We Cannot Allow An Unmanned Drone Bomber Gap!

It's the classic case of keeping up with the neighbors. Especially the new ones: the hoards from America who always wear helmets, build massive bases of operation, bring along thousands of "independent contractors", and tend to shoot first and ask questions later.

The latest object of regional envy for militaries in the Middle East: killer drones. The USA introduced them, now everybody wants them.

First, the Iranian government announces they have a new unmanned military drone bomber. Iranian President Ahmabinejad said "The jet, as well as being an ambassador of death for the enemies of humanity, has a main message of peace and friendship." The remote-controlled flying weapon's estimated range means local major enemies of humanity - like Israel - remain out of reach. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-ml-iran-unmanned-bomber,0,4364976.story

Iranian officials gaze admiringly at a model of their new drone.  It will strike fear in enemies of humanity who are within its 620 mile range - and will probably just cause mild anxiety to those farther away.

Then Israel announces, they too have a new unmanned miltary drone. According the the Telegraph in London, "Israel considers Iran a strategic threat because of ...repeated references by its leaders to the Jewish state's destruction." Wouldn't do to have a flying drone gap with an archenemy, so the Israeli version can make it all the way to Tehran:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/7287623/Israel-unveils-unmanned-drones-which-can-fly-to-Iran.html

No models here - the Israeli drone makes an appearance. It's capable of carrying diverse payloads - like propaganda leaflets to drop over Iran.

In the meantime, the Middle East pioneer in the field of conducting aerial bombing via remote control - the USA - is way ahead of the game. Actively using them for years now, our tax dollars are funding more operators in obscure Nevada locations and increasing robot drone attacks in Afghanistan (courtesy the U.S. military) and Pakistan (courtesy the CIA):

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/world/asia/20drones.html?_r=1

American drone on the job, firing away - is it collateral damage if we bomb targets in an ally's territory?

But remember, as noted in the Telegraph article, President Ahmabinejad has touted spectacular weapons advances before that didn't amount to much. Remember the Iranian long-range missile announcement a couple of years ago?

Iran's latest rocket technology takes flight - with Plan B waiting on the bench. Good thing the Japanese goverment is friendly with Israel.

Besides, we can't let the Iranians usurp our best military slogan!  Peace and friendship?  That's why you call in the USA - we're the professionals:

General Jack D. Ripper and Colonel Lionel Mandrake exemplify the Strategic Air Command's motto: Peace Is Our Profession.

Just in case you thought Stanley Kubrick made that last one up:

Circa 1962 - after all the US military doesn't kid around. Now you kids get off my lawn!

C.I.A. Venture Capital, The Internet And You

In-Q-Tel's multiple investments spread across a wide range of technology companies.

Click below for the secret message!

I have a myspace page for music, a couple of photo site accounts and this blog, so my internet privacy is already hopelessly compromised. I made these choices knowing big-brother style monitoring - either for commercial/marketing gain or something more devious - was going on. But I’ve refrained from joining Facebook or any other social networking sites.

Aside from being basically anti-social, it's knowing that Congress - via the Patriot Act - gave up so many citizen privacy protections that tells me to keep a low profile. That doesn't seem to bother millions of Americans, though. That's why this recent press release was an attention-grabber.

Visible Technologies - a “social media monitoring” company - has joined up with In-Q-Tel to “listen” to consumers across a broad range of internet social networks. From the attached press release, highlights are mine:

“In-Q-Tel is the not-for-profit, strategic investment firm that works to identify, adapt, and deliver innovative technology solutions to support the mission of the U.S. Intelligence Community. Launched by the CIA in 1999 as a private, independent organization, In-Q-Tel’s mission is to identify and partner with companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve the national security interests of the United States.”
http://es-es.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=161002463047&comments&ref=mf

Our tax dollars at work – spying on us! If you've got a good surveillance idea, the C.I.A.'s In-Q-Tel has got the start-up dough! I know Facebook has a pretty wide-ranging “we can do what we want with your stuff for as long as we want, and give/sell your info to pretty much anybody - especially law enforcement” terms of service agreement – I don’t know much about any others. but all that fine print detail is just a few clicks away on the internet.

Myself, I think I’ll preserve whatever privacy I have left from the CIA’s investment firm as best I can. Although who's to say this blog entry isn't being read by deeply-hidden lurkers right now?

Here is the Visible Technologies website:
http://www.visibletechnologies.com/

Here is the In-Q-Tel website – I enjoyed the FAQ section on “Submitting A Business Plan” – hey, the CIA’s got unlimited venture capital:
http://www.iqt.org/

And two items in the “just for grins” department:

ISS: Intelligence Support Systems for Lawful Interception, Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Gathering
Check out this online security company’s conference agenda from last month. Clicking into the specific program topics is an eye-opening experience. While much of what’s being discussed here is lawful – meaning we’ve allowed the creation of laws to enable this sort of electronic monitoring – the scale is troubling. Not to mention the ongoing revolving door of lawmaking, policing, and surveillance/security equipment private enterprise that financially enriches all its participants.
http://www.issworldtraining.com/ISS_WASH/

And here's an ISS tidbit that just dropped: Sprint fielded 8 million law enforcement information requests over the last year!
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/12/surveillance-shocker-sprint-received-8-million-law

And the Department of Defense is staging an internet treasure hunt! Only it’s not all fun and games :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/dec/04/darpa-balloon-challenge