A Contributor to Hemisphere To Hemiphere
On February 8, 2012, the President of the United States of America was presented with H.R.658, also known as the “FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act.”
On February 3 the House agreed to the conference report with a vote of 258-169 and on February 6, the Senate agreed to the conference report by a vote of 75-20.
This legislation, which was covered sparingly in the establishment media for reasons which will likely become quite obvious, includes some troubling provisions regarding the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, better known simply as drones) in the United States.
Section 320 states that the legislation, “Requires the FAA Administrator to: (1) develop plans to accelerate the integration of unmanned aerial systems into the National Airspace System, and (2) report to Congress on progress made in establishing special use airspace for the DOD to develop detection techniques for small unmanned aerial vehicles and to validate sensor integration and operation of unmanned aerial systems.”
This section addresses both the increasing use of drones over America, which is obviously being accelerated, along with the Department of Defense’s efforts to develop systems to detect small drones and coordinate the sensor integration and operation of drones.
The same section also directs the Secretary of the Department of Defense to create a process to develop certification and flight standards which will be used for military drones at certain test sites.
The increasing use of drones in the United States, before this legislation was even passed, has been a matter of great concern for me along with many other analysts who have been keeping tabs on the issue.
Previously I have covered how drones can be used to track individuals over great distances, even tracking who they associate with and when, along with creating so-called “threat assessments” based on biometric information. These threat assessments effectively criminalize individuals before anything illegal is actually done, by detecting (or at least supposedly detecting) malicious intent.
There was also the case in North Dakota where a military drone, in this case the Predator B, was launched form an Air Force Base to assist police in finding and arrested suspects. This case obviously had sweeping implications due to the fact that it heavily blurred what used to be quite clear lines between law enforcement and the military.
This effectively circumvents the Posse Comitatus Act, something which is a disconcerting prospect for many individuals in the United States who believe in liberty and a constitutional government.
With the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, or simply the NDAA as it is better known, the military has gained unprecedented new powers to detain Americans indefinitely without charge or trial based on nothing more than suspicion.
The American police state is growing in many ways, but the increasing use of the military on United States soil and the acceleration of the integration of drones – both military and civilian – is one of the most concerning.
More at EndtheLie.com - http://EndtheLie.com/2012/02/10/the-american-police-state-takes-a-major-step-forward-with-passage-of-bill-accelerating-integration-of-drones-into-american-airspace/#ixzz1noJ3JZHg