BOB KLAHN wrote to DRACO VON HAGEN:   
      
    DVH>> BOB KLAHN wrote to DRACO VON HAGEN:   
      
    DVH>>>> Lee Lofaso wrote to BOB KLAHN:   
      
    LL>>>>> The use of armed drones inside this country should be very rare.   
    LL>>>>> Only in cases of absolute national security.   
      
    DVH>>>> Armed drones are patrolling the USA - Mexico border.   
    DVH>>>> They're also deployed on the Canadian border.   
      
    BK>>>  Do you have any evidence of that?   
      
    DVH>> Texas: http://tinyurl.com/cf7ouk3   
      
    BK>  Ok, they are not armed drones.   
      
   How do you know? They're the same drones that fly over Afghanistan,   
   Predators. When a Predator is armed with missles, you can see them under   
   the belly. That a Predator is used to patrol both borders means that the   
   ability to carry those missles is possible.   
      
    BK> I doubted they were simply because only the CIA and DOD have armed   
    BK> drones, and neither of them can legally conduct actual operations   
    BK> inside the US, other than the military to suppress an insurrection.   
      
   Or a terrorist border skirmish.   
      
    BK>>>  I doubt they are patrolling the Canadian border, it's too porous   
    BK>>> anyway to justify it.   
      
    DVH>> Canada: http://tinyurl.com/7we8jhl   
      
    BK>  Again, not armed,   
      
   See bove.   
      
    BK> though I am surprised they bother with any   
    BK>  drones due to the length of the border, how easy it is to cross,   
    BK>  and how few illegal crossings, comparatively. I suspect the   
    BK>  drones are more an ego thing for the border patrol people on the   
    BK>  Canadian side, as the cost of those drones, listed at $18 mill   
    BK>  each, is enough to run other systems a long time.   
      
   The Canadian border drones patrol the western border around Washington,   
   Idaho and parts of Montana.   
      
    BK>  Actually, I have much the same objection to the Mexican border.   
    BK>  I don't believe they can't come up with a drone one hell of a   
    BK>  lot cheaper, and just as good. Hell, model airplane enthusiasts   
    BK>  could probably do it.   
      
   Model airplanes equipped with small video cameras have been used on the   
   border. They're not as readily armed as the Predator...   
      
    BK>>> I doubt they are patrolling the Mexican border, simply because of   
    BK>>>  politics.   
      
    DVH>> Mexico: http://tinyurl.com/cf7ouk3   
      
    BK>>>  Unarmed drones I can believe,   
      
    DVH>> That they're unarmed or armed is not public information.   
    DVH>> But you can doubt all you want.   
      
    BK>  The article you linked said they are not armed.   
      
   And you trust the information released to a newspaper reporter by military   
   personel. I see.   
      
      
      
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    * Origin: Bizzbum's Trick Stop BBS * San Antonio, Texas (1:387/22)