This article from the Washington Post sent chills down my spine, because you just KNOW that Cheney was the mastermind behind this. All I can say is AMEN! that Bush/Cheney will not be around to see this come to fruition.
DARPA Contract Description Hints at Advanced Video Spying
But just as important, anyone concerned about Civil Liberties needs to keep this on the priority list of initiatives Obama MUST kill after he's sworn in.
More after the jump...
Although it's never spelled out, the title is quite correct that the DARPA contract hints at domestic surveillance of American citizens:
During the Cold War, satellites and aircraft took still pictures that intelligence analysts reviewed one frame at a time to identify the locations of missile silos, airplane hangars, submarine pens and factories, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an expert in space and intelligence matters.
"Now with new full-motion video intelligence techniques, we are looking at people and their behavior in public," he said.
That includes the possibility of human identification and tracking subjects even under cover (such as trees). All in the name if identifying "suspicious behavior."
I know there's a big event going on in two weeks - umm...some kind of election, right? ;-) But the rest of the world, and in this case, the Defense Dept., is moving forward without regard to who is sworn into office in January. And we better be prepared to push hard, or this stuff will happen even if Democrats hold the White House and both Houses of Congress. It's not like Democrats (Obama included) have a stellar track record on protecting civil rights or the right to privacy.