Drones Over the Homeland: From Border Security to National Security

Tom Barry | Truthout | May 19, 2013

A Predator B aircraft in Palmdale, Calif., on Dec. 7, 2009. To help spot and track smugglers, the Homeland Security Department is expanding its use of drones, the unmanned aircraft widely used in war zones, beyond the Mexican and Canadian borders to the Caribbean and possibly other seas. (Photo: Ann Johansson / The New York Times)

Public attention and Congressional review, writes Barry, should focus on the increasing militarization of border control, especially in the management of the border drone program.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it is the “leading edge” of drone deployment in the United States. Since 2005, DHS has been purchasing Predator drones – officially called unmanned aerial systems (UAS) – to “secure the border,” yet these unarmed Predator drones are also steadily creeping into local law enforcement, international drug-interdiction and national security missions – including across the border into the heart of Mexico.

DHS will likely double its drone contingent to two dozen unmanned UAS produced by General Atomics as part of the border security component of any immigration reform.  The prominence of border security in immigration reform can’t be missed.  The leading reform proposal, offered by eight US senators, is the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 – which proposes to spend $6.5 billion in additional “border security” measures, mostly high-tech surveillance by drones and ground surveillance systems.

Most of the concern about the domestic deployment of drones by DHS has focused on the crossover to law-enforcement missions that threaten privacy and civil rights, and that, without more regulations in place, the program will accelerate the transition to what critics call a “surveillance society.” Also alarming is the mission creep of border drones, managed by the DHS’ Customs and Border Protection (CPB) agency with increasing interface between border drones, international drug interdiction operations and other military-directed national security missions.

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10 Ways the Public Backlash Against Killer Drones Is Taking Off

Medea Benjamin, Noor Mir | AlterNet | March 27, 2013

Rand Paul’s marathon 13-hour filibuster was not the end of the conversation on drones. Suddenly, drones are everywhere, and so is the backlash. Efforts to counter drones at home and abroad are growing in the courts, at places of worship, outside air force bases, inside the UN, at state legislatures, inside Congress–and having an effect on policy.

1. April marks the national month of uprising against drone warfare. Activists in upstate New York are converging on the Hancock Air National Guard Base where Predator drones are operated. In  San Diego, they will take on Predator-maker General Atomics at both its headquarters and the home of the CEO. In D.C., a coalition of national and local organizations are coming together to say no to drones at the White House. And all across the nation—including New York City, New Paltz, Chicago, Tucson and Dayton—activists are planning picket lines, workshops and sit-ins to protest the covert wars. The word has even spread to Islamabad, Pakistan, where activists are planning a vigil to honor victims.

2. There has been an unprecedented surge of activity in cities, counties and state legislatures across the country aimed at regulating domestic surveillance drones. After a raucous city council hearing in Seattle in February, the Mayor agreed to terminate its drones program and return the city’s two drones to the manufacturer. Also in February, the city of Charlottesville, VA passed a 2-year moratorium and other restrictions on drone use, and other local bills are pending in cities from Buffalo to Ft. Wayne. Simultaneously, bills have been proliferating on the state level. In Florida, a pending  bill will require the police to get a warrant to use drones in an investigation; a Virginia statewide moratorium on drones passed both houses and awaits the governor’s signature, and similar legislation in pending in at least 13 other state legislatures.

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7 Big Defense Companies with Transparency Problems

Robert Beckhusen | Wired | Reader Supported News | February 1, 2013

The combination of tons of cash from advanced military projects and excessive secrecy is a dangerous one – it fuels corruption and graft in defense industries around the world. This week, Transparency International released its summary of corruption in the defense world, and broke down which countries scored an “F” on the watchdog’s rankings for openness. The group has also been going after specific vendors of death and destruction that haven’t been upfront about measures to stop corruption.

To come to its conclusions, the watchdog group surveyed companies using several criteria: whether the companies have anti-corruption programs in place, whether the companies require ethics training for employees, whether firms keep an eye on graft by their suppliers and contractors, and whether the firms prohibit – or at least regulate – political contributions and influence-buying from employees, among many other questions.

Here are seven of the worst offenders

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