“The Domestic Proliferation of Drones and their Challenges to American Democratic Values, Civil Liberties, Local Law Enforcement and National Security” by Kapok Tree Diplomacy<\/p>\n
Background<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s continuous national security state<\/i> that blurs the lines between war and peace and civilian and military operations, the question becomes whether America must deliberately violate its values to protect its citizens?\u00a0 John O. Brennan, Assistant to President Obama for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, declared that America\u2019s values and national security \u201creinforce one another\u201d and rejected the \u201cfalse choice\u201d between the nation\u2019s security and its traditional values.[1]<\/a> Jay Stanley and Catherine Crump from the ACLU counter that drones threaten U.S. citizens\u2019 fourth amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure without a warrant and probable cause.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 This paper will assess whether the end justifies the means.<\/p>\n This essay will attempt to navigate the ethical tradeoffs between using domestic drones that can look inside private homes with thermal heat sensors and tap into cell phone and text conversations with all the good that drones can do in helping local law enforcement.[3]<\/a> With the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issuing over 300 Certificates of Authorizations (COAs) since 2006 to entities like local law enforcement agencies and the DOD for permission to fly UAVs, the debate over their potential misuse has only just begun.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n {Complete essay contains 4,138 words; 14 double-spaced pages; 30 references}<\/p>\n The posts, views and opinions expressed in this paper are completely my own and do not represent the views or opinions of the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of the Navy (DON) or any of the Armed Forces.<\/b><\/p>\n Table of Contents<\/span><\/p>\n I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Background<\/p>\n II. \u00a0 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Drone Capabilities<\/p>\n A.\u00a0 Military Capabilities and Usage<\/p>\n B.\u00a0 Domestic Capabilities and Usage<\/p>\n III.\u00a0 Analysis \u2013 Domestic Drones<\/p>\n A.\u00a0 Pros and Cons of Using Domestic Drones for Law Enforcement<\/p>\n B.\u00a0 Pros and Cons of Using Domestic Drones for Border Surveillance<\/p>\n C.\u00a0 American Values: Privacy and Civil Liberties Concerns<\/p>\n D.\u00a0 International Law Concerns<\/p>\n IV.\u00a0 Analysis \u2013 The Coming Drone Armageddon<\/p>\n V.\u00a0\u00a0 Conclusions and Recommendations<\/p>\n Works Cited in Introduction<\/span><\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Brennan, John O. “Remarks of John O. Brennan, “Strengthening our Security by Adhering to our Values and\u00a0\u00a0 Laws.\u201d Program on Law and Security, Harvard Law School. http:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/the-press-office\/2011\/09\/16\/remarks-john-o-brennan-strengthening-our-security-adhering-our-values-an<\/a> (accessed April 29, 2012).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [2]<\/a> Stanley, Jay and Catherine Crump. Protecting Privacy from Aerial Surveillance: Recommendations for Government use of Drone Aircraft. <\/i>American Civil Liberties Union, December 2011, 14. https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/files\/assets\/protectingprivacyfromaerialsurveillance.pdf<\/a> (accessed April 29, 2012).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [3]<\/a> Finn, Peter, “Domestic use of Aerial Drones by Law Enforcement Likely to Prompt Privacy Debate,” The Washington Post<\/i>, January 23, 2011 (accessed April 29, 2012).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [4]<\/a> Lynch, Jennifer. “FAA Releases Lists of Drone Certificates\u2014Many Questions Left Unanswered.” Electronic Frontier Foundation. https:\/\/www.eff.org\/deeplinks\/2012\/04\/faa-releases-its-list-drone-certificates-leaves-many-questions-unanswered<\/a> (accessed April 29, 2012).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In order to deter and defeat the increasingly violent and dangerous threats that challenge our borders, national security strategists must employ a flexible, forceful and effective array of intelligence gathering and counterterrorism tools that enable America\u2019s defenders to guarantee the safety and security of the nation. Domestic unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and drones are increasingly important for patrolling the 1,951 mile border between the U.S. and Mexico as well as for domestic law enforcement and homeland security purposes. But are domestic drones threatening to violate many of America\u2019s civil liberties and privacy rights while circumventing proper oversight, institutional checks and balances, and the rule of law?<\/p>\n Purpose Statement and Hypothesis<\/p>\n The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the proliferation of domestic UAVs and their current and future law enforcement applications in context to America\u2019s constitutional values and the increasingly blurred line between civilian and military roles in homeland security. The central hypothesis is that UAV technology is rapidly undermining the ethical framework within the national and homeland security decision-making process while putting the nation\u2019s civil liberties at risk and opening the door for a significant security and ethical disaster. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[975,772,5,173,1064,229,1089],"tags":[1173,1187,1184,449,1172,1177,1192,1196,1180,289,1169,1181,1182,1087,1098,1165,1171,1166,1164,304,301,1176,1194,1179,1198,1178,252,1168,1175,1170,1185,1174,251,640,1190,785,1201,618,1191,1195,1188,1200,1197,1167,1183,1186,1163,1199,1162,1193,1189,1088],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global-security-environment","category-human-rights-and-conflict","category-international-relations","category-intl-law","category-national-security-law","category-paid-content","category-u-s-national-security","tag-aclu","tag-aerial-surveillance","tag-aerovironment","tag-afghanistan","tag-border-surveillance","tag-brennan","tag-california-v-ciraolo","tag-cartels","tag-certificates-of-authorizations","tag-checks-and-balances","tag-civil-liberties","tag-coas","tag-department-of-defense","tag-department-of-homeland-security","tag-dhs","tag-domestic-drones","tag-drone-strikes","tag-drone-surveillance","tag-drone-wars","tag-drones","tag-due-process","tag-ethical-decision-making","tag-extra-judicial-killings","tag-faa","tag-fbi","tag-federal-aviation-administration","tag-israel","tag-law-enforcement","tag-mexico","tag-military-capabilities","tag-miniature-uav","tag-national-security-state","tag-pakistan","tag-police","tag-predator","tag-privacy","tag-remotely-piloted-aircraft","tag-rule-of-law","tag-secure-border-initiative","tag-self-defense","tag-shadowhawk","tag-super-bowl","tag-surgical-strikes","tag-surveillance","tag-switchblade","tag-u-s-customs-and-border-protection","tag-uavs","tag-unlawful-surveillance","tag-unmanned-aerial-vehicles","tag-unreasonable-search-and-seizure","tag-wasp","tag-yemen"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s31a0x-532","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapoktreediplomacy.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapoktreediplomacy.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapoktreediplomacy.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapoktreediplomacy.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapoktreediplomacy.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/kapoktreediplomacy.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":810,"href":"https:\/\/kapoktreediplomacy.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions\/810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapoktreediplomacy.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapoktreediplomacy.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapoktreediplomacy.com\/hp_wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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