See: Small drone breaches White House grounds, prompting lockdown
What's the fine for that?
"Drone operator had been drinking before crash" by Michael S. Schmidt and Michael D. Shear, New York Times January 28, 2015
WASHINGTON — It was 42 degrees, lightly raining, and pitch black near the White House early Monday morning when an inebriated, off-duty employee for a government intelligence agency decided it was a good time to test fly his friend’s quadcopter drone.
Readers, this has the stench of a psyop, and laughable one at that. I will explain the purpose a bit later.
But officials say the plan was foiled, perhaps by the wind or a tree, when the employee — who is not being named by the Secret Service — lost control of the drone.
He texted his friends, worried that the drone, which sells for hundreds of dollars and is popular among hobbyists, had crashed on the White House grounds.
Investigators said the man had been drinking at an apartment nearby. It was not until the next morning, when he woke to his friends telling him that his drone was all over the news, that he contacted his employer, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, then called the Secret Service to confess.
In the process of what officials describe as nothing more than a drunken misadventure with a drone, the employee managed to highlight another vulnerability in the shield that the Secret Service erects around the White House complex.
This is so they can get more security around the White House and seal of our out-of-touch elite leaders from the public even more. Something really bad must be coming.
The drone, which measures about 2 feet by 2 feet, evaded White House radar that is calibrated to warn of bigger threats, such as a plane or missile.
So who is going to get the drone radar contract?
The issue of how to stop small drones that could be operated by sinister individuals has been the subject of intensive inquiry by the Secret Service for several years, law enforcement officials said. A classified study of how to bring down small drones has led the agency to try to develop ways to detect and stop such craft.
Sinister drones makes me think of all the whoosh-bangs Obummer has signed off on.
*******
The Virginia-based geospatial-intelligence agency employs satellites to gather data for the military and other agencies by using imagery to detect human activity and to map changes in physical features on the ground.
But they can't find the terrorists.
The crash was the latest security breach showing the difficulties the Secret Service has had protecting the White House. In September, a man with a knife climbed over the White House fence and made it deep inside the building before officers tackled him. In 2011, a gunman fired shots that hit the White House while one of Obama’s daughters was home.
Better wake up the Secret Service.
Obama, who was traveling abroad, declined to comment on the drone episode.
Oh, right, Obama wasn't even there. What a coincidence!
But in a CNN interview Tuesday, Obama said he had instructed federal agencies to examine the need for regulations on commercial drone technology.
Obama said he had told the agencies to make sure that “these things aren’t dangerous and that they’re not violating people’s privacy.”
This as he violates all of yours and signs kill orders for drone strikes.
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Related: Globe Drones On About Consumer Electronics Show
Good thing the government will be regulating them, huh?
