Why the US Government Is Terrified of Hobbyist Drones

[Chef Ramsay]

If you want to understand why the government freaked out when a $400 remote-controlled quadcopter landed on the White House grounds last week, you need to look four miles away, to a small briefing room in Arlington, Virginia. There, just 10 days earlier, officials from the US military, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FAA gathered for a DHS “summit” on a danger that had been consuming them privately for years: the potential use of hobbyist drones as weapons of terror or assassination.

The conference was open to civilians, but explicitly closed to the press. One attendee described it as an eye-opener. The officials played videos of low-cost drones firing semi-automatic weapons, revealed that Syrian rebels are importing consumer-grade drones to launch attacks, and flashed photos from an exercise that pitted $5,000 worth of drones against a convoy of armored vehicles. (The drones won.) But the most striking visual aid was on an exhibit table outside the auditorium, where a buffet of low-cost drones had been converted into simulated flying bombs. One quadcopter, strapped to 3 pounds of inert explosive, was a DJI Phantom 2, a newer version of the very drone that would land at the White House the next week.

Attendee Daniel Herbert snapped a photo and posted it to his website along with detailed notes from the conference. The day after the White House incident, he says, DHS phoned him and politely asked him to remove the entire post. He complied. “I’m not going to be the one to challenge Homeland Security and cause more contention,” says Herbert, who runs a small drone shop in Delaware called Skygear Solutions.

The White House drone, of course, wasn’t packing an explosive and wasn’t piloted by a terrorist—just a Washingtonian who lost control of the device while playing around in the wee hours. But the gentle censorship directed at Herbert illustrates how serious the issue is to counterterrorism officials.

A Drone Maker Takes Decisive Action
The Phantom line of consumer drones made by China-based DJI figures prominently in the government’s attack scenarios. That’s not because there’s anything sinister about DJI or the Phantom—in fact, just the opposite. The Phantom is the iPod of drones, cheap, easy to use, and as popular with casual and first-time fliers as with experienced radio control enthusiasts.

More...http://www.wired.com/2015/02/white-house-drone/

[BitCoinNutJob]

Nothng much they can do about it now drones will become more and more available, totally awesome technology.  Imagine when the technology is so advanced that people can compete with the postal services.

[BootstrapCoinDev]

There will always be dangers in this world. The government cannot eliminate them. It cannot eliminate the need for individuals to exercise personal responsibility for security. It can however, create and maintain cushy jobs for government employees, along with enslaving the rest of us to that end.

[deepestfear]

The phobias of the establishment make for entertaining and riveting reading, as always!

[Lethn]

Frankly I'm surprised it took people this long to work out you could do the exact same thing the Americans are doing but with those consumer drones, obviously I wasn't going to go posting this shit up everywhere because then some psychopaths might try it but it honestly crossed my mind more than once. You could even do the same with remote controlled cars that you get in toy stores if you wanted to cause some chaos but obviously to have a chance against armoured vehicles flying drones are a better option.

With technology like this, the battlefield is going to start levelling out, the U.S won't have such a strangehold on the world anymore.

[pattu1]

At least they are worrying about the problem.
The French are clueless. 

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/24/europe/france-drones/index.html

[Snail2]

They can deploy a few Phalanx CIWS around the White House camuflaged as garden gnomes .

[rosh]

All it will take is one attempted attack on the White House / Pentagon before the media starts getting paranoid about it.

[jaysabi]

All it will take is one attempted attack on the White House / Pentagon before the media starts getting paranoid about it.

I'm surprised Fox News isn't already running with this angle, how desperate they are to peddle fear for ratings...

[spazzdla]

A tool for the slaves of america to free themselves.. The jews and their puppets will destory this ability by the end of the year.

[pattu1]

All it will take is one attempted attack on the White House / Pentagon before the media starts getting paranoid about it.

I'm surprised Fox News isn't already running with this angle, how desperate they are to peddle fear for ratings...

I guess it is only a matter of time before they do. 

[(oYo)]

Even though drones could be an actual threat, the US gov't is constantly looking for reasons to make people fearful. I'm surprised they haven't tried using poisoned toothpicks as a terror threat. (I just made that up. lol) You have to admit, they sound awfully stealthy.

[grendel25]

I don't see how anyone could ever be surprised anymore by a terror threat.  It's random and just when you let your guard down there's another attack.  Attacks occur around the world just about every day as far as I can tell from the news and then there is the stuff that doesn't make the news.

Of course the gov't has to do something about drones.

[Mr Tea]

Nothng much they can do about it now drones will become more and more available, totally awesome technology.  Imagine when the technology is so advanced that people can compete with the postal services.

Yep. Nothing they can do to stop advancements in technology other than learn how to deal with it. With the rise of 3d printers it probably wont be long before people can print out their own drones. America can't really complain about the dangers of them either when they've been routinely using them to murder muslims for years. I'm sure their chickens will come home to roost at one point.

[manis]

I don't see how anyone could ever be surprised anymore by a terror threat.  It's random and just when you let your guard down there's another attack.  Attacks occur around the world just about every day as far as I can tell from the news and then there is the stuff that doesn't make the news.

Of course the gov't has to do something about drones.

The government has to go after the perpetrators of these attacks.
Make sure they have nowhere to hide.

[Tusk]

People in white glass houses shouldn't throw stones

[BADecker]

The other side of it is, if enough common people attach cameras to drones, they will be able to record all the bad stuff government does. Videos of recognizable government people or government vehicles could cause all kinds of Senate inquiries into why government was doing whatever it was doing wherever it was doing it. This could get certain government agencies stripped of their funding, certain government people prison terms, and the objectives and agendas of the One-World-Government-Elite set back for years if not forever.

[Gronthaing]

I don't see how anyone could ever be surprised anymore by a terror threat.  It's random and just when you let your guard down there's another attack.  Attacks occur around the world just about every day as far as I can tell from the news and then there is the stuff that doesn't make the news.

Of course the gov't has to do something about drones.

The government has to go after the perpetrators of these attacks.
Make sure they have nowhere to hide.

Better yet, the government has to stop creating them.

@Mr Tea that always happens. But in a different way. Black torture sites already exist in America. The police is getting even more militarized. Maybe some incidents with drones will happen. But more likely they will be used against the population. In one way or another.

[rosh]

The other side of it is, if enough common people attach cameras to drones, they will be able to record all the bad stuff government does. Videos of recognizable government people or government vehicles could cause all kinds of Senate inquiries into why government was doing whatever it was doing wherever it was doing it. This could get certain government agencies stripped of their funding, certain government people prison terms, and the objectives and agendas of the One-World-Government-Elite set back for years if not forever.

The response is in this thread
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=888096.0
Illinois Just Made it a Felony for Its Citizens to Record the Police

[BADecker]

The other side of it is, if enough common people attach cameras to drones, they will be able to record all the bad stuff government does. Videos of recognizable government people or government vehicles could cause all kinds of Senate inquiries into why government was doing whatever it was doing wherever it was doing it. This could get certain government agencies stripped of their funding, certain government people prison terms, and the objectives and agendas of the One-World-Government-Elite set back for years if not forever.

The response is in this thread
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=888096.0
Illinois Just Made it a Felony for Its Citizens to Record the Police

Don't record government officials as citizens. Rather, do it as a man or woman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOkAHRzuiOA&list=PLHrkQxgz0mg6kUBciD-HIvTXByqjcIZ-D