The Army's Plan for Hawaii

[Guest]

Some very interesting reading. A very large document.

But the Army has big plans for Hawaii. (Warning... Large Document 5.4 Megs... not for dial up users)

Something that caught my attention:

....The Army is stationing additional Unmanned Aerial Surveillance (UAS) units to support the operations of its BCTs. This 126 person unit operates unmanned aerial surveillance aircraft. These units provide Army BCTs with additional capability to conduct reconnaissance and * surveillance missions....
Draft Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Army Growth and Force Structure Realignment U.S. Army Pacific, May 2008, page 9 (which is actually page 30 of the .pdf file), lines 45-51

Ok now this is friggin ridiculous! The ARMY is now going to be our big brother with the cameras in the sky?

Larry Geller reported recently that New York Residents are being patroled by the sky in Helicopters that can zoom into your house!

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Lower your expectations and be ready for anything.

[mgeary]

quote:

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Originally posted by Damon

...These units provide Army BCTs with additional capability to conduct reconnaissance and 50 surveillance missions....

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I looked at the website you linked, page 9, and the text is exactly as you quoted it, with the exception of the number "50". Where did you get that, Damon?

Also, the very next sentance, which you didn't post, reads, "UAS units allow the Army to conduct reconnaisance missions in order to provide intelligence and early warning of enemy intent." (My emphasis on "enemy".) Regardless of what conspiracy theorists believe, the Army does not consider the residents of Hawai'i it's enemy. Furthermore, the Army and all branches of the military are prohibited from law enforcement activities on U.S. soil by the Posse Comitatus Act, which you can read here. It's only a paragraph or so, it's worth reading.

I understand and sympathize with your concerns, I've heard the stories, too, and abuses of many different kinds can creep into even the best-intentioned organizations. Honestly, though, the military is moving into UAV's and UAS's in a big way, and this unit is just a part of the Pacific Command's strategy for managing threats from North Korea, China, and other East Asian countries, some of which may actually be considered an enemy some day in the future. This Army unit, IMHO, could care less about the residents of Hawaii; they've got real bad guys to watch in Pyongyang.

In the case of the helicopter in New York, it was outfitted with high-tech gizmos with Homeland Security grant money. They're looking for terrorists and terrorist activity. Have you ever seen the multi-million $$, high-powered, image-stabilized cameras that those news helicopters use in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and have you seen the quality of the imagery? Why does nobody pitch a fit about those kinds of cameras snooping in our bedrooms? Do you believe they don't have all kinds of privacy invasion footage, intentional or accidental, that they don't watch back in the studio? Do they share some of that footage with police? That is a real threat to your civil liberties if you live in an area where they fly news choppers with the fancy cameras. Do they have those on O'ahu?

I wouldn't be askeert of the Army surveillance units. The police helicopters on pot patrol, yes, if I had something to hide. The news choppers, maybe, if I lived in an area where they used those, and again, if I were doing things I wouldn't want to watch on the nightly news, or want the police to watch.

Aloha! ;-)

[Guest]

mgeary...

My apologies to you...

I had several replies on here, and I tried to condense them into one post. During that time of reposting... I lost my previous thoughts...and other pertinent information got lost.

My bad...

However the "50" that was in question is because I cut and pasted and forgot to remove one of the line item #'s before posting on PW.

(Kicking myself for posting w/out backing up)

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Lower your expectations and be ready for anything.

[LeeE]

I had to stop a recording session because of the pot copter racket.

Airborne surveillance of our communities is objectionable in general.



Aloha,
Lee
http://members.cruzio.com/~lionel/event

[David M]

The Army doesn't give a rip what you do, but you can bet these people do.

David

Ninole Resident