The Army is testing a new missile defense system in the form of a blimp. The system is comprised of a large blimp, roughly the length of a football field, and floats two miles above the suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland. Colonel Frank Rice said that “It's a three-year NORAD exercise that is going to test the integration of this [blimp] into our missile defense system.” The blimp is equipped with an extremely powerful radar, capable of seeing from Boston to North Carolina, roughly 340 miles in any direction. The Army claims that its sole use is scanning the skies of the Eastern Seaboard for incoming missiles, which could potentially be launched from Russian ships and submarines, or from ships hijacked by terrorists. Rice said that it is so important because "We are in the NCR, the National Capital Region, it is our geopolitical center of power in the United States. We have to protect it.”
It’s hard to fault the government for improving our missile defense capabilities, but some have qualms about the blimp. It is well know that similar blimps are installed on the Mexico border to spot anyone trying to cross illegally or smuggle illegal substances. The blimp’s altitude gives it a prime lookout spot to see anything it wants. The Army says there’s no such camera installed on the Baltimore based blimp, but this would not be the first time the government has lied about what measures they are taking in the name of security. The recent outpouring of information on the practices of the NSA has heightened citizen’s attention towards potential spying or privacy violations. Ginger McCall of the Electronic Privacy Information Center obtained documents pertaining to the Army blimp through the Freedom of Information Act and a lawsuit. Despite the Army ensuring her and the general public that the blimp will only be used for missile defense, she wasn't satisfied, "because I have these documents right here that say that the secondary purpose of this is to surveil and track surface moving targets." The Army continues to say the blimp will not spy on the American public, but the documents show that the blimp is capable of of tracking targets on the ground, which could be cars or even people.
What do you think of this new blimp the army is testing? Do you think the Army is being honest when they say it’s sole purpose is missile defense? Even if spying is a part of the blimps mission, is it tolerable under any circumstances? Would you feel comfortable with such a blimp if it were located above Ridgefield? To me, it seems like it would be quite rare for a missile to be launched at the east coast of the United States, but the blimp could prove useful in some rare instances. However, I think it’s fair for the American public to distrust the Army. The events that unfolded at the NSA have proven that our government is more than willing to spy on us, and lie about it. Personally, I would not feel comfortable with a blimp like this one floating near where I live.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/army-missile-defense-blimp-has-americans-worried-about-privacy/
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/18/us/army-blimp-test/
10 comments:
Ben,
I truly believe that the new blimp the army is testing is going to be used mainly for a missile defense system, and I firmly think that the army will try to use this new defense weapon to protect the people along the Eastern Seaboard because the blimp can see three hundred and forty miles in all directions. When it comes to what the Army says you can never be one hundred percent sure because of what happened with the NSA, but I feel as if the new blimp’s main job will be for missile defense purposes. Obviously, there will be forms of mistrust among the people who have the blimp two miles over their heads, and I think that if the government wants people’s trust back after the NSA spying and violating privacy controversy, they will not use this blimp for any other purposes besides protecting the American public from possible missiles.
Honestly, if spying was a part of the blimps mission from the very beginning, I feel as though it would be tolerable. As long as the government does not encroach on people’s freedoms without just cause, then I do think it would be acceptable for them to engage in subliminal spying missions. I think that the blimps along the Mexican border probably have helped reduce the number of illegal immigrants coming in, as well as smuggled goods being taken into and out of the country. As long as there is just causation for the blimp to engage in spying techniques then it should be allowed, but once its duty is over, the blimp should by no means engage in unauthorized spying.
The blimp’s main purpose is it is supposed to make people feel safer from attempted attacks from Russia or terrorists who hijack planes, and if the blimp ends up betraying people’s trust by wrongfully spying on them without any means given, then the American population will not feel as safe. If the blimp ends up hurting people’s trust in the nation more than building it up, then it should not be launched at all. It is supposed to be a safety defense tool, not an offensive tool that is designated to weed out the wrongdoers. Even if the blimp were to engage in acts of spying and actually catch someone dangerous, the trust the American public would have for the U.S. government would dwindle to nothing. There has to be a level of trust when the government wants to set up a defense mechanism that is so invasive in people’s everyday lives.
If a blimp like this were located right above Ridgefield, I honestly have no idea how I would feel. At first you may be frightened for why such a large defense weapon is doing right above your city, but then this defense blimp also means it is protecting you from possible threats. I am uncertain to how I would feel if I had to see the blimp every day, but I do know that as long as my privacy is intact, I would not feel betrayed by my government.
Ben,
This is a very interesting post, although it is quite scary. Unlike Sammy, I am not as hopeful that the army is using this massive blimp solely as a "defense weapon." Like your post points out, blimps of this nature are used on the Mexican border to stop drug smugglers from crossing into California or New Mexico. It just does not seem plausible to me that this type of weapon would be needed on the east coast, especially to survey missiles coming from Russia. Not only does it not seem possible that a missile strike against us from Russia will occur anytime soon, it seems even more unlikely that the east coast would be targeted with a missile. I understand that we live in a very important part of the U.S., between the hub of Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., and that these areas need to be firmly protected, but a blimp does not seem like the way to do this, especially when said blimp can track individual people. Even if the government is not using the blimp for this purpose, it is unnerving to think that the government has the ability to track us readily if it so pleases. I am also going to have to disagree with Sammy when she says that some subliminal spying missions on the American people should be tolerated as long as they are done with good intentions. In a nation where we are all innocent until proven guilty, this tool seems downright unconstitutional; just because the government can check up on regular people every once in a while to make sure they are in line, why should they have the right to? Don't we as human beings have more of a right to privacy than this? All in all, I think this blimp idea is quite suspicious. Even though it is probably not going to be used with bad intentions, the possibility for another NSA scandal is disheartening.
Ben,
To be honest with you, I have never heard of this, nor the mention of other blimps in Mexico, but im with Kristin in saying that the existence of these eyes-in-the-skies is unsettling. I would go as far as to say that I find it abit scary. And, once again as Kristin said, I get that we are living in a place of strategic importance in our country, but it is also a place of importance in terms of our moral and democracy, considering how many people are concentrated in this area of the country. I would rather not take the risk of having so many hundreds of thousands of people living in a big-brother-esque situation, if only because it risks the trust and moral support of the people in our government; something that it is already lacking in this day and age. I would not want these blimps over Connecticut, let alone Ridgefield...it just is counteractive; its supposed to make me feel safe as a member of this country, but if anything it makes me feel unsettled and unsafe.
I think that this new blimp is a good thing for the American people. In the last ten years or so their has been a massive increase in the amount of threats against the United States. From North Korea to different terrorist groups, there are many countries and groups that extremely dislike the United States. This blimp will be a positive addition to our national defense. Although many people are worried about what this blimp is going to do I am simply not. I find it hard to believe that something like a blimp would be used as a spying device on the US people. I am not saying that this isn't a problem in the US, but it just isn't in this situation. The US Government already has many different ways that they can "spy" on us. This blimp is something that I believe is very important for the safety of the Eastern coast and we should be supporting this project. Although I believe that the government should not be able to collect information on its people, something like this is needed to ensure our safety. In the world that we live in now we are all going to have to give up some of our freedom in order to be safe.
I disagree with your views on this pressing issue. Although our government has had some past instances that would cause us to distrust them, I think that the purpose for the blimp is exactly what the army says it is. This blimp will make me feel safer, living on the east coast, knowing that any threat of an attack from enemy or terrorist ships can be stopped by the U.S. army. In my opinion, there are no alternative purposes for the blimp and I believe the army when they say that the blimp will only be used for missile defense, and will not be able to track targets on the ground. The idea of this blimp is an intelligent one and I think that it just adds to the protection of the American people on the home front.
A blimp like this in our area would not worry me very much, in fact, it would only make me feel safer. I like to believe that the U.S. army trusts the American people and only use their weapons and technology in search of those who are dangerous to the rest of the citizens. If a person is innocent and they have never committed a crime that could be punishable by the army, I don't think that the person has anything to worry about with the establishment of this new blimp. For these reasons, I support this new technology from the U.S. Army and I think that it is an intelligent move to protect us from terrorist attacks in the wake of many recent, controversial events.
While all of you have good points, I agree with Tim or this issue. It makes the most sense that they are using this blimp in order to defend us from potential threats. The US government may have lost credibility with the public relatively recently, but that does not mean that we have to be overly skeptical. It seems logical to test out as many new defense systems as possible in order to maximize our efficiency for national defense. This is extremely important in this day and age with the spike in terrorist attacks globally and domestically. In addition, the US government can easily get all the information this blimp would provide, invalidating the privacy concern this issue brings. I personally do not care if the government is going to be collecting random radar data, as the government could simply use the data collected by the NSA to be more efficient in their "spying". I also think that the government would be much more careful about how they tread if they were planning on spying on us, this seems like a very heavyhanded attempt if it is one. This blimp could save lives if successful and that to me is worth more than the small chance the government is using it as a ploy to spy on us.
I agree with Tim that the blimp is a positive security measure for our country. I have trust in our government that this blimp is being used to defend our country against potential attacks. I am much more concerned with potential terrorist attacks than with the government spying on citizens with a blimp. I believe that the use of a blimp to defend against missiles is an excellent addition to our national defense. With the amount of terrorist threats at this point in time, any advances in defense technology should be welcomed by the american people with open arms. I have no problem with a blimp flying over coastal areas in defense. However, I see no need for a missile detecting blimp to be hovering over inland cities or towns. For that reason I would not feel comfortable with a blimp flying over Ridgefield. I believe that would not be an optimal location for the blimp to properly serve its purpose. I think if this blimp is flying over coastal areas only, I am all for it being used as a nice technology for our army to use against the constant threat of terrorism.
I understand the purpose of the blimp and I wish I could trust the military and its intentions, but I don't think the blimp is a good idea. It seems like it could be a useful weapon to have on the Eastern Seaboard, limiting the threats coming from Russia and creating a greater sense of security in the U.S. However, I think its important to look at how other countries would view this weapon. If others, like Russia, found out about the blimp, I think it would aggravate things and they may think we are spying on them and act out in retaliation. I think it could end up really aggravating our relations with Russia.
I don't really see why the military would feel the need to spy on the American people, but the fact that this blimp has those capabilities is both scary and unconstitutional. As Kristin says, we believe in innocence until proven guilty, so the blimp entirely contradicts our doctrine. The past has proven that the NSA will abuse their powers and spy on us if they feel the urge, so there's good reason to be skeptical. I don't think this blimp will be well received by Americans or by other countries.
I'm all for bettering our national defense system and with problems with Russia and terrorists, making some improvements would be obviously for the better. However, the capabilities of the blimp are scary and unconstitutional.
Thinking in a bigger realm, to me, this story raises concerns about how many people blindly trust our military. I wish I could have complete faith in their endeavors and believe they would never infringe on my rights, but history makes this hard. I think of cases like the Tilman Story, where the military covered up a football player's death as a soldier in the Middle East to make him look like a hero and essentially use his death as propaganda. I'm not saying cases such as this make the military entirely untrustworthy, but they do tarnish its image and make me question some of the actions they take.
I see the benefits of this plan, but in the end I have to remember what history has shown and not support the blimp because it could infringe on my liberties and further complicate things both here and abroad.
I agree with your view Ben. I would not feel comfortable with a blimp like this one floating near where I live. Even since the Snowden scandal and the NSA, privacy issues have been a very big issue. I can see why some people do not think that this is an issue- they think that if the blimp is looking at us we should not be scared if there is nothing to hide. But the issue is when the blimp will be watching us when we do not want to be seen. The country prides itself in privacy laws and without a doubt we will be putting all of those at risk if we allow this balloon to go up. The only thing hanging over our heads for the people that do not want this blimp to be released is that we will be doing harm to our missile defense system, which is extremely important.
On this topic specifically, I think that this new blimp is very interesting. It is definitely intimidating knowing that we have an aerial vehicle the size of a football field floating around all the major cities but it definitely would make the country safer. Scanning the skies is obviously very important for the military and as Americans we want the best for our nation. These new innovations show how capable we really are. I feel that the main problem is the trust that we have in our government. We trust out armies, but we do not want to be put as a disadvantage by our government and because of this we are hesitant to agree to this vehilce. As the leading superpower we will always have potential threats so this blimp will (knocking on wood) come in handy. Personally I just can not allow the possibilty of Big Brother and government oversight on everything including our personal lives.
Ben, I agree that if the blimp were being used solely for the purpose of scanning the sky for incoming missiles it would be a positive change to our army system. However, if the army and US government are using this blimp to spy on the American people, I would be extremely nervous about the fate of our country. If the army will build a giant blimp just to make spying on American citizens more easy, where are they going to draw the line? What is going to stop them from taking away more and more privacy from the people, until we are basically living under a dictatorship government where no one has any privacy at all? I do not think using to blimp to spy should be tolerated at any level, because it is yet another instance of the government lying to us. I would also be massively uncomfortable if the blimp were to be floating about Ridgefield, because that would not only be spying on the American people, that would be directly spying on me and my family, which I think is unreasonable.
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