English: Diagram of Total Information Awareness system designed by the Information Awareness Office (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Disturbing revelations about the breadth of spying by the U.S. government on its citizens and allies continue to emerge.
In a recent post, I suggested that U.S. security officials never abandoned the concept of “Total Information Awareness,” a program for intensive digital spying proposed and ostensibly withdrawn by the Pentagon shortly after 9/11.
Another Pentagon phrase that keeps popping up in my head is “persistent surveillance.” I first heard this term while researching “The Drones Come Home,” an article for the March issue of National Geographic Magazine. Predators, Global Hawks and other unmanned planes, or drones, were enabling U.S. armed forces to carry out continuous, 24/7 visual, infrared, radar and electronic monitoring of large regions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As this 2011 Pentagon report states, persistent surveillance, which like Total Information Awareness was inspired by 9/11, “facilitates the prediction of an adversary’s behavior and the formulation and execution of preemptive activities to deter or forestall anticipated adversary courses of action.”
Incorporating data from conventional aircraft, satellites, balloons and towers as well as drones, persistent surveillance allows U.S. armed forces to predict enemy attacks and coordinate counter-strikes with greater precision than traditional methods.
Such surveillance can also help identify perpetrators of past attacks. For example, if militants blow up a U.S. convoy with an improvised explosive device, persistent surveillance data allow investigators to watch the whole plot unfold in reverse and track perpetrators back to their hideouts. Persistent surveillance turns an entire city into the equivalent of a convenience store monitored by security cameras.
One of the most detailed, candid discussions I have found of persistent surveillance is a 2009 master’s thesis by Christina Fekkes of the Naval Postgraduate School. Fekkes began her paper by recalling the proposal of 18th-century philosopher Jeremy Bentham to create a “panopticon,” a prison whose inmates are monitored so thoroughly that they do not even contemplate misbehaving.
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Persistent Surveillance
- Ex-San Diegan Says USD Videotaped Him 24/7 in Every Room of his WA State Homeon May 19, 2022 at 4:37 pm
Nick Ratekin has issued dozens of civil subpoenas. On Feb. 11 alone, he sought information from META (Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook and the CEOs of Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube.
- Canadians in the dark about how their data is collected and used, report findson May 19, 2022 at 5:58 am
A new report says digital technology has become so widespread at such a rapid pace that Canadians have little idea what information is being collected about them or how it is used. The report by David ...
- Nifty, Sensex fall 2% on weak global cues, inflation fears, persistent FII selling; what should investors do?on May 18, 2022 at 11:36 pm
Indian equity markets declined 2% on Thursday tracking losses in global markets. Central bank minutes released on Wednesday also spooked investors and flamed interest rate hike concerns. Benchmark BSE ...
- Defence Minister witnesses P-8I aircraft's surveillance, anti-submarine warfare capabilitieson May 18, 2022 at 10:00 am
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during his visit to Mumbai undertook a sortie on the Indian Navy P8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance Anti-Submarine Warfare ai ...
- CRITERIA LABS PARTNERS WITH COBHAM ADVANCED ELECTRONIC SOLUTIONS IN SUPPORT OF ADVANCED OFFBOARD ELECTRONIC WARFARE PROGRAMon May 17, 2022 at 2:44 pm
The new defense system delivers persistent electronic surveillance and attack capability against naval threats like anti-ship missiles. AUSTIN, Texas, May 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Criteria Labs, an ...
- Deep learning-based evaluation of prostate lesions useful during active surveillanceon May 12, 2022 at 5:00 pm
Men who harbored persistent high-risk lesions on follow-up imaging had ... which can help identify areas of progression that can either lead to continued surveillance or biopsy,” Daneshvar said.
- COVID-19 patients with persistent viral shedding may warrant closer surveillance and monitoring for complicationson May 11, 2022 at 9:31 pm
A new Northwestern Medicine study published in GeroScience sought to determine the prevalence, risk factors and significance of persistent viral shedding in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
- Understanding Advanced Persistent Threatson May 11, 2022 at 4:15 am
A logical deconstruction of the term APT can help describe why these threat actors are so effective and what motivates them to cause problems.
- Serco Wins $40 Million Naval Sea Systems Command Undersea Surveillance Product Support Facility Contracton April 28, 2022 at 8:05 am
Serco Inc., a provider of professional, technology, engineering, and management services, announced today that the Company has been awarded a new prime contract, Naval ...
- Lockheed Martin Awards CAES LRIP1 Contract for Advanced Off-Board Electronic Warfare Systemson April 27, 2022 at 10:36 am
The AOEW program delivers persistent electronic surveillance and attack capabilities against potential threats such as anti-ship missiles, thereby allowing naval warfighters to not only see ...
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