Japan Changes Constitution to Join Global Drone Arms Race

Update on the global drone arms race.

U.S. drone arrives at Japanese air base

Nicholas West

It has been predicted that the development of drone surveillance by the U.S. would spark a global race to develop new drone capabilities, leading to a potentially dystopian future of drone wars where combat and even assassinations can be performed by fleets of insect-like microbots. The Washington Post reported in July, 2011:

More than 50 countries have purchased surveillance drones, and many have started in-country development programs for armed versions because no nation is exporting weaponized drones beyond a handful of sales between the United States and its closest allies. (Source)

The number of countries possessing surveillance drones has now risen toward 90, plus the United Nations itself has launched its own fleet. Armed drones are also proliferating rapidly with at least 20 countries believed to have unmanned weaponized vehicles. Japan is the latest to go full-steam ahead in an effort to keep up - so much so that they actually have rewritten their constitution to ensure more militaristic endeavors.

War Evolves With Drones, Some Tiny as Bugs

Source

Elisabeth Bumiller and Thom Shanker
The New York Times

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio — Two miles from the cow pasture where the Wright Brothers learned to fly the first airplanes, military researchers are at work on another revolution in the air: shrinking unmanned drones, the kind that fire missiles into Pakistan and spy on insurgents in Afghanistan, to the size of insects and birds.

The base’s indoor flight lab is called the “microaviary,” and for good reason. The drones in development here are designed to replicate the flight mechanics of moths, hawks and other inhabitants of the natural world. “We’re looking at how you hide in plain sight,” said Greg Parker, an aerospace engineer, as he held up a prototype of a mechanical hawk that in the future might carry out espionage or kill.

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RELATED ACTIVIST POST ARTICLES:
Micro Drones to Fly Surveillance Missions Over the U.S.
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Drone surveillance in the US? (Video)

YouTube -- RT

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Drones Spray, Track the Unwilling in Air Force Plan

Wiki Commons Image

By Adam Rawnsley
WIRED

Here’s how the U.S. Air Force wants to hunt the next generation of its enemies: A tiny drone sneaks up to a suspect, paints him with an unnoticed powder or goo that allows American forces to follow him everywhere he goes — until they train a missile on him.

On Tuesday, the Air Force issued a call for help making a miniature drone that could covertly drop a mysterious and unspecified tracking “dust” onto people, allowing them to be tracked from a distance. The proposal says its useful for all kinds of random things, from identifying friendly forces and civilians to tracking wildlife. But the motive behind a covert drone tagger likely has less to do with sneaking up on spotted owls and more to do with painting a target on the backs of tomorrow’s terrorists.

Effectively tracking foes has become a high priority — and deeply secret — research effort for the Pentagon, which has struggled at times to sort out insurgent from innocent in places like Afghanistan. The Navy has a $450 million contract with Herndon, Virginia’s Blackbird Technologies, Inc. to produce tiny beacons to make terrorists trackable. The Defense Department has been pouring serious cash — $210 million that they’ll admit to — to find advanced new ways to do this so-called “Tagging, Tracking and Locating” work, as Danger Room co-founder Sharon Weinberger noted inPopular Science last year.

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North American Perimeter Security and the Militarization of the Northern Border

Dana Gabriel
Be Your Own Leader

With the release of a U.S. Congressional report that found only a small fraction of the border with Canada was being adequately monitored, there is now more focus being placed on the northern border. As a result of increased scrutiny, there are efforts to militarize and expand surveillance on the Canada-U.S. border. The new found attention is also attributed to a proposed trade and security perimeter agreement between the two countries which promotes a shared approach to border management. 

A report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in February of this year, found that a substantial portion of the northern border lacked any effective monitoring and surveillance. It concluded that only 32 of the 4,000-mile border was under operational control. The findings were largely based on failures to better coordinate border cooperation and information sharing among the various agencies. A Press Release by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security stated that according to the study, “the risk of terrorist activity across the northern border is higher than across the southern border because there are active Islamist extremist groups in Canada that are not in Mexico, it is easier to cross the northern border because it is twice as long as the southern border, and DHS has a fraction of the law enforcement officers and surveillance assets on the northern border than it has in the south.” It went on to say, “The border with Canada is also dotted with large population centers and criss-crossed by numerous highways and roads, making it harder to detect illegal activities amid the large volume of legitimate trade and travel between Canada and the U.S. that is so important to both countries.”

US mulling drones for Pakistan despite tensions

A Predator surveillance drone. © AFP/General Atomics/File

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States is considering providing unmanned drones to Pakistan for aerial surveillance despite tensions between the two countries over measures to combat terrorist activity, a US official said Friday.

The plan being studied would provide several dozen of the small Raven aircraft -- with a wingspan of just 1.4 meters (4.5 feet) -- equipped with cameras but without the capability of firing missiles, unlike the Predator or Reaper aircraft used by US forces.

The plans for the drones "are under consideration," a US official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

American High-Tech Weapons Fail to Prevent Tragedy

Hellfire missile from drone fired by remote control in Nevada

David S. Cloud
Common Dreams

Nearly three miles above the rugged hills of central Afghanistan, American eyes silently tracked two SUVs and a pickup truck as they snaked down a dirt road in the pre-dawn darkness.

The vehicles, packed with people, were 3 1/2  miles from a dozen U.S. special operations soldiers, who had been dropped into the area hours earlier to root out insurgents. The convoy was closing in on them.

At 6:15 a.m., just before the sun crested the mountains, the convoy halted.

"We have 18 pax [passengers] dismounted and spreading out at this time," an Air Force pilot said from a cramped control room at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, 7,000 miles away. He was flying a Predator drone remotely using a joystick, watching its live video transmissions from the Afghan sky and radioing his crew and the unit on the ground.

The Afghans unfolded what looked like blankets and kneeled. "They're praying. They are praying," said the Predator's camera operator, seated near the pilot.

The Future Expansion of Unmanned Drones Over The U.S. (Video)

Coming soon? Predator equipped with Hellfire missile - Wiki

Michael Edwards
Activist Post

In a stark admission, two-star General, John Priddy, from the U.S. National Air Security Operations Center, confirmed in the video below that the continued expansion of predator drone surveillance is a stated goal for the coming years.  His comments were echoed by Al Palmer, Director of Unmanned Aircraft Training at the world's largest center at the University of North Dakota, "The world is going to spend $80 billion on unmanned aircraft between now and 2016." 

The idea for predator drone surveillance of Americans was kept under wraps until fairly recently.  Even after a 2007 local news station in Texas captured drone flight tests on video, it was roundly denied as conspiracy theory that unmanned drones would actually take flight over America.  Further investigation revealed that this flight test coincided with a plan already in place to patrol far inland beyond the legal 100-mile security border, also known as the Constitution-free Zone.

US drones 'over Mexico to track drug lords'

© AFP/File Joel Saget

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States has begun sending unarmed drones deep into Mexico to gather intelligence about powerful drug cartels in order to assist local authorities, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper said US President Barack Obama and his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderon formally agreed to the high-altitude missions in a meeting on March 3 but have kept it secret because of possible political and legal constraints.

It cited unnamed US officials as saying that the drones gathered vital information leading to Mexico's arrest of several suspects in last month's killing of US immigration and customs agent Jaime Zapata, 32.

Domestic Drones Funded by You are Spying on You (Video)

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Homegrown terrorism: the threat of Homeland Security and spy agencies

Dees Illustration

Marti Oakley, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

We should have stormed the streets when TSA was set loose in our airports to assault travelers, but we didn’t. Instead, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of us mewled that TSA was “only trying to keep us safe”.  These assaults have nothing to do with our safety; we are being systematically trained to comply, to submit.  Now, because so many of us did comply, TSA is setting up shop in our train stations and courthouses among other public places and is expanding their assaults on US citizens.

The government has now openly declared war on its own citizens.  Think I’m wrong?

While the globalists at the federal level pretend to be in conflict about spending and the uber scary national debt and deficit spending, the global elite that control the government had no problem borrowing millions upon million of dollars to purchase 500 roving surveillance vans. The Z Backscatter vans range in cost from $729,000 to $825,000  that will invade your person, x-ray you, facially imprint you and scan and record your iris.  You can be walking down a street, attending a sports event, or just sitting in a park or your own home and you can be scanned.  Have you figured out who the government is hunting yet?  Who they are after?  I would advise not leaving your home without very dark and large sunglasses and a big hat to pull down over your face.

And the cost of these 500 police state vans?

• 500 @ 729,000 each = 364,500,000.  That’s on the low side.
• 500 @ 825,000 each= 412,500,00 million on the high side.
• 5 employees per van at an average government wage of 45,000 per year = 112,500,000

The startup costs for unlawfully invading your privacy and person and conducting a warrantless search?  If all the vans were purchased for 729,000 each and you add in just the average labor costs=477,000,000

At 825,000 each plus labor== 525,500,000.


So congress is suggesting that food stamps to the poor be cut along with education, heating assistance and Social Security…….but they can afford these vans?

These costs do not include operating expenses, insurance on the vans and employees or unexpected cost overruns, expenses and other hidden costs associated with violating your constitutional rights.  These costs are just the estimates for this year.  These vans are just one source of the homegrown terrorism activities in our country.

How many of you have seen the ads for the national guard, showing young men in a room surrounded by huge screens sitting at a console that looks like a huge gameboard?  The script on the ad says something to the effect of  “GI Joe is operating a drone for surveillance 651 miles away.  But he drives only 2.1 miles to get to his home.” ( I’m paraphrasing there, of course.)  Then shows the young GI pulling up in the driveway of a very nice looking home and heading for the door.  Did any of you stop to think where the drones were being used?  Who GI Joe was spying on?  I bet a fair number of you immediately thought GI Joe was spying on some terrorist camp in Afghanistan or Iraq, didn’t you?  It couldn’t possibly be that he was spying on Americans…..could it?

The cost of one drone? 30,000 each and the government and many cities are ordering huge numbers of them for use in America.  Wonder who they are spying on?

We have been carefully trained to believe that some boogey man working as a terrorist from some far away place is out to get us.  9/11 cemented this fear in most people’s minds even though the whole government conspiracy theory has been so thoroughly debunked, and no reasonable person could conclude that some madman in a cave with a laptop orchestrated that event.  For you who still cling to the conspiracy theory that Osama Bin Laden, a known CIA asset, was responsible for that attack, never fear.  At any given moment Bin Laden will be resurrected and will convey a threat from his grave and will send a video to Homeland Security to disperse to every news station in the country.  I personally think it is wonderful that Bin Laden’s warm and fuzzy feelings towards what is now known as Homeland Security have extended beyond his death. Even death does not keep Bin Laden from sending greetings whenever Homeland Security is about to expand its police state.  Who knew they were so close?  By the way, the FBI has still never charged Bin Laden with 9/11.  I wonder why?

Apparently the globalists fear of the American people is reaching epic proportions.  We have Fusions Centers, data mining, dna collection, iris scanning, facial imprinting, drones, spy vans, snitches and individual dossiers on every person being assembled with any and all information that can be collected about you whether true or not.  They don’t’ care.  Its true if they say it is and every bit of it is to be used to assemble a criminal case against you should they decide to do so. In a police state we are all felons, as any activity we engage in, can be criminalized at the convenience of the government at any time. And, if they had no intentions of using data they collect about you against you, they wouldn’t be so actively engaged in collecting it.

As if the co-opting of Wal-Mart in the snitch and report campaign wasn’t enough, The Stool Pigeon Protection Act was just introduced by Pete King (R) NY, along with several other neo-con crazies.
:To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to provide immunity for reports of suspected terrorist activity or suspicious behavior and response.:

What this means to those out there with no sense of loyalty or morality is that you can snitch and report without repercussion.  Heck, the worst that can happen to you is the government will publish your name if the pressure on them becomes too great.

Amazing how this piece of police state garbage shows up when 22 million people are out of work and many on the verge of losing their homes.  Thousands of families are living in shelters and we are hemorrhaging jobs to third world countries.  This Stool Pigeon Protection Act, will pay you 1,000 for snitching, reporting, or fabricating a story about one of your neighbors, family members or even someone you never even met.  Doesn’t matter.  It’s the act of training you to snitch and report that is important.

We do have an epidemic of homegrown terrorists and terrorism.  We do have radical groups operating in this country and we need to be wary of them.  Homeland Security represents a clear and present danger to the continuance of the sovereign but united (50) states and the citizens of those states.  Anyone who slaps on a government badge and accepts a paycheck with full knowledge that their job will involve violating your rights and the Constitution of the people of the United States, should be considered a domestic terrorist.  Any agency who is unlawfully and actively spying on, data mining, intimidating or violating your Constitutional rights should be considered a radical extremist group and domestic terrorists.

Claiming that you work for the government is no excuse.  Just following orders is no excuse.  You know what you are doing and you know that it is wrong on many levels.  So while I agree with the idea that there are radical extremist groups and homegrown terrorism, I would argue what that actually entails and where it actually is coming from.

Personally I believe every time we encounter a TSA agent, a roving surveillance van or drone, or just see anything that looks to be coming from government, we should all call in on the tip line and report it, demand our $1000 snitch payment and then go shopping.

______________________________________________
Cost of Drones                                                                    
http://news.cnet.com/Drone-aircraft-may-prowl-U.S.-skies/2100-11746_3-6055658.html
Stool Pigeon Protection Act http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/stool-pigeon-protection-act/
Cost of Surveillance X-ray scan vans http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/10/19/x-ray-vans-security-measure-invasion-privacy/

Marti Oakley is a political activist and former op-ed columnist for the St Cloud Times in Minnesota. She was a member of the Times Writer’s Group until she resigned in September of 07. She is neither Democrat nor Republican, since neither party is representative of the American people. She says what she thinks, means what she says, and is known for being outspoken. She is hopeful that the American public will wake up to what is happening to our beloved country . . . little of it is left.  Her website is The PPJ Gazette   

Recently by Marti Oakley: 
Social Security is not an "entitlement" program  

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How Close Are We to a Nano-based Surveillance State?

Source

Michael Edwards
Activist Post

In the span of just three years, we have seen drone surveillance become openly operational on American soil.

In 2007, Texas reporters first filmed a predator drone test being conducted by the local police department in tandem with Homeland Security.  And in 2009, it was revealed that an operation was underway to use predator drones inland over major cities, far from "border control" functions.  This year it has been announced that not only will drone operations fly over the Mexican border, but the United States and Canada are partnering to cover 900 miles of the northern border as well.

Now that the precedent has been set to employ drones over non-combat areas, the military is further revealing the technology of miniaturization that they currently have at their disposal.  As drone expert, P.W. Singer said, "At this point, it doesn't really matter if you are against the technology, because it's coming."  According to Singer, "The miniaturization of drones is where it really gets interesting.  You can use these things anywhere, put them anyplace, and the target will never even know they're being watched."

So what exactly is on the horizon?

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funds military tech development through the private sector with defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Honeywell.  It was Honeywell that introduced the T-Hawk micro drone -- now purchased by Miami-Dade county for use in the metro area -- which weighs all of 16 pounds and can fly in any direction.  However, this is not so "micro" compared to the latest spy drone to be revealed: the Nano Hummingbird, produced by AeroVironment. The video below illustrates the capabilities of this 19g vehicle:



This mimicking of nature heralds a range of science fiction nightmare scenarios, but the name of this vehicle, "nano", is what should spark a red alert.  Because, in fact, DARPA and their contractors are working on true nano surveillance that will have biological components . . . and applications.

Here are some surveillance and detection concepts already in operation, or under development (keeping in mind that what is revealed in the public domain is often quite far behind the reality):

• A group of smaller surveillance drones called NAV (nano air vehicles) or MAV (micro air vehicles) already have been commissioned:  mapleseed drones; sparrow drones by 2015, dragonfly drones to fly in swarms by 2030, and eventually a housefly drone.  And if the reconstruction of nature doesn't pan out, nature itself can be hijacked using electrical impulses to create cyborg surveillance insects being studied at major universities.
• Nano sensors for use in agriculture that measure crops and environmental conditions.
• Bomb-sniffing plants using rewired DNA to detect explosives and biological agents.
• "Smart Dust" motes that wirelessly transmit data on temperature, light, and movement (this can also be used in currency to track cash).
• Nano-based RFID barcodes that can be embedded into any material for tracking of all products . . . and people.
• Devices to detect molecules, enzymes, proteins and genetic markers -- opening up the door for race-specific bioweapons, as mentioned in the Project For a New American Century's policy paper Rebuilding America's Defenses.

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."

Strategically mounted sensors and a communications

network are the heart of SensorNet.

Source

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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DNA "Genetic Patdown" Introduced to Airports by DHS 
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Police and Military Working Together to Oppress Americans

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