The New York TIMES published a story on July 6 worth reading.. The dronezone hot zone that the United States is fast becoming is complicated with lots of potential future issues, controversies, UFO reports, crashes, and crime watchers along with civil libertarian outcries and invasions of privacy. Of course the drone industry has their own rules for engagement.. but will others who control the drones have equally powerful rules for disengagement?
The TIMES has a big revelation in the story as well. The money quote on the Air Force training sessions and how exactly drone pilots are being prepped (bold and italics to the important part):
Holloman sits on almost 60,000 acres of desert badlands, near jagged hills that are frosted with snow for several months of the year — a perfect training ground for pilots who will fly Predators and Reapers over the similarly hostile terrain of Afghanistan. When I visited the base earlier this year with a small group of reporters, we were taken into a command post where a large flat-screen television was broadcasting a video feed from a drone flying overhead. It took a few seconds to figure out exactly what we were looking at. A white S.U.V. traveling along a highway adjacent to the base came into the cross hairs in the center of the screen and was tracked as it headed south along the desert road. When the S.U.V. drove out of the picture, the drone began following another car.“Wait, you guys practice tracking enemies by using civilian cars?” a reporter asked. One Air Force officer responded that this was only a training mission, and then the group was quickly hustled out of the room.
You read that right. I think. Did I read it right myself?
Are we reading anything right anymore? Is anything right even being read?
Tune in, drop in, drop out.. zone out.. drone out. Above your back yard.. watching your car? ..watching you watching me. Drone nation here.