DM: FAA is forced to reveal 63 (Unmanned Drone) launch sites across U.S.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134376/Is-drone-neighbourhood-Rise-killer-spy-planes-exposed-FAA-forced-reveal-63-launch-sites-U-S.html

Includes six drone launch sites in the DC area...

Is there a drone in your neighbourhood? Rise of spy planes exposed after FAA is forced to reveal 63 launch sites across U.S.

• Unmanned spy planes are being launched from locations in 20 states and owners include the military and universities
  
  

By Julian Gavaghan

PUBLISHED: 05:15 EST, 24 April 2012 | UPDATED: 06:51 EST, 24 April 2012

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There are at least 63 active drone sites around the U.S, federal authorities have been forced to reveal following a landmark Freedom of Information lawsuit.

The unmanned planes – some of which may have been designed to kill terror suspects – are being launched from locations in 20 states.

Most of the active drones are deployed from military installations and, enforcement agencies and border patrol, according to the Federal Aviation Authority.

Exposed: Location of sites where licences have been granted for the use of drones within the U.S. There are 63 active sites based in 20 states. Red flags show active sites and blue show those locations where licences have expired since 2006

But, astonishingly, 19 universities and colleges are also registered as owners of what are officially known as unmanned aerial vehicles.

It is thought that many of institutions, which include Cornell, the University of Colorado, Georgia Tech, and Eastern Gateway Community College, are developing drone technology.

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There are also 21 mainstream manufactures, such as General Atomics, who are registered to use drones domestically.

As well as active locations, the FAA also revealed 16 sites where licences to use spy planes have expired and four where authorisations have been disapproved, such as Otter Tail County, Minnesota.

Unusual: The University of Connecticut - one of 19 educational institutions to own spy planes - is the drone site closest to New York City. The North East is the region with the highest concentration

Concentration: The Beltway around Washington DC has the highest concentration of urban and suburban drone sites, including the U.S. Marine Corp base as Quantico Station, Virginia

The authority revealed the information after a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Its website hosts an interactive map that allows the user to zoom in to the area around where they live to see if any sites are nearby.

However, the FAA is yet to reveal what kinds of drones might be based at any of these locations.

The agency says it will release this data later.

Most of the drones are likely to be small craft, such as the Draganflyer X8, which can carry a payload of only 2.2lb.

Police, border patrols and environmental agencies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), could use for them effectively.

While few would object to vast open areas being monitored for wildfires, there are fears of privacy violations if drones are used to spy over cities.

Florida: Mostly police and Sheriff departments are registered to use drones in the state

Watch out Canada! Border agents are registered to use drone in North Dakota, just a few hundred miles from Winnipeg, Manitoba

Remote: The University of Alaska's drones are the most distant from any major urban centres. They are, however, the closest to Russia

Hotspot: Texas has one of the highest number of drone sites

West Coast: There are comparatively few drone sites in California and Western states

Other drones – likely to be operated only by the armed forces – might include the MQ-9 Reaper and the MQ-1 Predator, which was used to kill American Al Qaeda boss Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen last September.

The FAA released two lists of public and private entities that have applied for authorisations to fly drones domestically.

Certificates of Authorizations (COAs), issued to public entities like police departments, are active in 42 locations, expired in 16 and disapproved in four.

Special Airworthiness Certificates (SACs), issued to private drone manufacturers, are active in 21 locations and not active in 17.

Among the other unanswered questions, however, are is exactly how many drones each registered user owns.

Killer: Some of the drones owned by the military might be the MQ-9 Reaper, which has been used to target terrorists overseas

Watching you: Most of the drones are likely to be small craft, such as the Draganflyer X8, which can carry a payload of only 2.2lb. Police, border patrols and environmental agencies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), could use for them effectively

The FAA has confirmed that there were about 300 active COAs and that the agency has issued about 700-750 authorizations since the program began in 2006.

But this information does not reveal how many are owned, for example, by Miami Dade Police Department.

While the use of drones in the U.S. is little known, American operations overseas have been well documented.

As well as high-profile terrorists, campaigners claim hundreds of innocent civilians have been killed in the border regions of Pakistan, where they are most active.

SO WHICH PUBLIC ENTITIES ARE REGISTERED OWNERS OF DRONES? FULL LIST REVEALED HERE

U.S. Air Force Mississippi Department of Marine Resources

Arlington Police Department Mississippi State University

U.S. Army U.S. Navy

City of Herington, Kansas New Mexico Tech

City of North Little Rock, AR Police Department Ogden Police Department

DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Ohio University

DHS (Department of Homeland Security) / CBP (Customs and Border Protection) Orange County Sheriff's Office

DHS (Department of Homeland Security) / Science and Technology Polk County Sheriff's Office

DOE (Department of Energy) - Idaho National Laboratory Seattle Police Dept

Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service Texas A&M University Corpus Christi

Department of the Interior - National Business Center/Aviation Management Directorate Texas A&M University - TEES

Eastern Gateway Community College University of Alaska Fairbanks

Texas State University University of Colorado

Gadsden Police Department

Georgia Tech Research Institute University of Florida

Kansas State University University of North Dakota

USMC (United States Marine Corps)

Mesa County Sheriff's Office

Miami-Dade Police Department Utah State University

Middle Tennessee State University Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

New Mexico State University Physical Sciences Laboratory (NMSU-PSL) Washington State Department of Transportation

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134376/Is-drone-neighbourhood-Rise-killer-spy-planes-exposed-FAA-forced-reveal-63-launch-sites-U-S.html#ixzz1sxiGGn5U

queue the Libertarians in 3....2.....1......

Here's a picture of the unmanned drone set to be unveiled within the next decade:

Hmmm, interesting. I didn't expect that so many are launched from universities.

By the way, there's an awful lot of pictures in that quote....

queue the Libertarians in 3....2.....1......

Interesting. Last administration, spying on Americans without a warrant was a bad thing.

Looks like I just became a nudist when I'm at home. If they're going to be spying on me with that infrared ****, they're going to pay the price.

How is revealing these sites protecting the countries security? I guess most of these drone sites are for civil reasons, I see many Universities and Police Stations/Sherriffs office listed...?

Interesting. Last administration, spying on Americans without a warrant was a bad thing.

No expectation of privacy. And it wasn't flying over the homes of Americans without a warrant, it was tapping people's phones and listening to their private conversations without a warrant that was at issue.

But then you knew that.

Looks like I just became a nudist when I'm at home. If they're going to be spying on me with that infrared ****, they're going to pay the price.

That's a pretty high price for freedom.

How is revealing these sites protecting the countries security? I guess most of these drone sites are for civil reasons, I see many Universities and Police Stations/Sherriffs office listed...?

The information was released as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the FAA. The FAA I'm sure originally had no intention of releasing this but were compelled to do so. Whether you consider this information nationally sensitive or not, watchdog groups such as the EFF aren't as concerned about that as they are with open government.

No expectation of privacy. And it wasn't flying over the homes of Americans without a warrant, it was tapping people's phones and listening to their private conversations without a warrant that was at issue.

But then you knew that.

And I agreed with you on wiretapping (eventually.) But these drones absolutely can at least make out shapes/detect heat inside buildings. So while they may not be able to tell what color shirt you have on, they absolutely can tell what you're doing if they so choose.

That's a pretty high price for freedom.

I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. But my government? Maybe.

yay i got one in minnesota.

Listening to people having coversations overseas = bad, even though FISA was supposed to review these?

http://epic.org/privacy/wiretap/stats/fisa_stats.html

looking at it with the naked eye there was more oversight with Bush years than President Obama years?

62 drones flying around the States seems worse to me - its not individualized for anyone to 'review'???

And I agreed with you on wiretapping (eventually.) But these drones absolutely can at least make out shapes/detect heat inside buildings. So while they may not be able to tell what color shirt you have on, they absolutely can tell what you're doing if they so choose.

Yep, agreed...but then as long as I'm not breaking the law then I have nothing to worry about.

I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. But my government? Maybe.

That's just down right ruthless!

Yep, agreed...but then as long as I'm not breaking the law then I have nothing to worry about.

We're about to see a working definition of irony. I deleted the smilie when I quoted you. And now I'm standing by for Larry to come in here, defend me, and rip you a new one!

Why is this surprising? Especially the part about universities, where they might use drones in any number of research applications? Y'all are paranoid.

Why is this surprising? Especially the part about universities, where they might use drones in any number of research applications? Y'all are paranoid.

That's exactly my thought too, they have to fly them because they're the one's working on the tech. No biggie there, I think the conspiracy nuts see that and read it as if it says "Universities assist the Department of Defense in Civilian Spy Network"....which obviously it doesn't.

---------- Post added April-24th-2012 at 11:09 AM ----------

We're about to see a working definition of irony. I deleted the smilie when I quoted you. And now I'm standing by for Larry to come in here, defend me, and rip you a new one!

I wonder if I should just mess with him for a couple of pages.

This just in from the No ****, What Did You Expect Department..

We will hear from the Outraged Citizens Group, to be followed with closing remarks by the Pandoras Box Can't Be Closed Coalition.

~Bang

Is the difference between drones and helicopters or manned aircraft simply the operational cost?

Is the difference between drones and helicopters or manned aircraft simply the operational cost?

Supposedly, they can be equipped with shotguns and tasers.

Hmmm. Okay. Been thinking I'd seen the drones topic before. This one has some great detail to it so it's a good follow up to this one I think.

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?362279-WT-Drones-over-U.S.-get-OK-by-Congress

Oh. And the other one listed from here,(Ogden),is an application for a drone blimp.

These are very cool...depending on what they are used for.

And I agreed with you on wiretapping (eventually.) But these drones absolutely can at least make out shapes/detect heat inside buildings. So while they may not be able to tell what color shirt you have on, they absolutely can tell what you're doing if they so choose.

I remember a court case several years back regarding thermal imaging. Some cops stood in the street and used an infrared imager to look that the heat emissions from a suspected pot grower's house. They noted some hugely bright heat signatures spaced across the roof and (correctly) concluded that they were looking at the heat output from grow lights hung inside the house. They got a warrant based on that evidence (plus other evidence which, without the infrared images, would not have been enough to get the warrant), and then raided his house to discover exactly what they expected to find.

The case hinged upon whether or not law enforcement was allowed to "peer into" a person's house using technology without getting the warrant first -- even if the evidence was collected simply by looking at the house from a public street and the technology did nothing more than "extend" (i.e., remap) the range of light humans see by a couple hundred micrometers in wavelength. In other words, were certain wavelengths of light off-limits to law enforcement, even when collected just like other warrant-optional evidence?

What I don't remember is how the case was decided. It, or something like it, probably is settled case law by now -- but that's just an assumption. I have to imagine that it would have a lot to say about the notion of using drones to "peer into" people's homes from a different angle. Particularly if the standing-on-the-street scenario was found to be legal.

62 drones flying around the States seems worse to me - its not individualized for anyone to 'review'???

Check that, it's sixty two sites where they are launched from. Nothing in their about how many drones each site has up at any given time.

---------- Post added April-24th-2012 at 12:40 PM ----------

Is the difference between drones and helicopters or manned aircraft simply the operational cost?

It's really the capability. A helecopter can stay in the air say an hour, an hour and a half. A plane maybe 3 hours without refuling, 10 hours or so with refuling.

A drone can stay up in the air for days and since you don't have a pilote you can put a lot more intelligence gathering stuff in there too.

I think also the entire armorment thing is troubling too. We've used drones to kill foreigners on foreign soil and some Americans were uncomfortable... Then we've used drones to kill Americans on foreign soil and some Americans were uncomforable.. Now we are informed they are using drones domestically including drones designed to carry weapons...

Civil liberties angle is one thing... but abuse of power and the entire federal governments ability to use lethal force without descression or independent oversite in peace time domestically is kind of troubleing too.

Why is there an assumption that the only possible unmanned flying vehicles are spy drones or hunter/killers, and that these places licensed by the FAA to have unmanned vehicles are loaded up with such evils?

Heck, why can't they be for something like flying cameras to monitor rush hour traffic?

I guess I need more information before I start to panic.

Harry's Law, the TV show on NBC, had an episode about police drones hovering over her neighbor's yard. Harry (the female lead and played in kick *** style by Kathy Bates) shot it out of the sky with her shotgun. All kinds of fun ensued.