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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAN AIR FORCE SPECIAL OPERATIONS SURVEILLANCE PLANE IS LURKING NEAR PORTLAND DURING FEDERAL CRACKDOWN
https://theintercept.com/2020/07/23/air-force-surveillance-plane-portland-protests/?fbclid=IwAR2-6vk9ld3lRHi_PAxNrO7XdePz_w1JAf9fC4mF42cLSV_8SVqSx6NOljwThe Air Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The flights dont seem to have taken place directly over downtown Portland, the epicenter of the protests, but rather at a range of 20 to 30 miles from the citys center. That could still allow for fine-grained surveillance, however; a 2016 Bloomberg report on police aerial surveillance over Baltimore noted the small civilian planes used there could surveil an area of up to 30 square miles.
The mere presence near Portland of a plane designed to stress test SOCOMs aerial spy gear is enough to concern some observers. The apparent use of military aircraft in a domestic operation should set off all kinds of alarm bells, said Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists Government Secrecy Project. What is their mission? Under what authority are they operating, and who authorized them? It seems like the administration is pushing right through what had been established norms of transparency and accountability.
The vast array of power surveillance gear this plane potentially could be carrying on these flights is cause for concerns over privacy and political expression. These aircraft are believed to carry SIGINT [signals intelligence] sensors; if that is the case, then circling at that distance would probably (depending on the altitude) allow the sensors to collect data, David Cenciotti, a retired Italian Air Force officer and aerospace journalist, told The Intercept, though he noted that he could only speculate without knowing the Cougars actual payload.
This is the military. Is the military trying to send the American public a message?
What's next -- shock and awe?
Ex Lurker
(3,816 posts)ancianita
(36,207 posts)My question is, given the quotes in the report, why are they doing this at all?
This is ominous.
Ex Lurker
(3,816 posts)ancianita
(36,207 posts)Ex Lurker
(3,816 posts)just that it's obviously what they're after.
ancianita
(36,207 posts)What's not so obvious is the chain of command on this.
How the Air Force would even consider this as consistent with their military mission is also not obvious.
Ex Lurker
(3,816 posts)He wore a Navy uniform, got paid by the Navy, but was actually working for one of the alphabet agencies. The chain of command gets kind of murky.
ETA this was several years ago and what he did was overseas, not domestic.
ancianita
(36,207 posts)The whole misidentified uniform game looks like something Russians do.
Right now, how military act abroad seems to be practice for what they do back in their home nation.
Right now, if military command ignores civilian constitutional rights to assembly and all the communications that go with that, the military looks to be in Trump's pocket.
If the military backs Trump, we're doomed. Doomed.
If they're taking in data/evidence to use to justify removing him if/when something he does justifies it, maybe this is okay. But they're treating civilians as "need to know."
It's one thing to be covert about surveillance; it's another to be overt.
Americans appear to be no different from foreign targets to the US military. Or this WH occupant, for that matter.
Binkie The Clown
(7,911 posts)Tanks rolling into the city?
csziggy
(34,139 posts)It has tracked cell phones for military training and flown a camera that can watch over a city for hours at a time.
Christian Stork BuzzFeed Contributor
Peter Aldhous BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on August 4, 2017, at 7:00 a.m. ET
For six straight days in the middle of March, a small twin-propeller plane flew over Phoenix. Each evening, it picked two or three spots and circled for hours, flying at more than 17,000 feet. The plane was loaded with sophisticated surveillance equipment, including technology developed by the National Security Agency to track cell phones.
In June of last year, that same plane spent three weeks circling daily over Wilmington, North Carolina, carrying a state-of-the-art persistent surveillance camera that can monitor a large area continuously for hours at a time.
The Phoenix and Wilmington flights are among dozens tracked by BuzzFeed News that were flown by companies run by an obscure, Oklahoma-based private equity fund called Acorn Growth Companies. Acorns planes serve as the US militarys A-Team for aerial surveillance in Africa, including tracking suspected terrorists phones from the air. In the US, the planes sometimes take part in military exercises as they were in Phoenix helping troops practice raids on targets using the same phone-tracking technology.
At other times, Acorn serves commercial clients. The Wilmington flights, according to the company that made and operated the persistent surveillance camera, were run for two reasons: to demonstrate the technologys value for traffic surveys, and to track vehicles going to and from retail outlets. This commercial intelligence would allow businesses to understand where their customers are driving from. The idea was to give retailers clues to help their marketing, so they can target mailings or other efforts to lure in customers from neighborhoods where people tend to shop at competing stores.
Acorns diverse activities in these and other cities raise questions about how much data is being gathered from ordinary people who come under the visual and electronic gaze of sophisticated spy planes and how that information is being used. Although the city of Phoenix agreed to the military exercises and knew that the planes would carry out some sort of surveillance, officials did not know specifics about which technologies were used. And because theres no requirement to inform cities when recording aerial imagery, the city of Wilmington wasnt told about the June 2016 flights.
More: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/christianstork/spy-planes-over-american-cities
JACK GILLUM & EILEEN SULLIVAN & ERIC TUCKER
June 2, 2015
WASHINGTON (AP) The FBI is operating a small air force with scores of low-flying planes across the country using video and sometimes cellphone surveillance technology all hidden behind fictitious companies that are fronts for the government, The Associated Press has learned.
The surveillance equipment is generally used without a judges approval, and the FBI says the flights are used for specific investigations. The agency says it uses front companies to protect the safety of the pilots and aircraft, shielding their identities from would-be suspects on the ground.
In a recent 30-day period, an AP review found, the FBI flew above more than 30 cities in 11 states across the country, including parts of Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Seattle, and Southern California.
Aerial surveillance represents a changing frontier for law enforcement, providing what the government maintains is an important tool for investigations. But the program raises questions as new technologies pose intrusive opportunities for government spying.
More: https://apnews.com/c22e4fb771bc4574ae37162102c2f91a/fbi-behind-mysterious-surveillance-aircraft-over-us-cities
ancianita
(36,207 posts)Are we all supposed to be fully aware and accepting of these practices?
Just what policies or mission do they serve?
And why aren't we who pay for this, fully and formally informed, rather than randomly informed by "news mention" through all the white noise of the nets?
csziggy
(34,139 posts)This seems to violate our Constitutional rights - they are searching without warrants, wholesale.
I just don't know if citizens can get anything done, at least not until January 20, 2021 - but it has gone on even before and during President Obama's time in office.
ancianita
(36,207 posts)And if anyone with the power to do anything is, why aren't we hearing from them?
csziggy
(34,139 posts)No one is listening and we all are not yelling loud enough.
ancianita
(36,207 posts)Point two:
Just because drone surveillance has been done, certainly doesn't mean that it should continue. SIGINT drones can be outfitted with weapons, EMP's, deep ground mapping, as well. Americans should speak out about all that.
ancianita
(36,207 posts)The operations of drone surveillance on Americans are tantamount to Panopticon prison treatment, or screen monitoring of a human animal game preserve.
This situation in America is not spectacle or spectatorship.
This is real. Now.
Now what recourse is there if the military is silent? Wait until an election that might not happen?
Does anyone in our party have a plan after that? that includes any law enforcement entity -- you know, those that swear to protect and defend the Constitution as the condition of their employment -- that would rid this nation of a dictator?