptive
raids on protest organizers and subsequent squelching of dissent. One
wonders if this is what DGI refers to when they write that the
company "performs work in the
national interest, advancing public safety and national security
through innovative research, analysis and applied technology".
There
are real questions being asked, do these spies in the sky
surveillance systems comply with privacy laws and doesn´t violate
the Posse Comitatus Act? The 1878 law prohibits the military from
playing a role in domestic law enforcement. Since the 1990s however,
Posse Comitatus has been eroded significantly by both Democratic and
Republican administrations, primarily in the areas of "drug
interdiction," "border security" as well as
"Continuity of Government" planning by U.S. Northern
Command (NORTHCOM). Within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the lead agency charged with
securing our nation´s borders. United States Border Patrol (USBP) is
charged with detecting and preventing the entry of terrorists,
weapons of mass destruction, and unauthorized aliens into the
country, and interdicting drug smugglers and other criminals. The
USBP already utilizes advanced technology to augment its agents´
ability to patrol the border. The technologies used include, but are
not limited to, sensors, light towers, mobile night vision scopes,
remote video surveillance systems, directional listening devices,
various database systems, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's). These
so called "force multipliers" allow the USBP to deploy
fewer agents in a specific area while maintaining the ability to
detect and counter intrusions and are increasingly becoming a part of
the USBP´s day-to-day operations. There are two different types of
UAV's: drones and remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs). Both drones and
RPVs are pilotless, but drones are programmed for autonomous flight.
RPVs are actively flown remotely — by a ground control operator.
UAV's are defined as a powered aerial vehicle that does not carry a
human operator, uses aerodynamic forces to provide lift, can fly
autonomously or be piloted remotely, can be expendable or
recoverable, and can carry lethal or nonlethal payloads. UAV´s have
played key roles in recent conflicts. Historically, UAV´s have been
used in various military settings outside of U.S. borders. UAV´s
have provided reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition,
search and rescue, and battle damage assessments. In the recent wars
in Afghanistan and Iraq, UAV´s have been used for surveillance
purposes and to attack enemies. The Predator UAV, for example, was
armed with anti-tank weapons to attack Taliban and Al Qaeda members.
UAV´s have also been used in domestic settings.
The
NASA-sponsored Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology
(ERAST) program has produced civilian UAV's to monitor pollution and
measure ozone levels. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
is involved in developing Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and video
camera guidance for using UAV's to locate and identify toxic
substances. Lastly, the Department of Energy recently announced that
it will test UAV´s.
They can also be outfitted with radiation
sensors to detect potential nuclear booms, suite case nuke, dirty
booms and reactor accidents. Thousands of National Guard troops are
deployed along with U.S. Border Patrol to protect the US border and
are flying unmanned aircraft system (UAS), out of bases in
California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
As reported earlier
this year in the Laguna Journal that a special U.S. Military Task
Force has been created to protect our southern border with Mexico.
Members of this task force are preparing to secure the border by
responding with specially trained fast response U.S. Army task force
military units. These forces are already in place with the heart of
the power being concentrated in El Paso and Southern New Mexico with
a far reaching responsibility from East Texas to Southern California.
USAF General Victor E. Renuart Jr. They are being staged and
immediately available as emergency "on call" units for use
against terrorist threats on the nation's border and local
disasters, said Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., commander of United
States Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense
Commander.
The Ft. Bliss 1st Armored Division soldiers, as
well as a new missile defense unit that are being created at Fort
Bliss. America's first air defense and believed by Jane's Intel Web
Report to be the owners of the sky where ever they fly. These F-22
Raptors that are stationed at Holloman Air Force Base will be
available to defend homeland security, Renuart said.
Renuart,
who visited Joint Task Force-North, which is under his command,
declined to discuss any details of threats uncovered along the border
with Mexico, but he said many agencies, including JTF-North, have
made "it a very difficult border for someone to take advantage
of." That would explain why there have been recent reports of
U.S. military being seen on the border.
As previously reported
in the Journal the federal government acknowledged that the United
States-Mexican border region has been experiencing an alarming rise
in the level of criminal cartel activity, including drug and human
smuggling, which has placed significant additional burdens on
Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies.
Dozens of
U.S. citizens have been kidnapped, held hostage and killed by their
captors in Mexico and many cases remain unsolved. Moreover, new cases
of disappearances and kidnap-for-ransom continue to be reported. See:
Americans Being Kidnapped, Held and killed in Mexico "It is
prudent for us to assume that any of these established trafficking
routes, whether it's human trafficking or drugs or arms or money, any
of those could be used, and so we want to keep our eyes and ears on
all of those to ensure that they are not used in that regard,"
Renuart said. See: New Terrorist Bases South Of The Border Both the
F-22 and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile
-- designed to destroy short- and intermediate-range ballistic
missiles as they re-enter Earth's atmosphere -- are recent additions
to the nation's arsenal. A THAAD unit is being created at Fort
Bliss.
"Our job at NORTHCOM is to ensure that if there's
a seam or a gap there that we're thinking of how we could fill that
with some other capability out of" the Defense Department, he
said. "What that has forced us to do is think about, 'How do you
solve that time/distance problem, even on a short-notice event. And
so I have access to capabilities now that I didn't have a year or two
ago that I can move very quickly to fill that need.
The MQ-9
Reaper will employ robust sensors to automatically find, fix, track
and target critical emerging time sensitive targets. In the MQ-9 the
SAR was replaced with the AN/APY-8 Lynx II radar, replacing the TESAR
with more advanced high resolution radar-imaging system. The ground
control segment of the Predator B is common with all previous
Predator systems. The US government is developing the ability to
operate multiple aircraft from a single ground station, in effect,
multiplying the overall combat effectiveness over the
battlefield.
Sources: Tom Burghardt U.S. Army Joint Task
Force-North The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) U.S.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Holloman Air Force Base Gen.
Victor E. Renuart Jr., commander of United States Northern Command
and the North American Aerospace Defense Commander. U.S. Soldiers on
the ground. Barry Steinhardt MQ-9 Reaper, Predator B UAV On the
Border: RECON Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV´s) and Space-Based
Domestic Spying Surveillance technology the U.S. Government is now
watching American citizens under the guise of disaster management and
controlling the U.S. Mexican border. The Reaper/Predator
B UAV´s robotic killing machines are currently in operation with the
USAF, US Navy and the Royal Air Force. In addition non military users
of the Predator B include: NASA and Homeland security though the US
Customs and Border Protection agencies.
The Department of
Homeland Security´s (DHS) space-based domestic spy program run by
that agency´s National Applications Office (NAO) is now in full
operation. Indeed during Hurricane Ike, U.S. Customs and Border
Protection for the first time flew the Predator B unmanned aerial
vehicle in "support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency´s
relief efforts," the insider tech publication reported.
Tom
Burghardt in a recent article wrote that the Predator B carries out
"targeted assassinations" of "terrorist suspects"
across Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. The deployment of the robotic
killing machines in the United States for "disaster management"
is troubling to say the least and a harbinger of things to
come.
Despite objections by Congress and civil liberties
groups DHS, in close collaboration with the ultra-spooky National
Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the agency that develops and maintains
America´s fleet of military spy satellites, and the National
Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) that analyzes military imagery
and generates mapping tools, are proceeding with the first phase of
the controversial domestic spying program. NAO will coordinate how
domestic law enforcement and "disaster relief" agencies
such as FEMA will use satellite imagery intelligence (IMINT)
generated by military spy satellites. Burghardt wrote earlier this
year, unlike commercial satellites, their military cousins are far
more flexible, have greater resolution and therefore possess more
power to monitor human activity.
Barry Steinhardt, Director of
the ACLU´s Technology and Liberty Project, called for a moratorium
on the domestic use of military spy satellites until key questions
were answered. Steinhardt said, the domestic use of spy satellites
and UAV´s represents a big brother monster and we need to put some
restraints in place before it grows into something that will trample
Americans´ privacy rights. This program now is providing federal,
state and local officials "with extensive access to
spy-satellite imagery." Steinhardt said As we have seen however,
the use of satellite imagery during "national security events"
such as last summer´s political conventions in Denver and St. Paul
may have aided FBI and local law enforcement in their preemptive
raids on protest organizers and subsequent squelching of dissent. One
wonders if this is what DGI refers to when they write that the
company "performs work in the national interest, advancing
public safety and national security through innovative research,
analysis and applied technology".
There
are real questions being asked, do these spies in the sky
surveillance systems comply with privacy laws and doesn´t violate
the Posse Comitatus Act? The 1878 law prohibits the military from
playing a role in domestic law enforcement. Since the 1990s however,
Posse Comitatus has been eroded significantly by both Democratic and
Republican administrations, primarily in the areas of "drug
interdiction," "border security" as well as
"Continuity of Government" planning by U.S. Northern
Command (NORTHCOM). Within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the lead agency charged with
securing our nation´s borders. United States Border Patrol (USBP) is
charged with detecting and preventing the entry of terrorists,
weapons of mass destruction, and unauthorized aliens into the
country, and interdicting drug smugglers and other criminals. The
USBP already utilizes advanced technology to augment its agents´
ability to patrol the border. The technologies used include, but are
not limited to, sensors, light towers, mobile night vision scopes,
remote video surveillance systems, directional listening devices,
various database systems, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's). These
so called "force multipliers" allow the USBP to deploy
fewer agents in a specific area while maintaining the ability to
detect and counter intrusions and are increasingly becoming a part of
the USBP´s day-to-day operations. There are two different types of
UAV's: drones and remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs). Both drones and
RPVs are pilotless, but drones are programmed for autonomous flight.
RPVs are actively flown remotely — by a ground control operator.
UAV's are defined as a powered aerial vehicle that does not carry a
human operator, uses aerodynamic forces to provide lift, can fly
autonomously or be piloted remotely, can be expendable or
recoverable, and can carry lethal or nonlethal payloads. UAV´s have
played key roles in recent conflicts. Historically, UAV´s have been
used in various military settings outside of U.S. borders. UAV´s
have provided reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition,
search and rescue, and battle damage assessments. In the recent wars
in Afghanistan and Iraq, UAV´s have been used for surveillance
purposes and to attack enemies. The Predator UAV, for example, was
armed with anti-tank weapons to attack Taliban and Al Qaeda
members.UAV´s have also been used in domestic settings.
The
NASA-sponsored Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology
(ERAST) program has produced civilian UAV's to monitor pollution and
measure ozone levels. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
is involved in developing Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and video
camera guidance for using UAV's to locate and identify toxic
substances. Lastly, the Department of Energy recently announced that
it will test UAV´s.
They can also be outfitted with radiation
sensors to detect potential nuclear booms, suite case nuke, dirty
booms and reactor accidents. Thousands of National Guard troops are
deployed along with U.S. Border Patrol to protect the US border and
are flying unmanned aircraft system (UAS), out of bases in
California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
As reported earlier
this year in the Laguna Journal that a special U.S. Military Task
Force has been created to protect our southern border with Mexico.
Members of this task force are preparing to secure the border by
responding with specially trained fast response U.S. Army task force
military units. These forces are already in place with the heart of
the power being concentrated in El Paso and Southern New Mexico with
a far reaching responsibility from East Texas to Southern California.
USAF General Victor E. Renuart Jr. They are being staged and
immediately available as emergency "on call" units for use
against terrorist threats on the nation's border and local disasters,
said Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., commander of United States Northern
Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Commander.
The
Ft. Bliss 1st Armored Division soldiers, as well as a new missile
defense unit that are being created at Fort Bliss. America's first
air defense and believed by Jane's Intel Web Report to be the owners
of the sky where ever they fly. These F-22 Raptors that are stationed
at Holloman Air Force Base will be available to defend homeland
security, Renuart said.
Renuart, who visited Joint Task
Force-North, which is under his command, declined to discuss any
details of threats uncovered along the border with Mexico, but he
said many agencies, including JTF-North, have made "it a very
difficult border for someone to take advantage of." That would
explain why there have been recent reports of U.S. military being
seen on the border.
As
previously reported in the Journal the federal government
acknowledged that the United States-Mexican border region has been
experiencing an alarming rise in the level of criminal cartel
activity, including drug and human smuggling, which has placed
significant additional burdens on Federal, State, and local law
enforcement agencies.
Dozens of U.S. citizens have been
kidnapped, held hostage and killed by their captors in Mexico and
many cases remain unsolved. Moreover, new cases of disappearances and
kidnap-for-ransom continue to be reported. See: Americans Being
Kidnapped, Held and killed in Mexico "It is prudent for us to
assume that any of these established trafficking routes, whether it's
human trafficking or drugs or arms or money, any of those could be
used, and so we want to keep our eyes and ears on all of those to
ensure that they are not used in that regard," Renuart said.
See: New Terrorist Bases South Of The Border Both the F-22 and the
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile -- designed to
destroy short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles as they
re-enter Earth's atmosphere -- are recent additions to the nation's
arsenal. A THAAD unit is being created at Fort Bliss.
"Our
job at NORTHCOM is to ensure that if there's a seam or a gap there
that we're thinking of how we could fill that with some other
capability out of" the Defense Department, he said. "What
that has forced us to do is think about, 'How do you solve that
time/distance problem, even on a short-notice event. And so I have
access to capabilities now that I didn't have a year or two ago that
I can move very quickly to fill that need.
The MQ-9 Reaper
will employ robust sensors to automatically find, fix, track and
target critical emerging time sensitive targets. In the MQ-9 the SAR
was replaced with the AN/APY-8 Lynx II radar, replacing the TESAR
with more advanced high resolution radar-imaging system. The ground
control segment of the Predator B is common with all previous
Predator systems. The US government is developing the ability to
operate multiple aircraft from a single ground station, in effect,
multiplying the overall combat effectiveness over the
battlefield.
See more articles by Michael Webster: https://journaldesk.blogspot.com
Sources:
Tom Burghardt
U.S. Army
Joint Task Force-North
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection
(CBP)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Holloman
Air Force Base
Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., commander of United
States Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense
Commander.
U.S. Soldiers on the ground.
Barry
Steinhardt
MQ-9 Reaper, Predator B UAV On the Border: RECON
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