There are countless ways that we are already
tracked in our daily lives, which has acclimatized us to the next steps underway. We know that the military has a desire to track large groups of people in real time. The
Gorgon Stare program is currently undergoing some operational difficulties, but the political will is there to continuously expand surveillance of large populations abroad in order to keep us safe at home in the never-ending War on Terror. Combine miniaturized surveillance capabilities with DARPA's
Mind's Eye program of "smart camera" artificial intelligence that can "think" and make visual reporting decisions independently, and things become exponentially creepier.
The Speed of Nanotech Development
Nanotech has been receiving official federal funding for only the past 10 years when it was raised to the status of a
federal initiative in 2001, which sparked massive investment in the private sector. By 2003, the newly opened Department of Homeland Security showed immediate interest in
SensorNet, a program spearheaded by
Oak Ridge National Laboratory and their strategic partners to research ways to fully integrate nano and micro sensors into one overall Internet-like matrix of real-time detection and surveillance. The Department of Defense allocated $3 million to the initiative for the first year, with a projected budget into the billions being allocated over the long term for "detection systems."
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Strategically mounted sensors and a communications network are the heart of SensorNet. |
By 2006, Oak Ridge announced that they planned to turn Fort Bragg military base into a
prototype for America's future cities. According to Department of Energy researcher, Bryan Gorman, "Any sensor can talk to any application. Just like with the Internet or with telephone systems, it doesn't matter what kind of computer or telephone you have, where you are or what application you're running. The system just works." There is even a proprietary
social network that has been designed to provide online access and collaboration.
SensorNet has since morphed into an even
more comprehensive system "to integrate safety and security measures . . . into the transportation system," which includes concerns surrounding transportation and commerce in the "political, economic, or environmental" arenas. It is here that the full scope of surveillance integration can be seen as a management strategy that merges legislation, federal inspection systems, international standards, security threat assessments, and the latest in nanotechnology. Just one example is their discussion of "highway sorting" systems and screening, which begins on page 15 in the previous link; it must be read to be believed. As an aside: the Senior Research Scientist and Senior Program Manager who co-authored the paper linked above is
Robert K. Abercrombie, Ph.D. who has a decided interest in cybersecurity. To see where the transportation component of the surveillance grid is heading over the near term, the
ITS Strategic Research Plan 2010-2014 is a good indication.
The Promise of Total Integration
February 4, 2011 brought the release of the
National Nanotechnology Initiative 2011 Strategic Plan. This 60-page must-read document lays out a projected future "to understand and control matter" for the management of every facet of human life within the surveillance matrix of environment, health and safety. Here is the short-list of the 25 participating Federal agencies and samples of their stated applications:
- Department of Defense (persistent surveillance)
- Intelligence Community (unmanned aircraft)
- Department of Energy (solving energy and climate change challenges)
- Department of Homeland Security (low-cost sensor platforms)
- Department of Justice (applicable to criminal justice needs)
- Department of Transportation (modifying or coordinating travel behavior)
- Environmental Protection Agency (environmental sensing, transformational capabilities)
- Food and Drug Administration (biological systems and effects on human health)
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture (global food security)
- National Institutes of Health (precise control to achieve predictable outcomes)
- Department of the Treasury (improved governance, implementing economic sanctions)
- National Science Foundation (education and societal dimensions)
The promise of integrating technology in a way that will benefit human knowledge and society already has been re-directed toward military applications for decades. It has manifested in the out-of-control military-industrial complex that has engaged America abroad in costly wars and destabilization campaigns. However, the fallout from this misappropriation of technology is beginning to take its toll on America in the form of militarized police and the monitoring of everyday Americans.
How much longer before the full spectrum of military sci-tech, including what we cannot even see, is unleashed upon an American people willing to accept total control to be safe? Has it happened already? Or, more importantly, how long before Americans come to the realization that when the construction of this surveillance prison has been completed -- when the door is locked, and the key thrown away -- it ultimately will have been our own money that was used to build it.
Additional sources for this article:
Little Brother is Watching You: The future of surveillance is small, very small
On Race-Targetable Biological Weaponry
It's a Bird, It's a Spy, It's Both
The plan for smaller, faster, deadlier UAVs
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