Revealed: 64 Drone Bases on American Soil | Danger Room | Wired.com EXCERPTS: We like to think of the drone war as something far away, fought in the deserts of Yemen or the mountains of Afghanistan. But we now know it’s closer than we thought. There are 64 drone bases on American soil. That includes 12 locations housing Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles, which can be armed. Public Intelligence, a non-profit that advocates for free access to information, released a map of military UAV activities in the United States on Tuesday. Assembled from military sources — especially this little-known June 2011 Air Force presentation (.pdf) – it is arguably the most comprehensive map so far of the spread of the Pentagon’s unmanned fleet. What exact missions are performed at those locations, however, is not clear. Some bases might be used as remote cockpits to control the robotic aircraft overseas, some for drone pilot training. Others may also serve as imagery analysis depots. ....... The possibility of military drones (as well as those controlled by police departments and universities) flying over American skies have raised concerns among privacy activists. ........... The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the U.S. military from operating on American soil, and there’s no evidence that drones have violated it so far. Domestic proliferation isn’t the same as domestic spying, however. Most — if not all — of these military bases would make poor surveillance centers. ....... It’s safe to assume that most of the bases are just used for military training. .......... Privacy concerns aside, the biggest issue might be safety, as we were been reminded on Monday when a giant Navy drone crashed in Maryland.
What causes me grave concern is the "Expand collaborative/engagement roles with Department of Homeland Security, Industry, ETC." What or who in the flyin f*** is etc.? It's bad enough we have satellites flyin overhead that can tell what side the part in my f***in hair is on, now we get to have armed unmanned planes scattered all over the Country watching US citizens as well?
as opposed to "Armed Manned Planes" that are on Training Missions over US Territory EVERY DAY....... I don't see the difference......
The manned ones could care less what i do in my back yard ,now the unmanned one is a totally different story !!! JMHO
I really do NOT see any difference between a U2 flying at 100K, or a Drone flying at 50K.... both have cameras, both take pictures, one has a guy in it, and the other has a guy on the ground, flying it..... They were flying U2's over us since the 50's, and taking pictures..... so what is the difference....
Could just be me, but I think the guy sitting in front of a PC flying by remote more likely to experience a disconnect from reality and not have his moral compass running interference with his actions.
If you look at the drones in question the majority are area recon drones... less than 20 kilometer range or so and man portable we are not talking predators and global hawks (and when we are most of them are being flown overseas with the pilots in the US) i think it needs to head toward the tin foil lounge.... but as always YMMV
I dont care about the Military flying drones overhead, living within close proximity to three of the points on the map, I would expect them to be. I highlighted my issue with this and my specific problem in bold print. The language allowing industry and ETC. availability of drone assets bothers me. Dept. of Homeland security as well but that is a whole 'nother can of beans I dont want to get into on this thread (it would need it's own). Etc is a big friggen loophole for politicians to play with and exploit.