Government

Expanding Drone Legislation ‘Raising an Alarm With the American Public’

Drone Prevalence Over U.S. Soil Raising Concern Among Citizens and Lawmakers

(Image: Wikimedia)

WASHINGTON (The Blaze/AP) — Thousands of drones patrolling U.S. skies?

Predictions that multitudes of unmanned aircraft could be flying here within a decade are raising the specter of a “surveillance society” in which no home or backyard would be off limits to prying eyes overhead. Law enforcement, oil companies, farmers, real estate agents and many others have seen the technology that was pioneered on battlefields, and they are eager to put it to use.

It’s not just talk: The government is in the early stages of devising rules for the unmanned aircraft.

So far, civilian use of drones is fairly limited. The Federal Aviation Administration had issued fewer than 300 permits for drones by the end of last year.

(Related: Where are the 63 drone sites approved by the FAA in the U.S.)

Public worries about drones began mostly on the political margins, but there are signs that they’re going mainstream.

Jeff Landry, a freshman Republican congressman from Louisiana’s coastal bayou country, says constituents have stopped him while shopping at Walmart to talk about their concerns.

“There is a distrust amongst the people who have come and discussed this issue with me about our government,” Landry said. “It’s raising an alarm with the American public.”

Fear that some drones may be armed, for example, has been fueled in part by a county sheriff’s office in Texas that used a homeland security grant to buy a $300,000, 50-pound ShadowHawk helicopter drone for its SWAT team. The drone can be equipped with a 40mm grenade launcher and a 12-gauge shotgun.

Randy McDaniel, chief deputy with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, told The Associated Press earlier this year his office had no plans to arm the drone, but he left open the possibility the agency might decide to adapt the drone to fire tear gas canisters and rubber bullets.

Earlier this year Congress, under pressure from the Defense Department and drone manufacturers, ordered the FAA to give drones greater access to civilian airspace by 2015. Besides the military, the mandate applies to drones operated by private companies or individuals and civilian government agencies, including federal, state and local law enforcement.

Below is a timeline created by the Electronic Frontier Foundation of drone integration in the United States. See the larger image here.

Drone Prevalence Over U.S. Soil Raising Concern Among Citizens and Lawmakers

(Image: EFF.org)

The military, which is bringing home unmanned aircraft from Afghanistan, wants room to test and use them.

But the potential civilian market for drones may far eclipse military demand. Power companies want them to monitor transmission lines. Farmers want to fly them over fields to detect which crops need water. Ranchers want them to count cows. Journalists are exploring drones’ newsgathering potential. Police departments want them to chase crooks, conduct search and rescue missions and catch speeders.

(Related: See other articles on the Blaze covering drone use by civilians and local law enforcement)

But concern is spreading. Another GOP freshman, Rep. Austin Scott, said he first learned of the issue when someone shouted out a question about drones at a Republican Party meeting in his Georgia district two months ago.

When Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, suggested during an interview on Washington radio station WTOP last month that drones be used by police since they’ve done such a good job on foreign battlefields, the political backlash was swift. NetRightDaily complained: “This seems like something a fascist would do. … McDonnell isn’t pro-Big Government, he is pro-HUGE Government.”

(Related: Drones over D.C.? Metro police chiefs grilled on UAVs, illegal immigrants, cops on cellphones — see how they respond)

John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute of Charlottesville, Va., which provides legal assistance in support of civil liberties and conservative causes, warned the governor, “America is not a battlefield, and the citizens of this nation are not insurgents in need of vanquishing.”

Drone Prevalence Over U.S. Soil Raising Concern Among Citizens and Lawmakers

Drone operators (Photo: Wikimedia)

There’s concern as well among liberal civil liberties advocates that government and private-sector drones will be used to gather information on Americans without their knowledge. Giving drones greater access to U.S. skies moves the nation closer to “a surveillance society in which our every move is monitored, tracked, recorded and scrutinized by the authorities,” the American Civil Liberties Union declared in a report last December.

An ACLU lobbyist, Chris Calabrese, said that when he speaks to audiences about privacy issues, drones are what “everybody just perks up over.”

“People are interested in the technology, they are interested in the implications and they worry about being under surveillance from the skies,” he said.

The anxiety has spilled into Congress, where lawmakers from both parties have been meeting to discuss legislation that would broadly address the civil-liberty issues. A Landry provision in a defense spending bill would prohibit information gathered by military drones without a warrant from being used as evidence in court. A provision that Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., added to another bill would prohibit the Homeland Security Department from arming its drones, including ones used to patrol the border.

Scott and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., have introduced identical bills to prohibit any government agency from using a drone to “gather evidence or other information pertaining to criminal conduct or conduct in violation of a regulation” without a warrant.

“I just don’t like the concept of drones flying over barbecues in New York to see whether you have a Big Gulp in your backyard or whether you are separating out your recyclables according to the city mandates,” Paul said in an interview, referring to a New York City ban on supersized soft drinks.

(Related: Cola Wars: Full-page ads in the New York Times challenge and mock Bloomberg’s sugary drink ban)

He acknowledged that was an “extreme example,” but he added: “They might just say we’d be safer from muggings if we had constant surveillance crisscrossing the street all the time. But then the question becomes, `What about jaywalking? What about eating too many donuts? What about putting mayonnaise on your hamburger?’ Where does it stop?”

Calabrese, the ACLU lobbyist, called Paul’s office as soon as he heard about the bill.

“I told them we think they are starting from the right place,” Calabrese said. “You should need some kind of basis before you use a drone to spy on someone.”

In a Congress noted for its political polarization, legislation to check drone use has the potential to forge “a left-right consensus,” he said. “It bothers us for a lot of the same reasons it bothers conservatives.”

The backlash has drone makers concerned. The drone market is expected to nearly double over the next 10 years, from current worldwide expenditures of nearly $6 billion annually to more than $11 billion, with police departments accounting for a significant part of that growth.

“We go into this with every expectation that the laws governing public safety and personal privacy will not be administered any differently for (drones) than they are for any other law enforcement tool,” said Dan Elwell, vice president of the Aerospace Industries Association.

Discussion of the issue has been colored by exaggerated drone tales spread largely by conservative media and bloggers.

Scott said he was prompted to introduce his bill in part by news reports that the Environmental Protection Agency has been using drones to spy on cattle ranchers in Nebraska. The agency has indeed been searching for illegal dumping of waste into streams, but it is doing it with piloted planes.

Megyn Kelly with Fox News, which reported a couple weeks ago that the EPA has been using unmanned aerial vehicles to take pictures, said in a correction that the agency has informed them manned aircraft are actually being used for these missions over the United States.

In another case, a forecast of 30,000 drones in U.S. skies by 2020 has been widely attributed to the FAA. But FAA spokeswoman Brie Sachse said the agency has no idea where the figure came from. It may be a mangled version of an aerospace industry forecast that there could be nearly 30,000 drones worldwide by 2018, with the United States accounting for half of them.

Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, co-chairs of a congressional privacy caucus, asked the FAA in April how it plans to protect privacy as it develops regulations for integrating drones into airspace now exclusively used by aircraft with human pilots. There’s been no response so far, but Acting FAA Administrator Michael Huerta will probably be asked about it when he testifies at a Senate hearing Thursday.

This story has been updated since its original posting to include more information. 

Comments (71)

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  • Diane TX
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 3:12am

    Well, when the drones spy into my backyard, all they will see are two tiny chihuahuas barking at the birds and squirrels, with their squeaky barks. I hope that the drones don’t take 10 inch high dogs as a “threat”.

    Report Post »  
    • suffolkva
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 7:59pm

      It doesn’t matter WHAT they see. The whole idea is completely totalitarian and facist. Republicans such as Gov. McDonnell of VA, where I live, are as bad or worse than the left on issues like this. We as a people need to stand up and take back our government from these monsters who see government as being in a supervisory role over the people. The people ARE the government and we have a deeply embedded right to privacy and autonomy from the prying eyes of government.

      Report Post »  
  • spikebu
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 2:56am

    Put an R or a D in front of it, it makes no difference. They really are out to get us. If I weren’t covered by the promise of everlasting life, I’d be very scared. I feel comfort seeing it all play out the way God said it would. The urgency I feel is for my loved ones and neighbors, not myself. I’m already saved. Whatever occurs, I’m good. Our priority needs to be those who aren’t. Nothing else really matters.

    Report Post »  
    • lukerw
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 7:01am

      PROGRESSIVES have always been in Both Parties… and they view their job as Requiring them to Control the People… so they really are FASCISTS!

      Report Post » lukerw  
    • themachinist239
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 9:20am

      Luker W, this may be the one time I fully agree with you. You‘re the first conservative I’ve seen, online or in person, that has even acknowledged the existence of conservative progressives. Political parties used to be more fragmented and people are too quick to forget that the “Progressive Republican” and “Progressive Democratic” parties wielded just as much influence as the major 2. Now we have an amalgamation of conflicting ideologies that opportunistic politicians take advantage of in order to marginalize our voices. The 2 part system is a farce.

      Report Post »  
    • Truthbeliever2
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 11:49am

      themachinist239

      The politician have us right where they want us. The FLOCK of Republican sheep believe there is no such thing as a conservative Progressive, or a Republican Progressive. Which is why the vast majority of the Republican flock are going to vote for Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney is just as big of a progressive as Obama, but they are going to willingly put him in power over thier lives.

      Ron Paul is the only true conserviative/libertarian NONPROGRESSIVE. WAKE UP!!!

      Report Post » Truthbeliever2  
    • Meyvn
      Posted on June 21, 2012 at 9:09pm

      And you all should look into Rand Paul’s bill of “Preserving Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act of 2012.”

      This bill:

      ** Forces law enforcement to obtain a warrant from a judge before dispatching drones to fly over our property.
      ** Forbids the use of evidence illegally obtained by warrantless drone flights from being used in any criminal, civil or regulatory action.
      ** Permits citizens to sue the government for any violations of this act.
      ** Provides exceptions for patrolling the border, to act in the case of imminent danger to human life or high risk of a terrorist attack.

      If you support it, sign the petition here: http://www.randpacusa.com/nds_sign.aspx

      Report Post » Meyvn  
  • TrueSoundsOfLiberty
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 1:42am

    This is what happens when you have a bloated defense budget and companies willing to spend our money. Not to mention Governors like Virginia’s Bob McDonnell who want these for “police surveillance”.

    http://www.naturalnews.com/036081_spy_drones_police_surveillance.html

    Report Post » TrueSoundsOfLiberty  
  • junior1971
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 1:34am

    Do all you other frogs feel the heat yet? Welcome to the new world order folks. It is just a conspiracy theory. Ignore it. “Nothing to see here. Move along, move along”.

    Report Post » junior1971  
  • flyingeagle
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 1:01am

    This is incredable. $11Billion bieing used world wide. I wonder where the United States stand’s to pay? (BIG BROUTHER IS WATCHING!!!) The Economy is in the toilet and money is bieing used to spy on our own people. So now your right to privacy will no longer be innaliable. The land of the FREE is no more! And it’s all on our dime! The fear that the present adminestration contineu‘s to instill in it’s citesen’s is becomeing to matter of fact any more and hearing a low humm and or the sun reflecting from that little eye in the sky. And we‘d better get used to it because the more time that gose by the more we are bieing watched from the sky’s above. At this point in time we are probably just looked at. But with a little time and more money we will be hearing what gose on as well. No longer will you be able to find some place really private.

    Report Post »  
    • armyofnibiru
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 1:53am

      but as stephen hawkings writes (science channel) who’s watching the watchers.watch it.

      Report Post »  
  • faith2012
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 1:00am

    Too lazy to see other comments first…. but… those darn drones look like something described in the Good Book of Revelations IMO …..

    Report Post » faith2012  
    • Ohello
      Posted on June 21, 2012 at 12:31am

      Check out the mosquito drones shown on the uk mail online, if the life size ones fly it is much easier to get them enlarged

      Report Post »  
  • RebelPatriot
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 12:55am

    And I was pissed when they implemented seat belt laws that gave law enforcement another avenue in which to impede upon my freedoms.

    Now with drones we have given them the ability to monitor our actions behind our privcay fences in the suburbs. If a police officer is not allowed to peek into your back yard without probable cause how do the feds get around having drones looking into backyards with probable cause?

    Report Post »  
  • Too_Far_Gone
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 12:44am

    Duck Season ! Rabbit Season ! Drone Season Fire !!

    Report Post » Too_Far_Gone  
    • RepubliCorp
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 4:31am

      Not to worry…I am working on a radar gun scope

      Report Post » RepubliCorp  
    • JACKTHETOAD
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 5:50am

      I love the smell of cordite in the morning.

      Report Post » JACKTHETOAD  
    • bharris0
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 6:04am

      They may be hard to hit at 5 miles up.

      We need better weapons.

      Report Post »  
    • ThePostman
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 6:59am

      Exactly, bharriso. The drones will fly above and beyond the height of any weapon allowed under the current oppressive arms regulations of this country. We will be helpless to stop them. Anyone possessing a weapon capable of dropping a drone will be labelled a terrorist, and he won’t be arrested under current law, he will be “disappeared” indefinitely.

      Report Post »  
    • js1964
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 7:22am

      like that idea

      Report Post »  
    • Meyvn
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 8:01am

      Yeah we need better weapons and the way it is they’re still trying to take our pea shooters and making it difficult to buy ammo for them.

      Report Post » Meyvn  
    • hidden_lion
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 8:28am

      Won’t be able to hit the high flyers, but the majority of them will be flying within rifle range. For the high flyers you just need to know where they take off from. Just need to wear a wide brimmed hat made out of the flexible led display material with micro cams facing the ground to project the grounds image to the top of the hat. You would be invisible to any drone…The tech is available right now, just got to make it into a hat.

      Report Post » hidden_lion  
  • Rayford
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 12:43am

    I see the big drones flying almost every day, but thats because they build them here, and test them. The county already uses satellites (google) FOR CODE ENFORCEMENT. The law on the books says if you cant see it from normal public view, IE the street, it is OK. Not anymore. They use the eye in the sky and the county owned helicopters (sheriff) to take more pics.

    I suggest you all plant lots of trees in the yard and put everything in sheds or covered up so no one can see from the air.

    These municipalities that are going broke will use these drones and other methods to look at everything you have, and everything you do so they can get a reason to fine you.

    They are already doing it.It will go to the next level soon.

    Report Post »  
  • SoCtNights
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 12:43am

    So how would the LEFT feel if THE BLAZE said they bought a 1000 of these…for entertainment purposes only.

    Report Post » SoCtNights  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 12:36am

    One step closer to the totalitarian state the Progressives wish to achieve.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • RAGEAGAINSTTHEMACHINE
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 12:29am

    I have already written both my Senators as well as Boehner and McConnell demanding they put an end to this disgusting violation of all of our Civil Liberties! And I don’t just want “clarification” on the ground rules for use by 2015!!! NO DRONES civilian or military in US airspace AT ALL! One and ONLY exception is Border Patrol in which they should be armed.
    *****PLEASE CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES!!!*******

    Report Post » RAGEAGAINSTTHEMACHINE  
    • The-Real-Enrico
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 1:57am

      Please do as stated aboves^ please! As if your freedom depended on it because it easily could.
      Talk, outrage and worry doesn’t mean jack without action.

      Speak up, if not for yourself then for your children.

      Report Post » The-Real-Enrico  
    • hidden_lion
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 8:35am

      who runs the border patrol? DHS it is amazing how far from the border that they operate, TSA check points on the highway in Tenn. for instance. They should not have drones either. The only dept of homeland security we need is we the people….The people are the ones who have thwarted all the recent terror attempts…

      Report Post » hidden_lion  
  • Too_Far_Gone
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 12:27am

    F em, ALL of em!

    They will lose.

    fubo

    Report Post » Too_Far_Gone  
  • mils
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 12:09am

    slooooooowly they tighten the noose…on our rights…
    these things do not happen without the president being fully aware ..obama and alllllllll of his administration need to go…
    ALSO!!!..WE NEED to work on reps/senators in this up coming election.
    we need conservatives, NOT!! RINOS…replacing democrats..
    holder should be the first to get the skids..however, we know that won’t happen

    Report Post »  
    • Smokey_Bojangles
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 12:22am

      Allen West voted for this.

      Report Post » Smokey_Bojangles  
    • dissentnow
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 5:26am

      I hate to break it to you but the republicans are just as bad as the democrats on this issue, as well as other domestic spy programs. This is what happens when you allow the government to take away your rights in the first place. All of the “conservatives” here that are now complaining about the drones where the first ones, under president Bush, to say “if you aint got nothin‘ to hide then you aint got nothing’ to worry about” when it came to the patriot act and domestic spy programs. Once you willingly hand over your freedoms to the government, you will NEVER get them back. The precedent has been set and, of course, as technology improves the government will have new tools at their disposal in which they can use to spy on you with. You can thank everyone who was ( and still is ) a cheerleader for the patriot act for this ( that includes Allen West, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Glenn Beck ).

      Report Post »  
  • zetuff
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 12:08am

    you can kiss america good-bye……the u.n army..foreign soldiers.will occupy all cites real soon.

    Report Post »  
  • scudster
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 12:07am

    Millions are out of work, we are up to our butts in debt, as a nation we can’t even balance our budget and yet our government is squandering billions upon billions for fancy little spy toys so they can keep an eye on us and for what? I don’t believe Americans want their government prying into their personal lives. If America allows the government to continue to systematically eliminate the constitution. Soon no American will be able to flush a toilet without the government knowing what went down the drain.

    Report Post » scudster  
    • CatB
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 12:34am

      Put them on the border and secure the country from the invaders .. we are Americans and we WILL live free. We need to clean out Washington D.C. of all the petty little people who think they can run our lives.

      Report Post »  
  • Teabunny
    Posted on June 20, 2012 at 12:00am

    hey gang…unrelated…but breaking! EU times…Russia stunned! Japan asks for Kuril Islands back…to evacuate 40 million people in immediate danger of radiation poisoning!
    http://www.eutimes.net/2012/04/russia-stunned-after-japanese-plan-to-evacuate-40-million-revealed/

    Report Post » Teabunny  
  • possom
    Posted on June 19, 2012 at 11:59pm

    1 drone + 1 30-06 = one dead drone

    Report Post » possom  
    • Rayford
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 12:46am

      I could see them putting up drones as bait to see if they get shot down, then triangulate the location. That way when it all goes to heck, they will know who or what area to visit first.

      But I am with you on taking them out. If you do get one, get your guys ready for what comes next.

      Report Post »  
  • Brother Winston Smith
    Posted on June 19, 2012 at 11:52pm

    Had enough?

    RON PAUL 2012! NO EXCUSES!!!!!

    Ron Paul and Drones:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9mZpyeNZzk

    Report Post » Brother Winston Smith  
  • Brother Winston Smith
    Posted on June 19, 2012 at 11:49pm

    It’s amazing what the republican/democrat party can get away with, when the 4th Amendment’s been blotted off the founding parchment. But as long as we’re “safe” from “*******,” EVERYTHING’S SUNSHINE AND LOLLYPOPS!

    Report Post » Brother Winston Smith  
  • 18666929374
    Posted on June 19, 2012 at 11:47pm

    President Obama: “Drones, What are your Prime Directives?”

    Drones: “Serve the public trust, protect the innocent, uphold the law.”

    And you thought Robocop was just a movie.

    Report Post »  
  • afishfarted
    Posted on June 19, 2012 at 11:38pm

    remember this next month as you celebrate Independence day. The term “prison planet” seems to have become a reality. and–ummmmm–it’s not to make you safer either.
    just sayin’

    Report Post »  
  • Dougral Supports Israel
    Posted on June 19, 2012 at 11:25pm

    The fear that I have is that the law will be adapted to the use of drones. Government hungry for cash could enact all manner of laws creating fines for this and that. People would find themselves unable to avoid stepping in these regulatory landmines and be forced to shell out hard-earned cash to pay these fines.

    Report Post »  
    • 1casawizard
      Posted on June 19, 2012 at 11:39pm

      @DSI. I think we need to keep the drone use for military use only. That is what it was designed for.

      Report Post » 1casawizard  
  • nighttrainno9
    Posted on June 19, 2012 at 11:24pm

    Judge Neapalitano said that the first true American Patriot will
    be the first guy to shoot down a drone. I’m ready!

    Report Post »  
    • possom
      Posted on June 19, 2012 at 11:58pm

      Too late, a bunch of hunter‘s got one a couple of month’s ago but second isn’t bad.

      Report Post » possom  
    • TrueSoundsOfLiberty
      Posted on June 20, 2012 at 1:35am

      I guess those Iranians are American patriots then…

      Report Post » TrueSoundsOfLiberty  
  • KidCharlemagne
    Posted on June 19, 2012 at 11:19pm

    Reminds me of another gem from George Orwell in the year 1941:

    ———————————————————-
    “As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.

    They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them. They are ‘only doing their duty’, as the saying goes. Most of them, I have no doubt, are kind-hearted law-abiding men who would never dream of committing murder in private life.”
    -George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn (1941)

    Report Post »  
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