| ▲ | joe_mamba 3 hours ago |
| Firstly, how is the world's most powerful military afraid of "cartel drones"? Don't they already have some sci-fi laser/EW gizmos to take care of those considering how much taxpayer dollars go to the defense sector? Secondly, contrary to popular belief, cartel leaders are smart enough to know not to directly mess with and attract the wrath of the US military when that's not good for their core business. |
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| ▲ | milesskorpen 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| Reading between the lines, it sounds like the FAA maybe did not trust CBP to "test" operate the high powered laser near civilian aviation, in part given that they mistakenly identified a balloon for a cartel drone. |
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| ▲ | Johnny555 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Don't they already have some sci-fi laser/EW gizmos to take care of those Isn't that the problem? Someone (but apparently DHS, not the military though there were military staff present, maybe?) had one of those sci-fi laser gizmos and used it without authorization or proper notifications. I don't think we'll ever learn the real details about exactly what happened, the audit trail (if there was one) is probably in shredder baskets by now |
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| ▲ | kube-system 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Customs and Border Patrol is not the military. They weren't "afraid" of it, their job is to control the border. They do have laser gizmos, that's what they used. |
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| ▲ | Forgeties79 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | >their job is to control the border Thank god they’re here defending us from rogue party balloons. Where would we be without their vigilance? | | |
| ▲ | kube-system 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | I think it's clear they were mistaken, I don't really think the sarcasm is adding to the conversation. | | |
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| ▲ | 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
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| ▲ | outside1234 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| This wasn't the military. It was DHS, who is lead by the cosplaying cowboy hat lady, so this sort of incompetence should be completely expected. |
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| ▲ | opello 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | Really making you wonder why does DHS have direct access to this hardware? | | |
| ▲ | bakies 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Pentagon gave it to them. The heads of both these orgs are incompetent and should be impeached. | |
| ▲ | davidw 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | I thought I read that they borrowed it from the actual military, which tends to be a little bit more cautious with these things. | |
| ▲ | kube-system 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Lasers are not particularly controlled by regulation. Most people in the US can own a class 4 laser if they want. Also, most laws that do restrict weapons specifically exempt government law enforcement anyway. | | |
| ▲ | opello 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Okay, but they're not like styropyro on YouTube here... presumably the DHS people are using the whatever government weapons contractor made device, which is going to come with more nuance, controls, targeting system, etc. than whatever someone might buy off the shelf or cobble together independently. I think it might have actually been DOD people operating the system even, but there's conflicting reporting and I'm not sure. Either way it seems like there was at the very least some kind of coordination failure. |
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| ▲ | joe_mamba 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | https://youtu.be/uo63QQsm5Dw?si=SvD7JZrpJbVXF7nf&t=91 | |
| ▲ | andrewflnr 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | It's pretty directly relevant to "homeland security", anti-terrorism, etc. I wouldn't say that's the problem. Make no mistake, the actual drone terrorism is coming. I guess you could say that only the actual military should handle it, but... Why? | | |
| ▲ | opello 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | I may have foolishly accepted the premise of incompetence in posing my question. Basically it seemed to me like the complaint was untrained/experienced (incompetent) people were deciding/deploying the fancy laser munition. That seemed worth of rebuke. After some brief searching I'm less clear about who took what action. It seemed more like giving police forces (or allowing them to buy) APCs, armored Humvees, etc. Less trained/experienced people using things made for a different use case, ultimately exposes the people to more risk. Instead of say coordinating with the DOD to deploy the system and personnel accepting requests or being the decision maker for "take action" after some level of expertise in the area of evaluating targets and whatever else need be considered has also contributed to the process. I don't know how it does work, let alone have enough context to imagine how it should. While I do agree "things to deter drones are appropriate border defense tools," the rest of the details painted a picture that seemed less reasonable. | | |
| ▲ | andrewflnr 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Mostly agree. I wouldn't give high powered lasers to local police forces either. My point is that the problem is less to do with lasers and anti-drone tech in particular than with incompetence and abuse of power generally. Lasers are just the way it manifested in this instance. |
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| ▲ | organsnyder 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Nuclear weapons are also directly relevant to "homeland security" (at least as a deterrent), yet I doubt many would be in favor of putting them under DHS as well. | | |
| ▲ | andrewflnr 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | That both of those are labelled "homeland security" is almost a coincidence. Strategic security vs a fancy brand name for counter-terrorism. | |
| ▲ | kube-system 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Nuclear weapons are controlled more specifically by law. Lasers are not. |
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| ▲ | 2OEH8eoCRo0 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| It wasn't the military it was DHS. |
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| ▲ | jeffbee 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| The laser gizmo is central to this story. |
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| ▲ | esseph 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| I am not sure how much the average person realizes that drones in both a reconnaissance and observation role or an attack role have changed the nature of warfare and have threatened localities. We don't have good tools to deal with them, especially groups. It would be trivial, right now, for a few fpv drones to cause extreme chaos somewhere like a popular highway in Los Angeles, and the amount of economic damage that could do. It's a technological shift in how warfare is conducted, but from a protection standpoint, the tools aren't great to counter them yet. |
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| ▲ | andrewflnr 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Yeah the answer to > Don't they already have some sci-fi laser/EW gizmos to take care of those considering how much taxpayer dollars go to the defense sector? Is pretty much a flat "no". Or at least "not yet". | |
| ▲ | sixothree 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | If we had tools, the airport would never have been shut down. |
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