[R-G] Unmanned drone prowls over the lonely prairie

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090218.DRONES18/TPStory/TPInternational/America/

Unmanned drone prowls over the lonely prairie
As the Predator patrols near Manitoba, U.S. politicians say it's a  
needed security measure. But Canadian experts say it's a PR exercise

PATRICK WHITE

February 18, 2009

WINNIPEG -- Famed for prowling the battlefields of Afghanistan and  
Iraq, a remote-control Predator aircraft took flight over the wheat  
fields of South Dakota yesterday, the first in a network of  
surveillance drones that could soon patrol the American border with  
Canada from Maine to Washington state.

While security-conscious politicians applauded the start of Predator  
flight operations along the largely unmonitored northern border, some  
border experts regard it as a mere public-relations exercise.

"I think this has far more to do with the theatre of security than  
with dealing seriously about issues surrounding the northern border,"  
said border security expert Ben Muller, a political science professor  
at Simon Fraser University.

For now, the South Dakota drone will be confined to a 370-kilometre  
stretch along the Manitoba border to test how it holds up to Prairie  
winters. By 2010, however, U.S. border officials hope to see the $10.5- 
million unmanned aircraft monitoring both sides of the B.C. border  
during the Winter Olympics.

"If the RCMP or Canadian government believes they can make use of the  
aircraft for support during the Olympics, we will be more than willing  
to provide it," said Juan Munoz-Torres, spokesman for U.S. Customs and  
Border Protection.

Already the agency has established five bases to act as launch sites  
for the drones in Bellingham, Wash., Great Falls, Mont., Grand Forks,  
N.D., Detroit and Plattsburgh, N.Y.

The plan, called the Northern Border Air Wing, is a holdover from the  
9/11 Commission Report, which recommended that the United States shore  
up security along borders with Mexico and Canada.

"It seems a palliative measure," said Michael Kergin, chairman of the  
Canadian International Council working group on border issues and a  
former ambassador to the United States, "but it does provide them with  
some assurances."

Five Predator drones currently patrol the Mexican border, and border  
officials give the aircraft partial credit for stopping more than  
4,000 illegal immigrants and 8,000 kilograms of marijuana from  
crossing the southern boundary.

With a range of 5,900 kilometres and a maximum speed of more than 450  
km/h, a single Predator will be capable of scouring a vast portion of  
the 9,000-km Canada-U.S. border. Sensors fastened to the plane's belly  
will take both infrared and HD video of anything within a 40-km radius.

Flight restrictions prevent the drone from flying any closer than 16  
km to the Canadian border. That still leaves a roughly 24-km swath of  
Canadian borderland open to U.S. government eyes.

"There is no reason for Canadians to be concerned about this," Mr.  
Munoz-Torres said. "This is a military weapon adopted for civilian  
purposes."

But that relationship to bomb-ready military hardware is too close for  
some, who say the Predator challenges the border's distinction as the  
longest undefended border in the world.

"Post-9/11, there has been a significant militarization of the  
border," Dr. Muller said. "This certainly fits in with that."

More than a public-safety measure, the drone buzzing 20,000 feet over  
the prairies represents the clout of certain American political  
constituencies, Dr. Muller says.

"There has been a lot political pressure suggesting that these  
technological solutions will fix the security problem," he said. "They  
have this idea that if it's watched, we're all safer, but I'm very  
skeptical. They are the same people rolling out over and over again  
these examples that supposedly prove Canada is a terrorist hotbed."

Senators Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota have applied  
much of that political pressure.

Both have been instrumental in attracting federal funding for the  
Northern Border Air Wing by highlighting drug-trafficking and  
terrorism problems along the northern border.

"It is vital to America's security that we protect our borders,  
particularly the northern border," said Mr. Conrad upon the drone's  
arrival in Grand Forks. "The Grand Forks Air Branch plays an essential  
role in helping shut the door on terrorists who want to sneak across  
remote border points to strike on U.S. soil."

Their efforts to draw political attention to northern border security  
issues may eventually result in 20 unmanned air vehicles, or UAVs,  
being housed at the Grand Forks base.

And plans are under way to create an unmanned aircraft program at the  
University of North Dakota.

For the most part, the RCMP is on board with the U.S plan to secure  
the border using drones. Some officers even attended a ribbon-cutting  
ceremony in Grand Forks on Sunday.

The plan fits a larger North American strategy to scrutinize the  
border without bogging down crossing times.

"It's a technology that's not intrusive and is relatively user- 
friendly," Mr. Kergin said. "I would argue that it's a useful tool."

*****

Privacy concerns

For Cliff Graydon, reports that an unmanned U.S. surveillance plane  
would soon be watching his 3,000-acre farm came out of the blue.

"Before yesterday, I knew nothing about it," he said.

And as the MLA for a riding that covers much of Manitoba's border with  
South Dakota, he has serious reservations about a drone that will peer  
as far as 30 kilometres across the border using infrared sensors and  
high-definition video.

"Privacy is the biggest concern," he said. "Many of my constituents  
already have fences up for privacy on the ground. Now they'll have  
someone up in the sky watching them. How would you like someone  
staring in your window all day?"

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said the Predator drone,  
which began patrolling the border today, can remain aloft for up to 18  
hours.

Mr. Graydon said some constituents have asked him why they should be  
the first in Canada to come under the drone's surveillance.

"They are asking if we are a hot spot for drug smuggling, guns or  
terrorism. Not that I'm aware of, but maybe we are not getting the  
whole story."

The agency said it deployed the northern drone along the Manitoba  
border because of the vast, remote regions along the boundary that go  
largely unmonitored.

"I don't want to minimize the need for security in any country," Mr.  
Graydon said. "But this raises a lot of concerns."

Patrick White

*****

U.S. UNIT WATCHING CANADA AS IT WATCHES MEXICO

The deployment of an unmanned drone over Manitoba's border is a just  
one part of a much larger U.S. strategy to watch the Canadian border  
more closely.

In the wake of 9/11, U.S. politicians lobbied for the formation of an  
entirely new unit of Customs and Border Protection whose sole purpose  
would be to keep tabs on the Canadian border from the air.

In 2004, the Northern Border Air Wing was born.

"We wanted to establish the same type of air operations we already had  
along the southwest border to the northern border," U.S. Customs and  
Border Protection spokesman Juan Munoz-Torres said.

With five main bases and three sub-bases stretching from Houlton, Me.,  
to Bellingham, Wash., the unit today watches over all 9,000 kilometres  
of Canadian border on a regular basis.

The Predator drone joins a fleet that will eventually include two  
Blackhawk helicopters, four Cessnas and roughly 50 pilots.

Some critics wonder if the buildup will simply invite cross-border  
criminals to be craftier.

"Generally speaking, when border security is intensified, the problem  
doesn't go away," border security expert Ben Muller said. "They will  
use other strategies to get across."

In addition to regular border surveillance, the unit responds to  
natural disasters.

"With both sides of the border around North Dakota known for  
flooding," Mr. Munoz-Torres said, "we will make good use of this  
during emergencies."

Patrick White

*****

Eyes in the sky

The United States has installed a Predator drone spy plane base near  
the Canadian border to tighten up security.

HOW THE NEW PATROL WORKS

1. MQ-9 Reaper Predator B

A Predator drone observes suspicious behaviour at the border from a  
distance where it cannot be heard

2. It shines an invisible laser beam onto suspects and pinpoints their  
exact location.

3. Helicopter pilot sees laser with night vision goggles and swoops in  
for the arrest

MQ-9 REAPER PREDATOR B

Length: 11 metres

Wingspan: 20.1 metres

Weight: 1.68 tonnes (empty)

Flight radius: 3,022 km

Ceiling: 15,240 m

Cost: $17.5-m per plane

Grand Forks: The first of five U.S. Customs and Border Protection  
Unmanned Aircraft Operations Centers

BASES

Established bases

Bellingham

Great Falls

Detroit

Plattsburgh

Secondary bases

Spokane

Toronto

Ottawa

Houlton

NINIAN CARTER/THE GLOBE AND MAIL; SOURCES: GLOBALSECURITY.ORG; U.S.  
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; GENERAL ATOMICS AERONAUTICAL