Coming to our skies: thousands of drones

WASHINGTON — The federal government is rushing to open America's skies to tens of thousands of the drones — pushed to do so by a law championed by manufacturers of the unmanned aircraft.

Yet questions remain about their potential to invade privacy and about their reliability, as two incidents on the U.S.-Mexico border demonstrate.

The drone makers have sought congressional help to speed their entry into a domestic market valued in the billions. The 60-member House of Representatives' “drone caucus” — including the co-chair, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo — has helped push that agenda. And over the last four years, caucus members have drawn nearly $8 million in drone-related campaign contributions, an investigation by Hearst Newspapers and the Center for Responsive Politics shows.

The Federal Aviation Administration has been flooded with applications from police departments, universities, private corporations and even the celebrity gossip site TMZ, all seeking to use drones that range from devices the size of a hummingbird to full-sized aircraft like those used by the U.S. military to target al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan and elsewhere.

Domestic use of drones began with limited aerial patrols of the nation's borders in 2004 by Customs and Border Patrol authorities. CBP has 10 drones operating along U.S. borders, including two stationed in South Texas and two operating out of Arizona. Other CBP Predator drones are based in Grand Forks, N.D., and Cocoa Beach, Fla.

The agency wants to expand its fleet of the $4 million aircraft from 10 to 24 within the next decade, according to Retired Maj. Gen. Michael Kostelnik, an assistant CBP commissioner.

But their use hasn't been trouble free.

In June 2010, a Predator flying to Texas from Arizona experienced a “lost-link” incident, when the craft and operators lost radio contact for roughly 30 seconds. That forced the drone to automatically drop to a lower altitude until recovery. The National Transportation Safety Board and congressional aides said the incident occurred when the radio signal to the drone was blocked by severe weather.

In 2006, a Predator crashed near the border city of Nogales, Ariz., just missing homes on a hillside. NTSB ruled the cause of the crash was human error.

The industry and its allies have pushed for more drone missions, leading to provisions in the FAA Modernization and Reform Act, signed into law on Feb. 14.

The law requires the FAA to fully integrate the unmanned aerial vehicles into national airspace by September 2015. And it contains a series of interim deadlines leading up to that one: This month, the agency was supposed to produce a comprehensive plan for the integration, and in August it was required to have a plan for testing at six different sites in the U.S. Neither plan has been issued.

Many potential uses for unmanned aircraft, which are cheaper to operate than piloted planes or helicopters, have been identified. Among them: monitoring pipelines and power lines, finding lost hikers, surveying crops, and assessing environmental threats and damage from natural disasters. The FAA has predicted that 30,000 drones could be flying in the United States in less than 20 years, sharing space with commercial, military and general aviation.

But a September report by the Government Accountability Office identified a top safety concern: “Obstacles include the inability ... to sense and avoid other airborne objects in a manner similar to manned aircraft.”

In addition, the GAO report said, “Concerns about national security, privacy and interference with Global Positioning System signals have not been resolved.”

Despite the concerns, caucus members in the House and Senate are lobbying for expanded domestic drone missions.

House members from California, Texas, Virginia and New York on the bipartisan drone caucus received the lion's share of the funds channeled to lawmakers from dozens of firms that are members of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, Hearst and the Center for Responsive Politics found.

Eight Texas House members in the caucus received more than $746,000.

Cuellar has received $77,000. The top recipient was Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. He received $833,650 in drone-related campaign contributions.

Cuellar said drone manufacturers contribute just as other interest groups do.

“We get contributions from media PACs, from teachers, from doctors and from a whole lot of companies that produce drones,” Cuellar said.

The purpose of the drone caucus, Cuellar said, is to educate other members on the need for and uses of drones for public safety, border enforcement, search-and-rescue and commercial uses.

Some lawmakers remain skeptical. Along with civil rights advocates, they worry over government eavesdropping, surveillance photography and other potential privacy violations.

“Based on current trends, technology development, law enforcement interest, political and industry pressure, and the lack of legal safeguards – it is clear that drones pose a looming threat to Americans' privacy,” said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union.

Law enforcement agencies say drones will better protect the safety of officers and the public in dangerous situations, and can be used for search and rescue during natural disasters. They have joined drone manufacturers in pressuring Congress to relax limitations.

Last year the sheriff of Montgomery County, north of Houston, purchased a $300,000 Vanguard Shadowhawk — a small unmanned helicopter — with a grant provided by the Department of Homeland Security. But deputies have yet to use the drone, mainly because of FAA restrictions, said Randy McDaniel, the Montgomery County chief deputy.

The FAA limits, as well as maintenance costs, battery-life problems and poor video quality, prompted the Texas Department of Public Safety to discontinue its $298,000 drone program in 2010. The four hand-held WASP drones were used in fewer than 10 missions in two years.

The privacy issue also bothers both Democrats and Republicans. This year's Republican platform stated: “…[W]e support pending legislation to prevent unwarranted or unreasonable governmental intrusion through the use of aerial surveillance ... with the exception of patrolling our national borders.”

The Fourth Amendment governs when, where and how the government can gather information on an individual, including whether officials need a search warrant before acting. Courts have given the greatest protection to people when they're in the privacy of their homes.

Privacy advocates note that not just the police, but individuals and commercial enterprises will be using the devices. TMZ's application for a permit illustrates that.

Paparazzi are already using small drones on the Riviera to shoot photos of celebrities in otherwise hard-to-access areas.

TMZ “does not have a permit” yet, FAA officials said last week.
 
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