Border securityCBP drones may be armed with non-lethal weapons
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) currently has eight Predator drones used on the northern and southern borders, and two more drones watching the Caribbean. The drones are equipped with high-tech cameras. Critics say drones are not an efficient way to monitor the border, and that they lead to few arrests and seizures. Other critics are worry about something else: a recent CBP report show that the agency is considering arming these drones with “expendables or non-lethal weapons designed to immobilize [targets of interest].”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has obtained a report by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) which shows that the agency has considered arming its Predator drones. These drones are currently used on the border to locate border crossers and drug traffickers.
Fox News Latinoreports that in one of its sections, the report, which the EFF obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, says that “Additional payload upgrades could include expendables or non-lethal weapons designed to immobilize [targets of interest].”
The heavily redacted 107-page report does not say what non-lethal weapons would be added to the drones or when the CBP would begin to use armed drones.
Anti-drone activists say they worry that just as there are innocent bystanders being killed by drones used by the military, there may be innocent bystanders along the border who would get hit if armed drones are used.
“This is all too reminiscent of drone use overseas, it’s covert, it leads down the slippery slope toward lethal use,” Madea Benjamin, the founder of Global Drones Watch told Fox News Latino.
“If we start down this path we could be led down a path of innocent people being killed by drones along the border.” Benjamin added.
The CBP currently has eight Predator drones used on the northern and southern borders, and two more drones watching the Caribbean. The drones are equipped with high-tech cameras. Critics say drones are not an efficient way to monitor the border, and that they lead to few arrests and seizures.
Some see the benefits in arming drones.
“It seems pretty awful, the idea of armed drones on the border,” Christopher Wilson, an associate at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “On the other hand, the Border Patrol is an armed agency and there have been a number of incidents of violence between agents and people along the border, so non-lethal weapons might not be such a bad idea,” Wilson added.
CBP said the agency has no plans to arm their drones with any weapons, and that the drones’ current missions are surveillance and reporting illegal activity only.
“CBP has no plans to arm its unmanned aircraft systems with non-lethal weapons or weapons of any kind,” the agency said in a statement. “CBP’s unmanned aircraft systems support CBP’s border security mission and provide an important surveillance and reconnaissance capability for interdiction agents on the ground and on the waterways.”
The statement concluded with a sentence that some may see as leaving the door open for a policy change: “Current Unmanned Aircraft Systems were designed with the ability to add new surveillance capabilities, accommodate technological developments, and ensure that our systems are equipped with the most advanced resources available.”
