One Drone Thread to Rule them ALL

[elfismiles]

Out of ‘hobby’ class, drones lifting off for personal, commercial use
By Patrick Hruby
-
The Washington Times
Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Jordi Munoz had no training. Scant schooling. Little money. He also had a video-game console and nothing else to do.

So he built his own drone.

A Mexican native, Mr. Munoz married an American citizen and moved to Riverside,Calif., in 2007. While waiting for his green card, the 21-year-old was marooned in his apartment, unable to work, attend school or obtain a driver’s license.

On the other hand, he had an Internet connection. A Nintendo Wii. A radio-controlled toy helicopter his mother had given him to help kill time.

Tinkering with the Wii’s control wand and a $60 gyroscope he had purchased on eBay, he modified the helicopter to fly itself, just like the $5 million Predator unmanned aerial vehicles deployed by the U.S. military.

Five years later, Mr. Munoz is co-founder and CEO of 3D Robotics, a San Diego-based company that has 18 employees and earned more than $300,000 in revenue in December producing components for hobbyist drones.

“The first time I was able to successfully fly with my autopilot was one of the happiest days of my life,” said Mr. Munoz, now 25. “The whole thing cost less than $200. Believe me, that was a lot of money for me at the time.

“When I started this, it was only for fun. But now I see many applications.”

Mr. Munoz’s vision is hardly unique. Once the stuff of science fiction, autonomous aircraft are on the verge of widespread commercial and personal use, with pending federal regulations set to integrate drones into American airspace by 2015.

Soon, experts predict, drones will be used to transport air cargo. Assist with search-and-rescue. Perform police surveillance. Inspect oil pipelines and sprawling vineyards. Follow and photograph tabloid targets such as Lindsay Lohan.

Increasingly capable and affordable, as large as jetliners and as small as oversized Frisbees, drones also raise serious questions about privacy and safety.

“I think we’re going to see many commercial applications and much more civilian development than in the military,” said Missy Cummings, director of the Humans and Automation Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “In 15 years, you could look up in the sky and see UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] doing window washing and building inspections. You also could see every jealous ex-husband or wife following their significant other around. For good or bad, we are on the cusp of a new era.”

READ THE REST HERE:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... -personal/

[Joe Hillshoist]

Go to global guerrillas and check out the stuff they have on drones, if you haven't already...

[RobinDaHood]

Robots set new world record for ocean travel

Arrival in Hawaii shatters Guinness World Records mark of 2,500 miles
Oceangoing robots have broken a distance record by reaching Hawaii from San Francisco, braving 26-foot waves and gale force storms along the way.

The four wave gliders made by Liquid Robotics traveled more than 3,200 nautical miles on the first leg of their 9,000-mile journey across the Pacific. Their arrival on the big island of Hawaii four months after leaving the West Coast shattered the Guinness World Records mark of 2,500 miles for the longest distance traveled by unmanned wave power vehicles.

"We are proud our PacX Wave Gliders have reached their first destination and broken the world record," said Edward Lu, chief of innovative applications at Liquid Robotics, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif. "PacX represents a new model for providing widespread and easy access to environmental monitoring of the world's oceans, one in which Liquid Robotics operates fleets of mobile, autonomous ocean robots across previously inaccessible areas."

Each of the four drones consists of an underwater glider connected by a cable to a floating section. The wave gliders convert the endless motion of the ocean's waves into forward thrust, which would allow them to travel thousands of miles without fuel during yearlong missions.

The Hawaii stopover allows the wave gliders to get a checkup before setting out for their final destinations. One pair of wave gliders will cross the Mariana Trench — the deepest place on Earth — on its way to Japan. A second pair will cross the equator as it heads for Australia.

If all goes well, the underwater drones could reach their destinations by late 2012 or early 2013.

Such wave gliders represent a new generation of robots capable of monitoring hugely significant changes in Earth's oceans, including acidification, shrinking fisheries and natural disasters such as tsunamis.

[elfismiles]

Go to global guerrillas and check out the stuff they have on drones, if you haven't already...

Thank you for the suggestion: http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com

Monday, 12 March 2012
Automating Terrorism (the decline of the suicide bomber)

Global guerrillas is one of the few places in the world where you will find deep thinking on the theoretical foundations of warfare.

It's my belief that warfare, aka organized violence, is undergoing punctuated change due to robotics/drones and other technologies of superempowerment. That's not a good thing since I believe that warfare defines the path of development for everything else (economics, politics, culture). It makes certain paths forward possible, and closes others. A rapid change in warfare means a rapid change in everything else.

Here's a tiny example of that change in action.

Suicide Terrorism

Robotic control systems are going to show up everywhere with increasing frequency. Particularly as a replacement for suicide bombers. Here's why. Suicide bombers are functionally a poor man's weapon system. Using a cold calculus:

•the suicide bomber's brain is an inexpensive substitute for
•the complex/expensive terminal guidance system of a missile.
The suicide bomber's function boils down to bringing the bomb to the target, the closer the better. In most cases, the bomber can also decide when to detonate it, which makes their brain/eye/finger system a replacement for a target radar/proximity fuse system.

However, this isn't a simple substitution. Suicide bombers are difficult to recruit and train. People simply aren't naturally inclined to kill themselves. They need to be carefully selected, motivated, and trained to do it. So, that's the bottleneck (even paying the relatives of disabled/elderly "insurance" payments hasn't sped up the process much) to expansion of suicide terrorism.

Automating Terrorism

So, what happens when the costs of a terminal guidance systems become inexpensive and easy to acquire? They will replace suicide bombers in all but the most unusual of environments (airplane cabins -- although drone bombs + airplanes in takeoff phase is a pretty scary alternative).

This is going on right now. Robotic control systems are now inexpensive, accurate, and autonomous as we have seen with drones. This means that the costs of a robotic control system are already well within the budget of a small group. Further, their functionality makes them perfect for terrorist activities (the targeting of populations and symbols).

Example? Here's a video that turns a car into a remote control drone that can be used to deliver big bombs to checkpoints. It even features an interview with the guerrilla entrepreneur that put it together. It has the feel of an anti silicon valley (don't confuse it with silicone valley, which is in southern CA, near LA) Scoble interview, with an entrepreneur that just landed $5 m in funding.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei-2odGSZcY

Posted by John Robb on Monday, 12 March 2012 at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/glo ... omber.html

[elfismiles]

Life Immitates Bill Hicks...

Tacocopter would deliver tacos via unmanned drone
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=19748145

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4CQ_1GWn4w#t=2m13s

@ 2 min 13 sec mark

The War
By: Bill Hicks ...

You know. See, everyone got boners over the technology, and it was pretty incredible. Watching missiles fly down air vents, pretty unbelievable. But couldn't we feasibly use that same technology to shoot food at hungry people? Know what I mean? Fly over Ethiopia, "There's a guy that needs a banana!" SHOOP. The Stealth Banana. Smart fruit! I don't know.

http://www.madmusic.com/song_details.aspx?SongID=33635

[Nordic]

C'mon, nobody's posted this yet today? Do I have to do all the heavy lifting around here? (just kidding, SLAD seems to do that)

hat-tip to cryptogon.com

http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/03/25 ... rsity-1-4/

WE’RE WATCHING U.

More colleges offering courses in ‘hot’ drone field as students drawn to sky’s-the-limit salaries

By Erik German Sunday, March 25, 2012

America’s newest college major may well be Drone Studies.

Amid a worldwide boom in unmanned aerial vehicles, a handful of U.S. colleges have begun offering classes and even four-year degrees for students looking for jobs in the fast-growing field where even newcomers can earn six-figure salaries.

Jeb Bailey, 28, who has taken every drone-related course at Northwestern Michigan College, said one of his fellow students at the Traverse City, Mich., school recently landed a job operating unmanned aerial vehicles for a private military contractor overseas. “He got like $200,000 per year,” Bailey said. “And he didn’t even finish his associate’s degree.”

Bailey describes himself as lifelong geek, so the drones’ mix of airborne acrobatics and cutting-edge technology was definitely a draw, he said. But Bailey, who has spent $80,000 for classes and manned flight training, said the high pay that drone pilots can earn contracting in war zones made him take notice.

“Aviation, it’s not a cheap sport,” Bailey said. “The idea of going to Afghanistan for a single year and paying off all my loans — that’s very attractive. In an airlines career path, you really don’t expect to make a whole lot until you’ve been in the industry 20 years.”

By contrast, starting salaries for drone pilots range from $50,000 to $120,000 per year, said Tom Kenville, who founded a trade group called Unmanned Applications Institute International. Analysts who process images captured by the vehicles can earn $100,000 per year starting out.

Salaries are rising with demand. Governments, contractors and private companies need pilots as they launch more unmanned vehicles into the air than ever before. The market research firm the Teal Group reported last year that annual worldwide spending on unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, and related research is projected to double by 2020 — to more than $10 billion.

In addition, the pilotless aircraft industry will create more than 23,000 U.S. jobs over the next 15 years, according to a 2010 study by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, a trade group for robotic and remotely operated machines of all types.

“It’s a really hot field and it’s taking off quickly,” said Melanie Hinton, a spokeswoman for the organization. More than 150 colleges and universities nationwide have programs dedicated to robotics and unmanned systems, she said.

The federal Labor Department expects demand for aerospace engineers who specialize in computer systems to rise 46 percent by 2020, compared with a 10 percent increase in the number of lawyers and nuclear engineers.

Oh, and one more thing.

“Stay away from the D-word,” Hinton said, explaining that, from the World War II era on, “drones” were full-sized planes flown by radio control for target practice.

“This is a battle I fight daily,” she said, laughing. “Our systems are more intelligent.” She prefers that they be called UAVs.

While no definitive survey has been done, Hinton’s trade group estimates something like a dozen colleges and universities in the U.S. now offer for-credit courses on flying unmanned aerial vehicles. Currently, only two schools — the University of North Dakota and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla. — offer four-year degrees for prospective drone pilots.

Embry-Riddle is one of the few schools that teaches students how to build drones, as well as fly them. Even though its four-year major only started last fall, the program’s coordinator, Ted Beneigh, said it’s proving to be popular. “We have six different courses that are dedicated strictly to the unmanned aerial system degree,” he said. “Of those six courses, 50 percent of them are closed, which means they’re totally full.”

Teaching students to use those systems also involves a whole lot more than aircraft. To serve their purpose, unmanned aerial vehicles often carry cameras or data-gathering devices, which send data to ground technicians who must then process the information in a useful way, said Jeff Hadhazy, a UAV program manager and instructor at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.

“If you don’t have all those things, the vehicle itself doesn’t do jack for you,” he said. “When you start looking at the numerous applications, being the operator is almost the smallest part.”

Yet despite all this high-tech automation, any flying machine can potentially malfunction, crash or otherwise pose a threat to people on the ground. The educational burden remains for producing students who can operate them safely, said Kent Wingate, the chair of the aviation department of Sinclair Community College, which began offering for-credit UAV classes this quarter.

“You always have to have a human element in there,” Wingate said. “You can’t ask a machine to be responsible for a person’s safety.”

There’s nothing automatic about drones, said Aaron Cook, director of Northwestern Michigan community college’s aviation department. “They’re not like the Roomba vacuuming your floor,” he said. “These are very much manned aircraft.”

Yet pulling pilots out of the cockpit and placing them in front of virtual drone controls represent a historic shift in aviation — one Cook likens to the advent of jet propulsion.

“Our industry changed when we got the jet engine,” he said. “We feel the introduction of UAVs into the aviation industry is as significant …To be a viable flight training institution, we need to provide that education.”

The newness of the field has itself proven to be a draw for some students. “Just being at the forefront of all these advances is exciting,” said Jaimie Winkstrom, 24, who took a class called “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles 101” offered by Sinclair last summer. “The Wright Brothers, when they started flying — it’s like being right up there with them.”

[elfismiles]

Congress urged to secure drone law
Allowing thousands of drones over U.S. skies raises serious privacy questions, advocacy group says
By Jaikumar Vijayan
March 29, 2012 07:05 AM ET61 Comments.Computerworld - A leading rights advocacy group this week called on Congress to add civil liberties protections to a recently passed law that opens U.S. airspace to unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Federal Aviation Administration Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, signed into law by President Barack Obama last month, requires the FAA to permit the use of drones by law enforcement agencies, commercial organizations and hobbyists.

The statute will initially let law enforcement authorities and emergency services use drones that weigh less than five pounds and fly at an altitude of less than 400 feet starting in May. The law requires that the FAA have rules in place permitting the use of all varieties of drones by law enforcement and private entities by the end of 2015.

Over the next few years, thousands of drones are likely to be in use for varied applications like fugitive tracking and traffic management by law enforcement agencies, crop monitoring, land management, news reporting and filmmaking.

The Center for Democracy and Technology contends that the legislation provides no privacy or civil liberties protections for ordinary citizens.

The law "says nothing about the privacy implications of filling the sky with thousands of flying robots," said Harley Geiger, senior policy council at the Washington-based think tank.

Geiger said that drones pose an unprecedented privacy challenge -- the devices can can be equipped with facial recognition cameras, license plate readers, thermal-imaging cameras, open WiFi sniffers and other sensors. In addition, drones can be used to conduct continuous and pervasive surveillance over a wide area, he added.

It's one thing to use drones to track down fugitives or to conduct surveillance on a residential property before a SWAT raid. "I don't have a problem with that. What does concern me is the high likelihood that drones will be use for generalized public safety surveillance," Geiger said.

Unlike static surveillance and closed-circuit television cameras that cannot track individuals beyond their fields of vision, "drones can peek into your backyard and track you pervasively," he said.

A drone flying at a height of 400 feet or more from the ground will likely be considered to be operating in a public space. Anything that it observes while it is in a public space has few privacy protections, Geiger said.

"The way the law works right now, law enforcement would need a warrant to peer over your fence, but it won't need one to put a drone over your property and view it as long as they want," so long as it is more than 400 feet above the ground, he added.

With the FAA set to start issuing drone licenses in just a few weeks, the time for Congress to act is now, Geiger said.

For starters, Geiger says the FAA should conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) to understand all the potential privacy implications related to drone use.

Also, because PIAs do not carry the weight of law, Congress needs to amend the statute to give the FAA and the U.S. Department of Transportation the authority to enforce privacy protections based on Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPs), Geiger said in a blog post.

The law should also be amended to prohibit law enforcement agencies from weaponizing drones, and require warrants for extended surveillance in criminal investigations.

Restrictions should also be placed on the use of drone surveillance for public safety purposes, he said.

Those applying for licenses to operate drones should be required to explain clearly how and why they intend to use the vehicle, and to provide details on what, if any, information on individuals the drone will collect.

Law enforcement authorities should be required to minimize the amount of data they collect via the use of drones, Geiger added.

"People expect to have a modicum of privacy," even in public places, he said. "Drones are going to be a big shock to a lot of people."

Jaikumar Vijayan covers data security and privacy issues, financial services security and e-voting for Computerworld. Follow Jaikumar on Twitter at @jaivijayan, or subscribe to Jaikumar's RSS feed . His e-mail address is jvijayan@computerworld.com.



http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/ ... _drone_law

[RobinDaHood]

scrolled right past nordic's post, oops
we'll call this a placeholder, content promised

[Jeff]

US draws up plans for nuclear drones
Technology is designed to increase flying time 'from days to months', along with power available for weapons systems

Nick Fielding
guardian.co.uk, Monday 2 April 2012 16.00 BST

American scientists have drawn up plans for a new generation of nuclear-powered drones capable of flying over remote regions of the world for months on end without refuelling.

The blueprints for the new drones, which have been developed by Sandia National Laboratories – the US government's principal nuclear research and development agency – and defence contractor Northrop Grumman, were designed to increase flying time "from days to months" while making more power available for operating equipment, according to a project summary published by Sandia.

"It's pretty terrifying prospect," said Chris Coles of Drone Wars UK, which campaigns against the increasing use of drones for both military and civilian purposes. "Drones are much less safe than other aircraft and tend to crash a lot. There is a major push by this industry to increase the use of drones and both the public and government are struggling to keep up with the implications."

The highly sensitive research into what is termed "ultra-persistence technologies" set out to solve three problems associated with drones: insufficient "hang time" over a potential target; lack of power for running sophisticated surveillance and weapons systems; and lack of communications capacity.

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ap ... sfeed=true

[Ben D]

Yes, saw that earlier today Jeff, these mind boggling insane military developments are coming so thick and fast these days that the end imho is much more likely to be due to a global war scenario than anything else,..forget about AGW!

[Grizzly]

First Man Arrested With Drone Evidence Vows to Fight Case
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/201 ... print.html

First Man Arrested With Drone Evidence Vows to Fight Case
Court must decide if police are allowed to use drones to help make arrests

By Jason Koebler
April 9, 2012
Rodney Brossart was arrested in June.

Rodney Brossart was arrested in June.

The tiny town of Lakota, N.D., is quickly becoming a key testing ground for the legality of the use of unmanned drones by law enforcement after one of its residents became the first American citizen to be arrested with the help of a Predator surveillance drone.

The bizarre case started when six cows wandered onto Rodney Brossart's 3,000 acre farm. Brossart, an alleged anti-government "sovereignist," believed he should have been able to keep the cows, so he and two family members chased police off his land with high powered rifles.

[Photos: North Korea Prepares for Rocket Launch]

After a 16-hour standoff, the Grand Forks police department SWAT team, armed with a search warrant, used an agreement they've had with Homeland Security for about three years, and called in an unmanned aerial vehicle to pinpoint Brossart's location on the ranch. The SWAT team stormed in and arrested Brossart on charges of terrorizing a sheriff, theft, criminal mischief, and other charges, according to documents.

Brossart says he "had no clue" they used a drone during the standoff until months after his arrest.

"We're not laying over here playing dead on it," says Brossart, who is scheduled to appear in court on April 30. He believes what the SWAT team did was "definitely" illegal.

"We're dealing with it, we've got a couple different motions happening in court fighting [the drone use]."

Repeated calls to Brossart's attorney were not returned. Douglas Manbeck, who is representing the state of North Dakota in the case, says the drone was used after warrants were already issued.

"The alleged crimes were already committed long before a drone was even thought of being used," he says. "It was only used to help assure there weren't weapons and to make [the arrest] safer for both the Brossarts and law enforcement."

"I know it's a touchy subject for anyone to feel that drones are in the air watching them, but I don't think there was any misuse in this case," he added.

While there's no precedent for the use of unmanned drones by law enforcement, John Villasenor, an expert on information gathering and drone use with the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution, says he'd be "floored" if the court throws the case out. Using a drone is no different than using a helicopter, he says.

"It may have been the first time a drone was used to make an arrest, but it's certainly not going to be the last," Villasenor says. "I would be very surprised if someone were able to successfully launch a legal challenge [in Brossart's case]."

[Expert: Ability to Disable Drones Needed Before They Become Terrorist Weapons]

Villasenor points to two Supreme Court cases—California v. Ciraolo in 1986 and Florida v. Riley in 1989— that allow law enforcement to use "public navigable airspace, in a physically nonintrusive manner" to gather evidence to make an arrest.

By summertime, there may be many more cases like Brossart's—on May 14, the government must begin issuing permits for drone use by law enforcement.

Currently, about 300 law enforcement agencies and research institutions—including the Grand Forks SWAT team—have "temporary licenses" from the FAA to use drones. Currently, drones are most commonly used by Homeland Security along America's borders.

Bill Macki, head of the Grand Forks SWAT team, says Brossart's case was the first and only time they've used a drone to help make an arrest—they tried one other time (to search for an armed, suicidal individual), but gusty weather conditions made navigation impossible.

[The Coming Drone Revolution: What You Should Know]

With a population of less than 70,000, it doesn't make sense for the Grand Forks police department to own a helicopter, but the ability to call in a drone when necessary can provide a similar purpose.

"The terrain we were working with was very large and agricultural—several hundred acres of very flat farmland made it difficult to set up a perimeter to ensure people didn't make it off the property," he says. "I think drones are definitely a useful tool, their effectiveness in rural operations is exceptional, they keep tactical operations as safe as possible."

Macki is confident his team is trained to legally use drones.

"We've had a relationship with Predator operations for three years, we've provided training for them and received training on the basic capabilities of the predator," he says. "We've established a relationship with [Homeland Security]. Through that relationship, we've learned drones' capabilities and when we can or cannot use a drone."

Read Internet Service Providers Close to Implementing System to Punish Piracy.
Read Scientists Warn of Ethical Battle Concerning Military Mind Control.
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I imagine, this marks a turning point in American history, if not it's decline.

[eyeno]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQS7S8NMlJc

[elfismiles]

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 universitiesBy Julian Gavaghan

PUBLISHED: 05:15 EST, 24 April 2012 | UPDATED: 07:39 EST, 24 April 2012



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... s-U-S.html

Map of Domestic Drone Authorizations

Unlisted · · 22,717 views
Created on Apr 17 · By Jennifer · Updated 4 days ago
2 ratings · 3 comments · KML · Arlington Police Department (Arlington, TX?)ActiveActive
CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection)ExpiredExpired
California Dept Of Forestry
41100 Pine Bench Road
Yucaipa, CA 92399
(909) 797-5418
fire.ca.gov



City of Herington, KSActiveActive
City of Houston Police DepartmentExpiredExpired
Houston Police Department
10 reviews
1200 Travis Street
Houston, TX 77002
(713) 884-3131
houstonpolice.org



City of North Little Rock, AR Police DepartmentActiveActive
Cornell UniversityExpiredExpired
Cornell University
75 reviews
300 Day Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
(607) 254-2473
cornell.edu



DARPAActiveActive
DARPA
3701 North Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22203
(703) 526-6630
darpa.mil/About/Contact/Add...



Eastern Gateway Community CollegeActiveActive
Jefferson County Campus
4000 Sunset Boulevard
Steubenville, OH 43952
(740) 264-5591
egcc.edu



Gadsden Police DepartmentActiveActive
Gadsden Police Department-Narcotics
90 Broad Street
Gadsden, AL 35901
(256) 546-3131
gadsdenpd.org



Georgia Tech Police Department, Office of Emergency ProceduresDisapprovedDisapproved
Ga Tech Police Department
1 review
879 Hemphll Ave 879
Atlanta, GA 30332
(404) 894-2500
gatech.edu



Georgia Tech Research InstituteActiveActive
Georgia Tech Research Institute
415 East 3rd Avenue
Rome, GA 30161
(706) 295-6008
gtri.gatech.edu



Hays County Emergency Service Office, TXExpiredExpired
Kansas State UniversityActiveActive
Kansas State University
48 reviews
1700 Anderson Ave
Manhattan, KS 66506
(785) 532-6011
k-state.edu



Mesa County Sheriff's OfficeActiveActive
Mesa County Sheriff's Office
4 reviews
215 Rice Street, Grand Junction, CO 81501
(970) 244-3500
sheriff.mesacounty.us



Miami-Dade County Police DepartmentActiveActive
Miami-Dade County Police Department
5 reviews
2950 Northwest 83rd Street
Miami, FL 33147
(305) 836-8601
miamidade.gov



Middle Tennessee State UniversityActiveActive
Middle Tennessee State University
31 reviews
1301 East Main St # 204
Murfreesboro, TN 37132
(615) 898-2300
mtsu.edu



Mississippi Dept. of Marine ResourcesActiveActive
MS Department of Marine Resources
1141 Bayview Avenue
Biloxi, MS 39530
(228) 374-5000
dmr.ms.gov



Mississippi State University, MS 39759ActiveActive
Montgomery County Sheriff DepartmentExpiredExpired
Montgomery County Sheriff Department
115 South Perry Street
Montgomery, AL 36104
(334) 832-4980
montgomerysheriff.com



NASA Ames Research CenterActiveActive
Nasa Ames Research Center
41 reviews
Moffett Field, CA 94035
(650) 604-6274
nasa.gov/ames



New Mexico Institute of Mining and TechnologyActiveActive
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
1 review
801 Leroy Place
Socorro, NM 87801
(800) 428-8324
nmt.edu



New Mexico State University Physical Sciences Lab (NMSU-PSL)ActiveActive
Physical Science Lab
1050 Stewart Street
Las Cruces, NM 88003
(575) 646-9100
psl.nmsu.edu



Nicholls State UniversityExpiredExpired
Nicholls State University
6 reviews
906 East 1st Street
Thibodaux, LA 70301
(985) 446-8111
nicholls.edu



Ogden Police DepartmentActiveActive
Ogden Police Department
5 reviews
2186 Lincoln Avenue
Ogden, UT 84401
(801) 629-8221
ogdencity.com



Ohio UniversityActiveActive
Ohio University
33 reviews
1 Ohio University
Athens, Ohio 45701
(740) 593-1000
ohio.edu



Orange County Sheriff's OfficeActiveActive
Orange County Sheriff's Office
205 Border Street
Orange, TX 77631
(409) 883-2612
ocsheriffsoffice.com



Otter Tail County, MNDisapprovedDisapproved

Polk County Sheriff's OfficeActiveActive
Polk County Sheriff's Office
1891 Jim Keene Boulevard
Winter Haven, FL 33880
(863) 298-6200
polksheriff.org



Seattle Police Department HeadquartersActiveActive
Seattle Police Department Headquarters
1 review
610 5th Ave
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 625-5011
seattle.gov/police/contact/...



Texas A&M University Corpus ChristiActiveActive
Texas A&M University
5262 S Staples St # 115
Corpus Christi, TX 78411
(361) 289-7905
tamu.edu/home/prospectstdts



Texas A&M University - TEES (Texas Engineering Experiment Station)ActiveActive
Texas A&M University
8 reviews
337 Houston Street
College Station, TX 77845
(979) 845-3211
tamu.edu



Texas Department of Public SafetyExpiredExpired
Texas Department of Public Safety
26 reviews
5805 North Lamar Boulevard
Austin, TX 78752
(512) 424-2000
txdps.state.tx.us



Texas State University-San MarcosActiveActive
Texas State University-San Marcos
24 reviews
601 University Drive
San Marcos, Texas 78666
(512) 245-2111
txstate.edu



University of AlaskaActiveActive
University of Alaska
6 reviews
402 Salcha St Fairbanks, AK 99709
(907) 474-7211
uaf.edu



The University of ArizonaExpiredExpired
The University of Arizona
61 reviews
1401 East University Boulevard
Tucson, AZ 85719
(520) 621-7341
snre.arizona.edu



University of ColoradoActiveActive
University of Colorado Museum of Natural History
2 reviews
1440 15th Street
Boulder, CO 80302
(303) 492-6892
colorado.edu



University of ConnecticutActiveActive
University of Connecticut
25 reviews
249 Glenbrook Road
Storrs, CT 06269
(860) 486-4900
foundation.uconn.edu



University of FloridaActiveActive
University of Florida
76 reviews
Gainsville, Florida 32611
(352) 392-3261
ufl.edu



University of MichiganExpiredExpired
University of Michigan
72 reviews
500 South State Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
(734) 764-1817
umich.edu



Utah State UniversityActiveActive
Utah State University
35 reviews
1400 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322
(435) 797-1000
usu.edu



Virginia Commonwealth UniversityExpiredExpired
Virginia Commonwealth University
2 reviews
1100 East Leigh Street
Richmond, VA 23298
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[seemslikeadream]

Published on Monday, April 30, 2012 by Common Dreams
Jeremy Scahill: US Has Become 'Nation of Assassins'
US Peace conference puts face to drone victims

- Common Dreams staff
International law experts, peace activists, journalists and human rights advocates from around the world gathered in Washington, DC over the weekend to inform the American public about US drone policy and the impact it is having on human populations throughout the world.


Protesters staging a demonstration against drone attacks in Pakistan. (AFP)
Peace group CODEPINK and the legal advocacy organizations Reprieve and the Center for Constitutional Rights hosted the first International Drone Summit as a way to build an organizing strategy against the growing use of drones, call an end to airstrikes that kill innocent civilians, and to prevent the potentially widespread misuse both overseas and in the United States.

"Drone victims are not just figures on a piece of paper, they are real people and that’s why it is important to see what happens on the ground when a missile hits a target," said Pakistani attorney Shahzad Akbar, according to the Pakistani newspaper DAWN. “We have to see what exactly is happening on the ground, what is happening to the people,” he told the Washington conference.

During his speech, journalist Jeremy Scahill, who has done in-depth reporting on the US drone program in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen, questioned the Obama Administration's policy of assassination. "What is happening to this country right now?" asked Scahill after noting that recent legislation in the US Congress opposing the assassination of US citizens abroad without due process received only six votes in the House of Representatives. "We have become a nation of assassins. We have become a nation that is somehow silent in the face of -- or embraces, as polls indicate -- the idea that assassination should be one of the centerpieces of US foreign policy. How dangerous is this? It's a throwback to another era -- an era that I think many Americans thought was behind them. And the most dangerous part of this is the complicity of ordinary people in it." [Note: See below, Part 4 at the 5:30 mark]

"We have become a nation of assassins. We have become a nation that is somehow silent in the face of -- or embraces, as polls indicate -- the idea that assassination should be one of the centerpieces of US foreign policy."
-Jeremy Scahill, journalist

Scahill was emphatic in his talk that the drone and assassination programs have received wide bi-partisan support and lamented those in the US who ceased to voice their concern over such policies as soon as President Bush left office. "President Obama has shown us in a very clear way that when it comes to the premiere national security policy of this nation, there is not a dime's worth of difference between the Democrats and the Republicans."

* * *

Pakistani newspaper DAWN reports today:

Peace Conference Puts Face to Drone Victims

Drone victims are not just figures on a piece of paper, they are real people and that’s why it is important to see what happens on the ground when a missile hits a target, argues Pakistani attorney Shahzad Akbar.

“We have to see what exactly is happening on the ground, what is happening to the people,” he told a Washington conference on drones.

“We apologize to the people of Pakistan for the strikes that have killed so many civilians,” said Nancy Mancias, a peace activist associated with the US-based, anti-war Code Pink Group.

“The CIA needs to be held accountable for their strikes.”

“This is lawless activity that the US is indulging in around the world.” --Jeremy Scahill, journalist

“Those who order a drone strike act at once “as prosecutors, judges, jury and executioners,” said journalist Jeremy Scahill who recently traveled to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen to observe the consequences of the drone war.

“This is lawless activity that the US is indulging in around the world,” he said.

“War on terror is an oxymoron. How can you end terrorism by spreading terror via horrific remote control killing machines,” said Dr Amna Buttar, a PPP MPA from Punjab.

“All 190 million people are the victims of this remote-controlled war.” [...]

Akbar told an audience of about 300 people from across the United States that it was important to put faces on the drone victims; otherwise people will not understand their plight.

“They feel this imminent threat of being attacked from the sky. And they feel helpless because they have no other place to relocate. Many have no skills, no education, so they cannot relocate to other parts of Pakistan,” he said. Advocate Akbar showed a photo of a teenager named Saadullah, who was helping his mother in the kitchen when a drone hit their home in Fata in 2009. He woke up in a hospital three days later without his legs.

Sanaullah, a 17-year-old pre-engineering student, burned alive in his car during another strike in 2010.

“We apologize to the people of Pakistan for the strikes that have killed so many civilians,” --Nancy Mancias, CodePink

Akbar also showed photos of the Bismillah family: mother, father, a daughter and a son, all killed in a drone strike.

Other speakers noted that US drone strikes in Pakistan had also killed 168 children. They quoted from recent surveys suggesting the number of ordinary people killed could be 40 per cent higher than previously reported. [...]

The “Drone Summit: Killing and Spying by Remote Control,” organized by American human rights groups, noted that there had been a lethal rise in the number of drone strikes under the Obama administration.

President Obama argues that drone strikes are focused effort at people who are on a list of active terrorists and have not caused a huge number of civilian casualties.

Supporters of drone warfare say the drone technology is an accurate and less expensive weapon that minimizes risks to US troops and protects America by killing terrorists.

Clive Stafford Smith, founder and director of Reprieve, an organization that helped secure the release of 65 prisoners from notorious Guantanamo Bay, also highlighted this point.

“We can kill people without any risk to ourselves and that’s why the politicians like it." --Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve

“We can kill people without any risk to ourselves and that’s why the politicians like it,” said Smith while addressing the drone conference.

Other panelists noted that US drones had the potential to be equipped with heat sensors, Geographic Positioning Systems, license-plate readers, extremely high resolution cameras, infrared cameras, and facial-recognition software. Coordinated swarms easily could track people’s daily movement from home to the office to a political rally to the grocery store.
* * *

Journalist Jeremy Scahill: 'A Nation of Assassins'

[Nordic]

Nation of Assassins indeed.

I just put it another way -- we are a terrorist nation.

The blood is on all of our hands.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news- ... cent-girls

Drone kills innocent girls

Hard on the heels of Khar-Grossman talks in which Pakistan turned down the US request to let Nato supplies pass through, the US ended its month-long hiatus in drone warfare and claimed that it had killed four suspected militants and wounded two others holed up in a girls’ school in North Waziristan on Sunday. The truth is that the attack left four young girls dead. The attack seems more like an attempt to pressurise Islamabad rather than fighting terrorism. And even so far as terrorism is concerned, drone strikes have been criticised by none other than anonymous high ranking members of the US Administration as a ‘recruiting windfall’ for the militants.
For Pakistan, they further compound the problem since they create a backlash leading to a spate of deadly bomb blasts. And we all know how many innocent persons the drones kill in comparison with a minute number of terrorists. One wonders if anyone would have the gall to take the perpetrators to the Hague for war crimes. This is senseless manslaughter. Right on the other side of the border, the US is going to great lengths to placate the same tribesmen to find a safe exit. Since it calls itself an ally of Pakistan, it must help it find the negotiated settlement that it is pursuing in Afghanistan. Drone wars figure nowhere in this scheme of things. It must be stopped.