Source: Wired
“I don’t know how much [drones] will be used within the U.S.,” says Ruth Doherty, a top official with the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate tasked with countering the domestic threat of homemade bombs. Asked about domestic drone use for bomb-spotting by Danger Room, she replies, “A case has to be made that they’re economically feasible, not intrusive and acceptable to the public.”
At a sprawling conference just outside of D.C. this morning, Doherty said that the spread of homemade bombs from Iraq or Afghanistan to cities inside the U.S. is all too real. Problem is, it’s much easier to spot bombs in checkpoint areas like airports, where security officials can line people up to swab luggage for trace explosive material or run passengers through metal detectors, than at mass gatherings like the Super Bowl.
Surveillance cameras can snap pictures of possible “anomalous” behavior. But for explosives, big gatherings or subways aren’t yet sensor-fests. And that’s in part because of what a “free and open” society will accept, Doherty said: just think of the “widespread controversy” of last year’s airport introduction of whole-body imagers andjunk-touching pat-downs, a theme she kept returning to as an example of public backlash to security measures. READ FULL STORY
