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© Lucas Jackson / Reuters / Reuters, file
A sandstorm blows past an inflatable blimp inside Forward Operating Base Joyce in Afghanistan's Kunar Province in June.
Dozens of surveillance blimps now being used on the battlefield in Afghanistan and Iraq could be deployed on the border with Mexico under a new joint initiative by the American military and border patrol officials, the Wall Street Journal reported.
If tests overseen by the military over the next few weeks are successful, the Department of Homeland Security would deploy 72-foot-long, unmanned surveillance blimps to help trace drug traffickers and those trying to enter the United States illegally, the newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The helium-filled drones have drifted over military bases throughout Afghanistan and Iraq for years, the Wall Street Journal reported. Often floating some 2,000-feet above above ground, they are equipped with cameras, infrared sensors and other hardware to help keep an eye on militants, insurgents and troops in battle, according to the newspaper.
Border Patrol unveils first new strategy in 8 years
With bases in Afghanistan shutting down, the aircraft are part of an enormous trove of military equipment set to leave the country over the next two years, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Heavily armed boats from Texas are now patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border along the Rio Grande. NBC's Charles Hadlock reports.
Drug smuggling tunnels discovered between US and Mexico
If the tests go well, the military could give Homeland Security dozens of blimps and surplus equipment worth $27 million, the newspaper reported. Border officials are already using military hardware along the border with Mexico, such as unarmed Predator drones, the Wall Street Journal said.
The surveillance drones were being offered free of charge, Mark Borkowski, assistant commissioner at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Technology Innovation and Acquisition, told the paper.
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Leave a Comment:
Where will my voters come from if they stop illegal immgrants.
Barry
How about a government that actually enforces the laws, convicts criminals, and deports illegal aliens automatically when they are discovered.
Denver bill 2....You are soooooooooo right on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why would the present administration want to deport one of their stongest voting blocs?
Since these will be surplus units maybe we can also get some of those nice surplus tanks, Rocket launchers, etc etc. Anything and everything will help!
Oh, enforcing our laws would also help the most!
Bring our military home and fight the war with the Mexican drug lords. Go after them on their own ground not ours. We should liberate the Mexican people from corruption and violence and that will make all of us safer.
Machine gun bunkers, live ammo, orders, "shoot to kill", would have a much greater effect that than a floating balloon! Message would be received in less than a weeks time. Problem solved.
With Obamas planned amnesty programs all the technology in the world isn't going to help. Until we have a president in office that is willing to enforce the law not find ways to skate around it nothing will ever get better.
Nimrod you are kidding right .If not you are just as the name, nimrod the idiot
Guard towers. High power rifles. Louisiana has a bounty on an illegal immigrant. Nutria. How about a bounty on another illegal immigrant?
These drones are a start but instead of them being un-armed they need to be armed and ready to be fired when needed. If we really wanted to do something to keep out illegals and drugs and put thousands upon thousands of people back to work we need to build "The Great Wall of America". Just think of the amount of carpenters, masons/bricklayers, electricians, and others that would be needed. Also what about the people being hired who will supply the materials needed and the business that will open near where the construction is. We could make it 30/40 feet high and 12/14 feet wide with gun turrets every so many feet apart for the border patrol agents to keep a watch. After it was built then it would become a tourist attraction again bringing in more $$$$ for the government coffers.
Like when they built Fort Levenworth Kansas. They had the prisoners who would be housed there build the maximum security prison they would live in. Became the biggest tourist attraction of its day.
That would be great if the rich didn't want cheap labor.
They do- and they own the government.
That fence will never be built, and no effective measures will ever be taken.
Whether or not these things should happen is another debate; what matters is that the government does the will of corporate citizens, not private citizens.
Want to take your government back?
Repeal Citizens United- and divest corporations of their current status as citizens.
Speaking on the topic of Citizens United, Justice Nelson cut to the chase:
Montana was owned by the mining industry at one point- and they haven't forgotten- because they're still cleaning up the mess in some places.
Montana fought Citizens United and lost- the SCOTUS declined to review it on June 25th.
Montana has now successfully defeated a cynical lawsuit levied by rich corporations who want their tentacles back in the Capital Building- and will put an amendment to the state constitution on their ballot which could, if passed, render the Citizens United ruling moot- and other states are considering similar actions.
This should never have been necessary had the SCOTUS not been suborned by the same interests which have corrupted the other two branches of our government.
Insofar as the pro-business, anti-citizen majority of five on the SCOTUS are concerned, America has come to a sad turn indeed; contempt of court has become a natural and patriotic reaction.
Surveillance is a necessary force amplifier, but blimps aren't a practical platform.
Blimps are a low altitude target with high visibility- which might have some utility at night as a backup to UAV's, but otherwise seem impractical- unless you want to deploy a high altitude stationary surveillance vehicle like this one: http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20120808/NJNEWS/308080045/Army-airship-cruises-over-Ocean-County
Drones are cheap and harder to hit- and many are now semi-autonomous, with the capacity to alert either an operator or a smarter computer if they spot something interesting.
Most surveillance drones are night capable; let's add a gunnery system that fires paintballs full of fluorescent indelible dye for the convenience of arresting officers- and the easy identification of repeat offenders.
Whatever capability that our technology provides, it won't do anything except enlarge the hole in the US wallet until there's a change of policy within the US government.... specifically the Justice Department. Illegal immigration has to be declared a crime, and the states along the border have to have total control over their own borders, and those US citizens who assist the illegal immigration business and hire illegals to exploit their unemploymment status, and do not pay taxes as they should, must be held in contempt and punished accordingly.
The "drug war" has become a war because of US legislation, egotistical politicians, old world thinking, etc. It is prohibition all over again. The only difference is it has lasted longer and escalated to a "beast" out of control. Marijuana is not the evil the politicians want us to believe it is. It does not warrant this degree of legislation and law enforcement. But politicians are made famous by their "war on drugs" rhetoric and law enforcement agencies receive more funding and more high tech toys so they can contnue to act out their boyhood fantasies of playing war.
The reality is people are getting killed, property is being destroyed and millions if not billions are being spent on law enforcement, trials and defense lawyers and prisons. The end results are families are torn apart, pot becomes a more sought after commodity, cartels make millions that allow them to buy more arms and corrupt the local government and police forces, promoting kidnappings, murder and more illegal activities, etc.
And why? Pot is a drug. Not unlike alcohol. That many people use to relax, decrease chronic pain and socializing. The days of "Refer Madness" propaganda that marijuana makes people go crazy, commit violent crimes and acts as a gateway to "harder" drugs, which can easily be found in most people's medicine cabinets via their medical doctor, have been proved to be incorrect. So why are we allowing this drug to cause so much hardship in all of our lives? It's time we look with a fresh mind and evaluate the legalization and eliminate this conspiracy against the American public.
Its not just Pot thats involved. Its our very Feds who wont inforce pre-existing Laws and our Very Goverment giving these Lawbreakers Wealfare and other Benifets for breaking the Law. The reason Arizona rose was because of these Wettbacks who would cut the fence, trash the land, poison the dogs, threaten landowners who stood up and committed multiple murders while transporting Wettbacks and Drugs. More People are sick of this than we really know.
Flourescent paintballs ??? How about 20MikeMike Hi Order Frag !!!
I would think that the blimps would be shot down very quickly by the drug cartel.
Oh those blimps! I thought they were just going to line up a lot of fat Texans to stop the illegals trying to sneak in.
At least the Fatt Texans will do something about so whats your excuse ?? Fatt Texan and Proud. Have Gun, will shoot.
Electric fences and gun towers like in prisons would be my vote.
Homeland wont take them because it will cut down on obama voters
Here is and idea. BUILD THE FENCE! Why not build the fence and man it with the necessary resources to stop the invasion of our country. We spend billions annually on our Border patrol budget so that we can play this ridiculous game of catch and return, catch and return, catch and return. Stop the madness America!
Blimps? Just wasting time.
Bullets? Now, there's a plan!
Just SHOOT to KILL any person ILLEGALLY entering the U.S.A.
GUARANTEED to ELIMINATE many potential violators :-) and
dramatically s... l... o... w... down the rest.
Just to be sure, tens of thousands of land mines will eliminate a lot of criminals.
Now thats a Freaking plan that I like. We need to be more like Two Faced Mexico and Imprision these Lawbreakers to Hard Labor like they do to Americans who Illegally Cross over. These Wettbacks are nothing more than Lawbreaking Leeches who make me want to vomit.
Tunnels shouldn't be destroyed when we can robotically send explosives down them
Start killing these intruders and traffic will stop abruptly!
It's a cheesy start. All we need is for the Homeland Security and the Fed's to do their Freaking Job because doing nothing and giving these Ailiens Wealfare and other Benifets for breaking the Law isnt working for Displaced United States Workers. Why dont we just file a lawsuit against Mexico for Vandilism and Promoting this Lawbreaking Tatic. We need to allow our states to regulate since the Feds wont do anything about this Alarming Rising Problem. I dont like Wettbacks so sue me.
Eclipso Deathrider; AMEN BROTHER!
How about we landmine the border and military people with orders shoot to kill cause they are INVADERS!
Now thats a thought. We can transport our Soldiers from that Two Faced Middle East and use them to Enforce the Law. We can also turn the 1st 5 mile of our side of the riverland into Millitary Property so that when these Wettbacks Invade, they automaticly become Invading Terrorist who must be shot on site.
So many things the founding fathers hoped:We'd understand they totally meant for marriage to mean 2 of anything,and one day illegals would make their scions a minority.Bonus; throw out the culture!Everything is so great.Hell according to Culheath,we should be glad.
Blimps like this were already in use to track drug trafficking in southeast Arizona 30 years ago. They were called "AEROSTAT" and were the subject of great speculation and conjecture then, too. Perhaps the researchers who did the background work for this article may want to do their homework a little bit better.
If the federal government isn't going to enforce the immigration laws that we have,and sue the state of Arizona for actually trying to enforce them, what the hell do we need blimps for? The most likely next move would be to put them over neighborhoods that homeland security deems as high crime.
And as long as Miss Stephanie is mayor, you'll get a two for one deal if you float one over Baltimore!