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abandoned the concept of “Total Information Awareness,” a program for intensive digital spying proposed and ostensibly withdrawn by the Pentagon shortly after 9/11.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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- If COVID-19 doubles in the community, it doubles in schools, Seattle disease modeling group findson February 24, 2021 at 5:15 pm
Washington disease modelers are refining answers to big questions about how COVID-19 spreads between the community and schools. But they're facing pushback from researchers who want the models tested ...
- In Colorado, It’s A Race Between COVID-19 Variants And The COVID Vaccineon February 24, 2021 at 3:01 am
At least one COVID variant has been detected in Colorado. At the same time, seven percent of Coloradans have been fully vaccinated.
- Eye in the sky: Did Baltimore’s aerial surveillance program go too far?on February 23, 2021 at 10:55 pm
A federal appeals court is set to consider the constitutionality of a police surveillance program conducted last year in the skies over Baltimore.
- NATO’s first operational UAS flying unit is providing increased securityon February 19, 2021 at 8:04 pm
Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4D Phoenix Global Hawk has recently enabled NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Force to achieve a declaration of initial operating capability from Supreme Allied Commander Europe, ...
- PRC Spying, Malware and Disinformation Campaigns Push Hong Kong Dissidents to Underground Communications Channelson February 19, 2021 at 3:00 am
Report finds that aggressive disinformation campaigns and related measures have forced Hong Kong organizers to move to the digital underground, using encryption and the dark web.
- NATO AGS drone reaches initial operational readinesson February 16, 2021 at 4:47 pm
The NATO AGS RQ-4D remotely piloted aircraft has reached initial operational readiness, according to Gen. Tod Wolters, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander.
- Man facing burglary charge plus enhancement for breaking in to CAL Ranchon February 16, 2021 at 3:38 pm
A Shelley man could face up to 15 years in prison for allegedly breaking into the Chubbuck CAL Ranch store in December. At the end of last year, Cody Abe Winterbottom, 22, was charged with burglary, a ...
- Off-Campus Students Face Persistent Break-Inson February 16, 2021 at 2:00 pm
Hannah Freehill first realized someone had broken into her off-campus house when she noticed something was wrong with her jewelry.
- NATO’s RQ-4D Surveillance Drone Achieves Initial Operational Capabilityon February 16, 2021 at 3:04 am
RQ-4D remotely piloted aircraft initially operationally ready to conduct missions. NATO's AGS system will provide a unique capability for all 30 Alliance Members, with a platform adapted to meet ...
- NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Force achieves Initial Operational Capabilityon February 15, 2021 at 7:03 am
SHAPE is responsible for planning and execution of all NATO operations and Allied Command Transformation (ACT) responsible for NATO's transformation.
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- Surveillance footage, witness lead to arrest of alleged gunman in fatal shootingon February 24, 2021 at 6:11 pm
An inmate in jail on unrelated offenses was charged Wednesday with fatally shooting a man in Camden last year, authorities said. Naasque Holloway, 25, of Camden was charged with murder and ...
- YANG | How to Counter-Culture in the Age of Surveillance?on February 24, 2021 at 5:16 pm
In the age of platforms, they have dispersed in all directions in the digital sphere. The reason is simple: Their very existence is incompatible with the central tenets of surveillance culture.
- Camden Man, 25, Charged After Surveillance Video Links Him to Homicideon February 24, 2021 at 5:12 pm
Evidence from a surveillance video led police to arrest a 25-year-old Camden man and charge him Wednesday in the murder of a Magnolia man, authorities said Wednesday night.
- Police Hope New Surveillance Video Leads To Arrest Of Deadly Hit-And-Run Driver In North Philadelphiaon February 24, 2021 at 3:55 pm
Police hope some new surveillance pictures will help them find a driver wanted for a deadly hit-and-run crash in North Philadelphia. Take a look at these pictures of the car that hit Olvin Martinez ...
- Florida Case About Spa Recordings Raises Questions About Public Surveillance, Privacyon February 24, 2021 at 12:02 pm
Authorities suspected covert electronic surveillance would identify patrons that may be part of a larger criminal enterprise. But law enforcement recorded the spa activity, instead of monitoring the ...
- Surveillance video shows woman jumping into frozen pool to save dogon February 24, 2021 at 10:35 am
Surveillance video captured Jennie Tatum’s two dogs playing in the yard when one, Sid, slipped through the icy pool. Tatum then immediately jumped in to save her drowning pet.
- Surveillance Shows Multiple Rounds Shot Into BMW, Injuring Teens in Naranjaon February 24, 2021 at 10:07 am
Shocking surveillance video shows someone shooting round after round into a vehicle with teenagers inside Monday in Naranja.
- School district violates own policy with hidden surveillance camerason February 24, 2021 at 8:12 am
In September 2019, top brass at the Madison school district violated district policy by installing hidden cameras — concealed in hollowed-out smoke detectors — in a coach’s office in the boys' locker ...
- Columbus has 3,428 public surveillance cameras. What they mean for crime, your privacyon February 24, 2021 at 3:07 am
A recent study finds Columbus below average among 39 big cities in public surveillance cameras, but that doesn't lessen concerns of privacy advocates.
- Surveillance video captures out of control boat smashing into dockson February 23, 2021 at 3:46 pm
THE ENTIRE ACCIDENT CAUGHT ON SURVEILLANCE CAMERA. >> IT SOUNDED LIKE AN EXPLOSION. SHAYNE: IMAGINE ENJOYING A SUNDAY AFTERNOON INSIDE YOUR HOME, LOOKING OUT TOWARDS THE WATER AND THEN THIS. >> AND ...
