The U.S. and Global Security Review - Blog by Michael Novakhov

The thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted on a daily basis is beginning to disappear.

NATO General Warns, Putin Is A “Dangerous Gambler… Willing To Use Nuclear Weapons” by Zero Hedge
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 1:00 PM

"There is a real danger China will align itself with Russia politically and militarily."

Insider Reveals CIA, DOJ Prior Knowledge Of 9/11by The Alex Jones Show
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 12:59 PM

And yet it happened.

Communist Cells Activated Across Americaby The Alex Jones Show
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 12:58 PM

Establishment uses communists to spark civil unrest.

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Pentagon: ISIS Created To Remove Assad by Jon Bowne
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 12:58 PM

ISIS was created to isolate the Syrian government.

NSA Can Identify You By Your “Smartphone Handwriting”by Steve Watson
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 12:57 PM

Agency has Lockheed Martin technology to monitor finger swipes on phones.

Clinical Trial Shows Genetically Modified Herpes Virus Effective Against Skin Cancer by AFP
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 12:57 PM

Effective in fighting skin cancer by infecting and destroying cancer cells as well as triggering an immune response, clinical trial shows.

Neo-Feudal USA: The Death of Democracy by Gerald Celente
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 12:57 PM

In neo-feudal America, the financial aristocracy and political elite are judged under a different set of laws.

US Supports Offensive to Retake Anbar
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 12:56 PM

Iraqi government-allied forces clashed with Islamic State militants on the edges of Ramadi after Baghdad launched an offensive Tuesday to retake Anbar province and its capital.

Obama, Stoltenberg Discuss NATO Meeting Highlights
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 12:56 PM

President Barack Obama and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg discussed critical issues being addressed by the alliance during a press briefing here today after a bilateral meeting at the White House.

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Saudi's 'Shia Problem' Poses Impossible Dilemma
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 12:56 PM

In recent years, as hopeful Arab Spring uprisings have descended into wars or chaos, protests in Saudi Arabia by the Shia minority have continued under the radar, with deaths and injuries deepening sectarian divides.

USS Kauffman, U.S. Coast Guard Team Intercept Narcotics
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 12:55 PM

In collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard, the guided-missile frigate USS Kauffman (FFG 59) interdicted 1,775 kg of cocaine, worth an estimated wholesale value of approximately $59 million, in international waters of the Eastern Pacific, May 16.

Obama, NATO Chief Denounce Russia's 'Increasingly Aggressive' Posture
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 12:55 PM

U.S. President Barack Obama cited Russia's "increasingly aggressive" posture with respect to Ukraine Tuesday, as he and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg discussed the challenges facing NATO as it works to protect alliance members.

Anti-ISIL Airstrikes Continue in Syria, Iraq
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 12:55 PM

U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Drones: The Future of Disaster Relief? by Glynn Cosker
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 12:19 PM

In Homeland Security

By Amanda Vicinanzo
Homeland Security Today

Drone technology may be the future of disaster response and recovery, according to a new study commissioned by the American Red Cross.

U.S. Lacks Coherent Middle East Strategy by Glynn Cosker
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 12:19 PM

In Homeland Security

By John Ubaldi
Contributor, In Homeland Security

The Middle East is in the midst of immense turmoil with the rise of the Islamic State and the power projection of Iran in the region, but equally disturbing is the lack of a coherent strategy by the United States.

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'Cicada' the Mini-Drone Swarming Soon
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 11:44 AM

In Homeland Security

By Brett Daniel Shehadey
Special Correspondent for In Homeland Security

The U.S. military has announced its intention to switch to less visible means of targeting terrorists abroad by using mini-drones or Micro-Air Vehicles. This may replace the larger Predator class drones where such large kinetic strikes elicit diplomatic outrage and local backlash on the populations below. In spite of the tremendous amount of precision and the increased efforts and pressure to limit and lessen collateral damage, American forces are learning to go smaller and stealthier.

Mini-drones will allow U.S. forces to throw out another surprise element in counter-terrorist operations as well as enhanced ISR missions.

The mini-drones can be launched as a swarm by aircraft or other aerial platform. The new model developed by the Naval Research Laboratory is called the Cicada (Close-In Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft). The program has been under exploratory development since 2006.

The Cicada is presently little more than a paper airplane glider with GPS. The silent killers can soar at 47 MPH. They have already been tested at 57,000 plus feet three years ago in Yuma, Ariz. But right now they are envisioned for non-lethal roles that might include lacing targets or target areas. According to the Navy, 18 of these vehicles can fit in a six inch cube. They are seen by their designers as carrier pigeons or mini-surveillance dead-drop drones and less as replacements for larger strike drones using hellfire missiles.

The ‘Cicada’ mini-drone. Photo: AFP

In many ways, the Cicada’s rise is similar to combat drones that were once exclusively fitted for ISR and later equipped for regular lethal missions. The Cicadas are cheaper and more simplistic than their macro-brothers with the idea being to drop more than the enemy can handle with the tactics over overwhelming them by numbers and “seeding” an area with sensors; although absent a video feed.

Aaron Kahn, from the Naval Research Laboratory told AFP, “We will put so many out there, it will be impossible for the enemy to pick them all up.”

Daniel Edwards, also from the Naval Research Laboratory said they were “very difficult to see” and that the Cicadas looked like “birds” when visible. Eavesdropping is going smaller and personnel.

The U.S. Navy has also been fascinated with the study of Cicadas for the use of sonar.

Cicadas have an unnerving effect of making tremendous noise after coming out of the ground from yearly to near 20 year cycles and clumsily molting, feeding and mating and then most of them falling to their death at the hands of happy birds or ended life cycles. This might be a decade or more away to bring the Cicada program to any lethality option, but equipping robotic Cicadas with similar noise generation features might also play into larger psychological and information operations of disruption.

As of now, Edwards said that “everyone [was] interested” after showing the Cicada off at the Pentagon’s “lab day.”

With ISIS taking Ramadi last Friday and through the weekend, the killer mini-drones could not get here soon enough for the U.S. military, which is using precision strikes from high altitudes of fighter jets, bombers and drones.

Next generation models of mini-drones might well take on the additional form of a swarming tornado of artificial locusts that could one day devastate and destroy the urban enemy in a matter of hours like the agrarian croplands. A micro-UAV locust model might become the next killer variant.

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cicada drones - Google Search
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 11:21 AM

Story image for cicada drones from Empire State Tribune

Disposable Drones A Reality by US Military

Empire State Tribune-May 19, 2015

U.S military scientists claimed to have creates a drone that can locate ... The cicada drones are also expected to work in swarms in order to ...

cicada drones - Google Search
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 11:20 AM

Watch how the Navy plans to deploy its tiny Cicada drones

<a href="http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/22/" rel="nofollow">www.engadget.com/2015/05/22/</a>cicada-test-video/

Engadget

5 days ago - Cicada, the Navy's palm-sized, sensor-laden drone, has no propeller or engine. In fact, it looks like a child's plaything. So, how will they get to ...

US Navy's cheap and tiny Cicada drones can listen in on the ...

<a href="http://www.engadget.com/.../us-navys-cheap-and-tiny-" rel="nofollow">www.engadget.com/.../us-navys-cheap-and-tiny-</a>cicada-drones-...

Engadget

May 18, 2015 - The Navy's Cicada drone has reemerged looking smaller than ever. Navy scientists have been developing the tiny smart glider since 2006 and ...

Swarms of Tiny, Silent Cicada Drones to be Deployedby Joe Wolverton, II, J.D.
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 11:15 AM

Rss

The Department of Defense is well on its way to developing various iterations of tiny drones that will give the federal government “squad level intel” on every man, woman, and child in the United States, even inside their homes.

The latest addition to the miniature monitors is the U.S. Navy’s Cicada drones. Business Insiderpublished an AFP story describing the tiny vehicles:

US military scientists have invented a miniature drone that fits in the palm of a hand, ready to be dropped from the sky like a mobile phone with wings.

The "micro air vehicle" is named after the insect that inspired its invention, the Cicada, which spends years underground before appearing in great swarms, reproducing and then dropping to the ground dead.

"The idea was why can't we make UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) that have the same sort of profile," Aaron Kahn of the Naval Research Laboratory told AFP.

"We will put so many out there, it will be impossible for the enemy to pick them all up.”

That wouldn’t be such a threat to liberty were it not for the fact that since the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, the United States has been designated a theatre in the “War on Terror” and Americans can be denied the most fundamental of their rights and indefinitely detained on the command of the president.

In other words, in order to appreciate the danger of these drones, one must understand the contemporary definition of “enemy.”

Unlike their larger, louder cousins, the Cicadas (an acronym standing for Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft) are quiet and nearly invisible until it’s too late. Business Insider reports the battlefield workings of the weapon:

It is designed to glide to programmed GPS coordinates after being dropped from an aircraft, a balloon or a larger drone, researchers said.

In a test about three years ago in Yuma, Arizona, Cicada drones were released from 57,600 feet (17,500 meters). The little drone flew — or fell — 11 miles, landing within 15 feet of its target.

The Cicada drone can fly at about 46 miles (74 kilometers) per hour and are virtually silent, with no engine or propulsion system.

"It looks like a bird flying down," said Daniel Edwards, an aerospace engineer at the Naval Research Laboratory. But, he said, "it's very difficult to see."

In light of the revelations made a few years ago by this reporter regarding Trapwire — the software that allows the government to aggregate all surveillance and traffic camera video feeds and send them to federal agencies — the next potential use for the Cicadas is particularly worrisome to all defenders of individual liberty.

One possible scenario could be using the drones to monitor traffic on a remote road behind enemy lines.

"You equip these with a microphone or a seismic detector, drop them on that road, and it will tell you 'I heard a truck or a car travel along that road.' You know how fast and which direction they're traveling," a Navy official said, as quoted by the AFP.

It isn’t beyond the region of imagination to foresee a not-so-distant future where anyone audacious enough to challenge the hegemony of the federal government could have his every move monitored by these powerful pocket-sized eyes in the sky.

BizTekMojo.com reports, “Even intelligence agencies were interested in the Cicada program. It makes sense as they could be used to spy on enemy territory with minimal risks and costs. Instead of spy planes, the drones could be scattered ... through fields without being spotted.”

The blog "In Homeland Security" in its report on the Cicadas suggests that the bad press generated by the civilian assassinations carried out by Predator drones may have prompted the move to shrink the vehicles. “This may replace the larger Predator class drones where such large kinetic strikes elicit diplomatic outrage and local backlash on the populations below. In spite of the tremendous amount of precision and the increased efforts and pressure to limit and lessen collateral damage, American forces are learning to go smaller and stealthier,” the blog reports.

It is informative that none of the stories, in particular the one from In Homeland Security, mentions that perhaps we should focus less on making it easier carry out kill missions and more on upholding the rule of law that supports life and liberty.

In fact, not only does the report not mention this aspect of the plan, but it seems to glorify the mortal might of the Cicada and similar weapons: "Next generation models of mini-drones might well take on the additional form of a swarming tornado of artificial locusts that could one day devastate and destroy the urban enemy in a matter of hours like the agrarian croplands. A micro-UAV locust model might become the next killer variant."

As long as money can be made by the military industrial complex, it’s unlikely that peaceful, constitutional alternatives will ever be seriously considered.

Another disturbing fact about this deadly plague is that not only could the Cicadas monitor and record movements and conversations (the AFP report calls it a “phone with wings”), but when the mission is complete, the devices could be destroyed, as one of the selling points is that their price point makes them “disposable.” The Washington Post reports:

By the estimates of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, a single prototype for a CICADA can be produced for less than $1,000. And as more uses are found for these micro-drones, it’s easy to see the price falling further. One scenario being bandied about is using these CICADAS to monitor extreme weather situations, such as tornadoes. Within a few years, as more applications are discovered, that price might drop to as low as $250.

Two hundred and fifty dollars for that type of killing machine — who could say no?

Apparently, nobody. Silicon Republic reports on the durability and desirability of the tiny drones:

“They’ve flown through trees. They’ve hit asphalt runways. They have tumbled in gravel. They’ve had sand in them. The only thing that we found that killed them was desert shrubbery,” said Daniel Edwards, aerospace engineer at the US Navy’s research laboratory.

He went on to say that people from many fields, both military and civilian, are interested in the Cicada: “Everyone is interested. Everyone.”

It’s little wonder that a president that has assumed autocratic authority over life and death would want such an arrow in his quiver. That is a given. What is still a variable, however, is how the American people will respond to this latest threat to their civil liberties.

Of course, in the present climate of near-constant urban unrest, it isn’t a stretch to see the deployment of these drones justified by the urgent need to restore peace and order.

Thanks to the legal plunder perpetrated by the federal government and the billions of dollars it puts at the disposal of the Department of Defense, the watchers will soon be able to be the proverbial fly on the wall — walls within the formerly private residences of Americans.

Day by day, the dossier of dictatorship being compiled by President Obama grows thicker and thicker. From the assumption of authority to draw “First Amendment Zones” to the supposed right to capture and indefinitely detain American citizens in violation of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments and the capacity to send swarms of nearly silent, nearly invisible miniature drones throughout urban areas, President Obama and his congressional co-conspirators are attacking the constitutional barriers protecting the people from tyrants.

But the complete shredding of the U.S. Constitution protecting us from tyranny is not inevitable, and the damage already inflicted on history's greatest experiment in human liberty can be reversed over time — if enough citizens become informed and then work with others to put the federal government back into its constitutional restraints.

Video of prototype of cicada drone: U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

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2,866,5432,866,5432015-05-26» Appeals court rules with states challenging Obama's immigration
Wednesday May 27th, 2015 at 10:59 AM

Mike Nova - Google+

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» Appeals court rules with states challenging Obama's immigration action 26/05/15 21:50

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Mike Nova's Shared NewsLinks Review From The Major News Sources » Appeals court rules with states challenging Obama's immigration action 26/05/15 21:50 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks mikenova shared this story . ...

NATO Secretary General begins visit to the United States, 26-May.-2015 | » NATO chief reacts to Russian surprise military exercises 26/05/15 17:45

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A Brief Intelligence Reality Check

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Russia's military exercise surprises

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Russia and Nato launch rival war games - Telegraph.co.uk

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