Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
And the band droned on
Senate bill wants Homeland Security to justify use of unmanned planes
MQ-9 Reaper drone
A bill introduced this week by Arizona senators John McCain and Jeff Flake seeks to put the brakes on plans to expand the use of surveillance drones along the U.S./Mexico border. Questions have been raised about safety and the purpose of missions being flown by the Department of Homeland Security's current fleet of nine Reaper drones, supplied by San Diego's General Atomics.
The border security agency originally deployed ten of the unmanned aerial vehicles. One crashed off the coast of San Diego after a generator failure during a flight launched from Sierra Vista, Arizona.
According to a report from the Tucson Sentinel, the proposed Unmanned Aircraft System Improvement Act of 2015 would stop the department from purchasing any more drones until it can document that it has "successfully operated its current fleet."
A December 2014 report indicates that the existing drones have been in the air for only 20 percent of the hours anticipated. Despite that, the program is still experiencing cost overruns.
Questions also exist regarding the legitimacy of the stated purpose of border security. Reports indicate that hundreds of missions have been flown in support of other law-enforcement agencies.
The new bill would require Homeland Security to report annually to Congress for the next five years, detailing the number of flight hours required to provide border surveillance as well as the amount of time planned for support of other agencies.
The agency has been pushing to expand its fleet for some time, signing an agreement to purchase an additional 14 units in 2012 despite a lack of funding and defined need. Homeland Security says it just wants to add a single drone to replace the one it ditched in the Pacific Ocean.
Here's something you might be interested in.
And the band droned on
Senate bill wants Homeland Security to justify use of unmanned planes
And the band droned on
Senate bill wants Homeland Security to justify use of unmanned planes
MQ-9 Reaper drone
A bill introduced this week by Arizona senators John McCain and Jeff Flake seeks to put the brakes on plans to expand the use of surveillance drones along the U.S./Mexico border. Questions have been raised about safety and the purpose of missions being flown by the Department of Homeland Security's current fleet of nine Reaper drones, supplied by San Diego's General Atomics.
The border security agency originally deployed ten of the unmanned aerial vehicles. One crashed off the coast of San Diego after a generator failure during a flight launched from Sierra Vista, Arizona.
According to a report from the Tucson Sentinel, the proposed Unmanned Aircraft System Improvement Act of 2015 would stop the department from purchasing any more drones until it can document that it has "successfully operated its current fleet."
A December 2014 report indicates that the existing drones have been in the air for only 20 percent of the hours anticipated. Despite that, the program is still experiencing cost overruns.
Questions also exist regarding the legitimacy of the stated purpose of border security. Reports indicate that hundreds of missions have been flown in support of other law-enforcement agencies.
The new bill would require Homeland Security to report annually to Congress for the next five years, detailing the number of flight hours required to provide border surveillance as well as the amount of time planned for support of other agencies.
The agency has been pushing to expand its fleet for some time, signing an agreement to purchase an additional 14 units in 2012 despite a lack of funding and defined need. Homeland Security says it just wants to add a single drone to replace the one it ditched in the Pacific Ocean.
Comments