From: Lewrockwell.com
America will never be a “no drone zone.”
That must be acknowledged from the outset. There is too much money
to be made on drones, for one, and too many special interest groups
– from the defense sector to law enforcement to the so-called
“research” groups that are in it for purely “academic”
reasons – who have a vested interest in ensuring that drones
are here to stay.
At one time, there was a small glimmer of hope that these aerial
threats to privacy would not come home to roost, but that all ended
when Barack Obama took office and made drones the cornerstone of
his war efforts. By the time President Obama signed the FAA Reauthorization
Act into law in 2012, there was no turning back. The FAA opened
the door for drones, once confined to the battlefields over Iraq
and Afghanistan, to be used domestically for a wide range of functions,
both public and private, governmental and corporate.
Those looking to the skies in search of Predator drones will be
in for a surprise, however, because when the drones finally descend
en masse on America, they will not be the massive aerial assault
vehicles favored by the Obama administration in their overseas war
efforts. Rather, the drones coming to a neighborhood near you will
be small, some nano in size, capable of flying through city streets
and buildings almost undetected, while hovering over cityscapes
and public events for long periods of time, providing a means of
24/7 surveillance.
These micro-drones will be the face of surveillance and crowd
control in the coming drone age.
Modeled after birds, insects, and other small animals, these small
airborne surveillance devices can remain hidden in plain view while
navigating spaces off limits to conventional aircraft. Able to take
off and land anywhere, able to maneuver through city streets and
hallways, and able to stop and turn on a dime, these micro-drones
will still pack a lethal punch, equipped with an array of weapons
and sensors, including tasers, bean-bag guns, “high-resolution
video cameras, infrared sensors, license plate readers, [and] listening
devices.”
You can rest assured, given the pace of technology and the fervor
of the drone industry (and its investors), that the sky is the limit
when it comes to the many uses (and abuses) for drones in America.
The following is just a small sampling of what will be descending
from the skies in the near future.
Cyborg drones. The Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) has begun to develop a Micro-Electro-Mechanical
System (MEMS) for the manipulation of insects into “cyborgs.”
Through genetic engineering, they are aiming to control the movement
of insects and utilize them for surveillance purposes.
Dragonfly drone. First reportedly spotted in
2007 hovering over protesters at an anti-war rally in Washington,
DC, it turns out that the government’s dragonfly drones are
just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to small aerial surveillance
devices designed to mimic nature. Just a year later, the US Air
Force “unveiled insect-sized spies ‘as tiny as bumblebees’
that could not be detected and would be able to fly into buildings
to ‘photograph, record, and even attack insurgents and terrorists.’”
Hummingbird drone. Shaped like a bird, the “Nano
Hummingbird” drone is negligibly larger than an actual hummingbird
and fits in the palm of one’s hand. It flits around effortlessly,
blending in with its surroundings. DARPA, the advanced research
division of the Department of Defense, gets the credit for this
biotic wonder.
Nano Quadrators. Similar to the hummingbird drone,
these small, four-propellered nano quadrator drones, developed by
researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, operate based upon
the flight dynamics of insects, enabling them to operate as a swarm.
Using twenty drones, researchers demonstrated how, moving compactly
as a unit, the drones were able to navigate obstacles, form complex
patterns, and even execute a fluid figure eight arrangement.
Spy-butterfly drone. In 2012, Israel unveiled
its new insect-inspired drone which they dubbed the “spy-butterfly”
because of its two sizable wings. Weighing in at only 20g, this
drone was developed for indoor surveillance, including public places
such as “train stations and airport terminals – or office
buildings.” The size and muted sound of the “virtually
noiseless” machines makes them unnoticeable and therefore
ideal for intelligence gathering. The spy-butterfly is so realistic
that, when tested, “birds and flies tended to fall behind
the device arranging into a flock.”
Switchblade drone. A more sinister example is
the Switchblade, a small military drone intended to act as a kamikaze
weapon. Weighing in at a mere six pounds and two feet in length,
it flies effortlessly through urban environments before zeroing
in on its target, a person, at which point it explodes, unceremoniously
killing him or her.
Mosquito drone. More lethal than its real-life
counterpart, the mosquito drone, while an engineering marvel, is
also a privacy advocate’s nightmare with its potential to
land on someone and use a needle-like-pincer to extract DNA from
its victims or, alternatively, inject drugs or other foreign substances.
Raven drone. Weighing in at 4 pounds, the RQ-11
Raven drone is not as small, nor is it as agile as its smaller counterparts,
but with more than 19,000 out there already, it is the most common.
Useful for seeing around corners and sending footage back to its
handlers, the Raven resembles a rudimentary model airplane and crumbles
like Legos upon landing.
With 63 active drone sites across the nation and 56 government
agencies presently authorized to use drones, including 22 law enforcement
agencies and 24 universities, drones are here to stay.
We’d better get ready. As Peter W. Singer, author of “Wired
for War,” a book about military robotics, warns: “The
debate over drones is like debating the merits of computers in 1979:
They are here to stay, and the boom has barely begun. We are at
the Wright Brothers Flier stage of this. There’s no stopping
this technology. Anybody who thinks they can put this genie back
in the box – that’s silliness.”
April
17, 2013
Constitutional
attorney and author John W. Whitehead [send
him mail] is founder and president of The
Rutherford Institute. He is the author of The
Change Manifesto (Sourcebooks).
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