Forest Service Buys Eyes in the Sky for Surveillance

The two SkySeers were obtained by the Forest Service on December 10, 2007 at a cost of $100,000 from Chang Industries, Inc. of La Verne, California, the developer of these vehicles.

The package includes one "day version" and one "night version" of the drone, together with a "Pan/tilt thermal camera" to record heat signatures at night.

Los Angeles sheriff holds a SkySeer unmanned aerial vehicle. (Photo credit unknown)

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has been testing a SkySeer for rescue operations and police work since 2006 to help with foot pursuit of suspects, as well as for watching "people of interest."

"The use of spy technology in the domestic United States should not be undertaken lightly," said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "Before the Forest Service deploys eyes in the sky, the agency should write some basic rules to prevent abuse."

Law enforcement application of aerial monitoring raises privacy issues for forest visitors who may not realize that they are being watched, photographed and cybercast from an elevation of 7,000 feet by a drone. The SkySeers can hover for more than an hour with quiet electric motors.

A March 12, 2007 purchase request from the Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations program states it "has been monitoring and evaluating UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] intermittently since 1997, when their use was considered in support of Operation Linebacker, a border enforcement initiative."

While this "Sole Source Request" details desired equipment specifications, the Forest Service could produce no documents spelling out what they want to use drones for or why pilot-less craft are preferred, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from PEER, a national organization of employees in natural resources agencies.

The drones purchase took place shortly after the Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations spent $600,000 buying tasers for its entire enforcement staff, without guidelines or any training program. The tasers are still sitting in storage cartons.

After PEER revealed the taser purchase, staffers with the Law Enforcement and Investigations program told PEER about the drones and suggested a records request in order to validate staff concerns that the purchase has little practical law enforcement application in the national forests and reflects a "boys with toys" mentality among Law Enforcement and Investigations leadership.

Staffers expressed concerns that the drones may also sit in storage because the Law Enforcement and Investigations program lacks qualified personnel to operate the drones.

Although the purchase package includes training, Law Enforcement and Investigations notes that new Federal Aviation Administration rules "could make it more difficult to obtain Certificates of Authorization to fly the UAVs."

Staffers with the Law Enforcement and Investigations program told PEER that drones should be a low priority when the Forest Service is cutting back on the number of special agents and law enforcement officers.

Forest Service law enforcement force levels have shrunk by more than one-third over the past 15 years.

The Law Enforcement and Investigations program is holding more than 200 positions vacant, even as President George W. Bush is proposing further cuts in the Forest Service budget for the coming fiscal year.

"As with tasers, a cash-starved Forest Service is buying glitzy hardware with zero justification as to why this is a good use of tax dollars," said Ruch.

In contrast to Law Enforcement and Investigations, Ruch says Forest Service Fire Management is making a relatively modest investment in drones as a possible tool to aid fighting wildland fires.

In 2005, the agency's fire program spent $10,560 on a Cyber Bug drone to begin developing greater command and control capacity in fast-moving fires.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.