New DHS Drones Are Specially Equipped to See if Human Target is Armed

Susanne Posel
Occupy Corporatism
March 4, 2013


The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is requiring that Predator B drones be equip with surveillance capabilities that can determine if a human target is armed or not.
Through a solicitation posted in 2005, DHS initiated the process of obtaining drones to be specially equipped to become encompassing surveillance tools to use against the American people.
These specific drones are used to monitor US southern and northern borders; yet are now being utilizes by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the Secret Service (SS), the Texas Rangers, and local law enforcement to identify citizens carrying firearms and tracking them through cell phone use.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GAAS) explain that DHS specified that these drones “shall be capable of identifying a standing human being at night as likely armed or not”; including “signals interception” technology that can syphon communications in frequency ranges used by cell phones, as well as “direction finding” technology that can pin-point the locations of mobile devices or two-way radios.
GAAS provide “tactical reconnaissance radars, and surveillance systems” to the US government. Their CLAW and LYNX technology collaborate “multi-mode radar” and “sensor payload control and image analysis software “to enhance surveillance and intelligence gathering that can be downloaded into “ultra-wideband data links for government applications.”
These drones are “capable of intercepting electronic communications . . . [and] the capacity to recognize and identify a person on the ground.”
Previously, DHS asserted that the use of drones in American skies were for assurance of public safety. In collaboration with corporations specializing in surveillance, DHS has made outward requests for drone manufacturers to have their products used for spying on Americans – and get paid for it.
The DHS has teamed up with the World Surveillance Group, Inc., to develop technologies specializing in “chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, explosive (collectively, CBRNE), command, control, computers, communication, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C5ISR), and unmanned aerial systems (UAS).” The federal agency also put out a solicitation for “participation in the Robotic Aircraft for Public Safety (RAPS) project from the small unmanned aerial systems (SUAS) for transition to its customers” to use drones in American skies for more than the expressed purpose of spying on US citizens to secure their safety.
Drone testing are slated over head at Fort Sill Army Base in Oklahoma. According to the Borders and Maritime Security Division of the DHS, they “will conduct flight testing and evaluation of airborne sensors and small unmanned aerial systems,” the request reads, and now invites vendors to submit drones to be tested “under a wide variety of simulated but realistic and relevant real-world operation scenarios.”
The US Navy is in the midst of planning the Point Mugu UAV installation which will be a drone base. The Navy released an environmental impact report that outlined how the logistics of constructing the base would affect the environment.
The Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton, the elite of robotic surveillance, will be used to monitor the Pacific Ocean on daily missions for 24/7 eyes in the skies.
In July of 2012, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of DHS relayed to a House Committee meeting that drones would be useful for public safety or a disaster scenario. There is also the specific testing of a Robotic Aircraft for Public Safety that would be used for encompassing surveillance. Napolitano said: “With respect to Science and Technology, that directorate, we do have a funded project, I think it’s in California, looking at drones that could be utilized to give us situational awareness in a large public safety [matter] or disaster, such as a forest fire, and how they could give us better information.”
A leaked document from the Department of Justice (DoJ) revealed guidelines of the Obama administration’s legal reasoning for conducting targeted assassinations. The document asserts that the government may lawfully kill a United States citizen if “an informed, high-level official” decides that the target is a high-ranking Qaeda figure or affiliate who poses “an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States” and that capturing him is not feasible.
Without the definitive threat of attack that could be construed as inevitable, the power of executive order is all that is needed to have a targeted assassination initiated.
The white paper includes redefinitions and expansions of self-defense and imminent attack with the ideology of a “broader concept of imminence” without the necessity of actual intelligence to support those assumptions. If the American is thought to be a threat to the US, they could become eligible of these targeted assassinations.
The document also states that Congress would be circumvented while Congressional committee’s intelligence could be considered classified legal advice which would justify the killing.
The Obama administration, through the DoJ, are attempting to create a legal explanation for their targeted assassinations of US citizens without proof of terroristic activities.
Armed with a secret kill-list and several US citizens already murdered by the US government.
John Brennan, Presidential nominee for director of the Central Intelligence Agency, was once affectionately called Assassination Czar for his role in targeted assassinations with the use of drones for the Obama administration, has defended the policy by saying that Americans misinterpret that the US government “take[s] strikes to punish terrorists for past transgressions. Nothing could be further from the truth. We only take such action as a last resort to save lives when there’s no other alternative” to avert a threat to the nation.”
Brennan assured the Committee that if a person were killed “by mistake” during a targeted assassination, the Obama administration would acknowledge that fact immediately and publically.
Claiming “optimize[d] transparency” with regard to targeted assassinations, Brennan claimed that it is always carried out in the name of national security.
During Obama’s first term as President, Brennan held the position of Chief Counter-Terrorism adviser. While 4 Americans have been murdered by the targeted assassination program (one intentional and three claimed to be accidental), Brennan failed to given transparency to the Committee about the program by neglecting to define by what criteria an individual is placed on the secret kill-list.
Brennan worked for the CIA in Saudi Arabia and has established “enormous sway over the intelligence community.” His work with the Saudi Arabian government for the approval of drones in their skies have led to the murder of many individuals that were “identified” as al-Qaeda operatives.