Written by: Manu Meel and Isaiah Sirois #mags lab

Drones Core

Written by: Manu Meel and Isaiah Sirois #MAGS LAB

Note

This file is essentially a drones core and the cards under the pockets “Curtailing Decreases Drones” and “Curtailing increases drones” have cards that can be used both for aff and neg depending on which way you plan on writing your scenario. View this file as a toolbox from which you can construct a bunch of drones good/bad arguments regardless of whether you are aff or neg.

-Manu and Isaiah

**DRONES GOOD Args**

Curtailing Decreases Drones

Borders

---Generic

Decreasing border surveillance has to decrease drones

Hoffman 14 [Meredith Hoffman, journalist for vice news and cites many CBP experts, “More Drones on US Borders Create Privacy Concerns for Its Neighbors,” https://news.vice.com/article/more-drones-on-us-borders-create-privacy-concerns-for-its-neighbors, November 2014, mm]

The US will soon launch widespread drone surveillance on its border with Canada, after blanketing half its border with Mexico with the unmanned aerial vehicles in place of border patrol agents. But the drones — which officials told VICE News cost $10 million each and take high-resolution videos while soaring over remote areas — violate people's right to privacy and will further "militarize" the line between the US and Canada, analysts told VICE News. "This creates a virtual wall between the countries," Don Alper, the director of Western Washington University's Center for Canadian-American Relations and Border Policy Research Institute, told VICE News. "It doesn't make sense to me. There are other ways of security, like close cooperation between Canadian and American enforcement — and they already do cooperate really well." Drones already cover 900 miles of the border with Mexico and have also patrolled parts of the northern border since 2004, information from US Customs and Border Protection shows. Alper said the northern drones had been presented as part of ramped-up security efforts in the US "War on Terror." No known terrorists have been apprehended coming from Canada, but marijuana seizures have skyrocketed — quadrupling from 2008 to 2009 with the use of the technology. Over that year border apprehensions actually dropped, from 7,925 to 6,806, according to the Toronto Star. "The [US government] will obviously justify these kind of activities with there being a potential threat of terrorists coming into the US but they're not finding terrorists — they're really finding drugs," Alper said. The technology has indeed led to "the interdiction of 7,500 pounds of cocaine" and "230,500 pounds of marijuana," a representative for US Customs and Border Protection told VICE News. He noted that 27,000 "illicit movements" had also been detected at the borders. And a 2010 government report claimed that the northern border was most vulnerable to terrorist infiltration. The drones not only patrol US borders, but they can be lent to local and national law enforcement — prompting serious civil liberty concerns, Privacy Coalition coordinator for the Electronic Research Center's National Security Counsel Jeramie Scott told VICE News. A North Dakota cattle rancher was recently sentenced to jail time after he was located by a drone. The more drones Customs and Border Protection has, the more likely this kind of occurrence, Scott said. "The use of drones for border surveillance presents a substantial civil liberties risk for people," Scott continued, adding that the federal government has not devised clear enough guidelines for the drones' use. "Customs and Border Protection should conduct a public rule making to establish privacy regulations for their use of drones in the United States." A representative from Customs and Border Protection responded that the Department of Homeland Security had conducted a privacy review that was released this fall. The review said that Customs and Border Protection "has issued or plans to issue the procedures that help protect personal and civil liberties." How a Pakistani village found and sold a crashed American drone. Read more here. The privacy concerns can be more alarming for non-US citizens. Canadian privacy lawyer David Fraser told VICE News it was unclear whether the American law would grant Canadians across the border the right to privacy since they fell outside US borders. But the US Customs representative said the Department of Homeland Security assured they would grant people out of the US the same privacy rights, as stated in their 2009 policy guide. He did not comment on whether Canada was consulted in the decision to ramp up drone use. US officials insisted to the Associated Press that the use of drones was the most effective way to patrol the border, since they could place Border Patrol agents in high concentrations at the most heavily trafficked crossings. So far the amount of agents has not decreased with drone use. Drones may not be a money saver, but Marc Rosenblum, the Migration Policy Institute's deputy director of its US immigration program, told VICE News that their use was a way to focus resources more "strategically and efficiently" along the border. "I agree that it makes sense for the Border Patrol to focus their resources, and drones are a part of that strategy," Rosenblum said. And Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Richard Gil Kerlikowske told AP the unmanned aircraft were a way to "deploy your resources where you have a greater risk, a greater threat." Officials from the Mexican and Canadian federal governments did not respond to requests for comment on the US policy. But Fraser said he hoped his government was pressing the US for more information. "I'd hope that the Canadian government would ask about what is happening with the images, how long are they being kept, and what's going to happen with the data?"

Drones are a major part of border surveillance

Holt 12 [Kelly Holt, Reporter for the New American and cites Rick Perry and CBP officials, “Surveillance Drones Don't Live Up To Expectations,” May 2012, http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/11185-surveillance-drones-dont-live-up-to-expectations, mm]

Nearly two years after Predator B drones were deployed along the Texas/Mexico international border, the unmanned surveillance aircraft have proven to be, well, not worth it. The drones were intended to augment the presence of border agents and physical barriers such as some 700 miles of intermittent border fencing along the Rio Grande River. The Hill reported on June 10, 2010 that setting up a single drone in Corpus Christi, Texas (on the Gulf Coast), would have an estimated cost of between $20 and $80 million to focus on the Texas border alone. Even the governor of the Lone Star State, Rick Perry had more faith in the aircraft than has been borne out. He told a New Hampshire audience last August, "Because if we will commit to that, [using predator drones] I will suggest to you that we will be able to drive the drug cartels away from that border.” But, according to the Los Angeles Times for April 30, 2012 “Mixed results show a glaring problem for Homeland Security officials who have spent six years and more than $250 million building the nation's largest fleet of domestic surveillance drones. The nine Predators that help police America's borders have yet to be very useful in stopping contraband or illegal immigrants.” The newspaper referenced a 2012 audit of the drone program by the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general, revealing some problems. In 2010 the fleet flew about half the number of hours scheduled by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on both the northern and southern borders and the Caribbean, as well as costing more than expected to operate, and, just like other aircraft, the units are subject to grounding by unfavorable weather. In addition, they require an hour of maintenance for every hour they fly, and cost about $3000 per hour to fly. T.J. Bonner, former president of National Border Patrol Council claims, “The big problem is that they are more expensive than traditional methods.” In fact, the Los Angeles Times reported October, 2011 that Homeland Security was provided by Congress with three unrequested new drones to patrol the Mexican border; they’re struggling to finance and provide ground-based pilots for the drones they already have. Congressional approval for the aircraft funding was for only the drones, not hiring or training of pilots, or for spare parts. The article added, “The new drones are being purchased after lobbying by members of the so-called drone caucus in Congress, many from districts in Southern California, a major hub of the unmanned aircraft industry.” But to help pay for them, CBP “raided budgets of its staffed aircraft. One result: Flight hours were cut by 10 percent for the P-3 Orion maritime surveillance planes that hunt smuggling ships on the West Coast and in the Caribbean.” On the Texas border, the drones are often lent to the FBI, the Texas Rangers, or for disaster relief, therefore are sometimes unavailable for border agents to use for surveillance. Retired Air Force major general Michael Kostelnik, who heads the drone supervision office, acknowledged that the amount of drugs seized in Predator raids is “not impressive”, but said it’s premature to criticize their use. He claims a terrorist attack to Washington or New York City could result in drone deployment in five hours, to help policy makers and first responders. "It is not about the things we are doing today," Kostelnik said. "It is about the things we might be able to do." In times of budgetary stress such as these, critics are calling for wiser expenditures and immediate results, and the border is especially vulnerable.

DHS has incorporated drones into border surveillance- the aff has to curtail drone use

Barry 13 [Tom Barry- senior policy analyst at the Center for International Policy where he directs TransBorder project, May 2013, “Drones Over the Homeland: From Border Security to National Security,” http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/16422-drones-over-the-homeland-from-border-security-to-national-security, mm]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it is the "leading edge" of drone deployment in the United States. Since 2005, DHS has been purchasing Predator drones - officially called unmanned aerial systems (UAS) - to "secure the border," yet these unarmed Predator drones are also steadily creeping into local law enforcement, international drug-interdiction and national security missions - including across the border into the heart of Mexico. DHS will likely double its drone contingent to two dozen unmanned UAS produced by General Atomics as part of the border security component of any immigration reform. The prominence of border security in immigration reform can't be missed. The leading reform proposal, offered by eight US senators, is the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 - which proposes to spend $6.5 billion in additional "border security" measures, mostly high-tech surveillance by drones and ground surveillance systems. Most of the concern about the domestic deployment of drones by DHS has focused on the crossover to law-enforcement missions that threaten privacy and civil rights, and that, without more regulations in place, the program will accelerate the transition to what critics call a "surveillance society." Also alarming is the mission creep of border drones, managed by the DHS' Customs and Border Protection (CPB) agency with increasing interface between border drones, international drug interdiction operations and other military-directed national security missions. The prevalence of military jargon used by US Customs and Border (CBP) officials - such as "defense in depth" and "situational awareness" - points to at least a rhetorical overlapping of border control and military strategy. Another sign of the increasing coincidence between CBP/Office of Airforce and Marine (OAM) drone program and the military is that the commanders and deputies of OAM are retired military officers. Both Major General Michael Kostelnik and his successor Major General Randolph Alles, retired from US Marines, were highly placed military commanders involved in drone development and procurement. Kostelnik has been involved in the development of the Predator by General Atomics since the mid-1990s and was an early proponent of providing Air Force funding to weaponize the Predator. As commander of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, Alles was a leading proponent of having each military branch work with military contractors to develop their own drone breeds, including near replicas of the Predator manufactured for the Army by General Atomics. In promoting - and justifying - the DHS drone program, Kostelnik has routinely alluded to the national security potential of drones slated for border security duty. On several occasions Kostelnik has pointed to the seamless interoperability with Department of Defense (DOD) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) forces. At a moment's notice, Kostelnik said, that OAM (Office of Airforce and Marine) could be "CHOP'ed" - meaning undergo a Change in Operational Command from DHS to DOD. DHS has not released operational data about CBP (Customs and Border Protection)/OAM drone operations. Therefore, the extent of the participation of DHS drones in domestic and international operations is unknown. But statements by CBP officials and media reports from the Caribbean point to a rapidly expanding participation of DHS Guardian UAVs in drug-interdiction and other unspecified operations as far south as Panama. CBP states that OAM "routinely provides air and marine support to other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies" and "works with the US military in joint international antismuggling operations and in support of National Security Special Events [such as the Olympics]." According to Kostelnik, CBP planned a "Spring 2011 deployment of the Guardian to a Central American country in association with Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-South) based at the naval station in Key West, Florida." JIATF-South is a subordinate command to the United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), whose geographical purview includes the Caribbean, Central America and South America. In mid-2012, CBP/OAM participated in a JIATF-South collaborative venture called "Operation Caribbean Focus" that involved flight over the Caribbean Sea and nations in the region - with the Dominican Republic acting as the regional host for the Guardian operations, which CBP/OAM considers a "prototype for future transit zone UAS (drone) deployments." CBP has been secretly deploying Predators into Mexican territory. In its description of the OAM operations, CBP states, "OAM works in collaboration with the Government of Mexico in addressing border security issues." But it has never publicly specified the form and the objectives of this collaboration. Nor has it publicly acknowledged that its Predator drones have entered Mexican territory. As part of the US global drug war and as an extension of border security, the US Northern Command acknowledged that the military was deploying - with the approval of the Mexican government - the $38 million Global Hawk drone into Mexico as part of the joint US-Mexico attempt to suppress the Mexican drug cartels. CBP says that OAM drones have not been deployed within Mexico, but notes that "OAM works in collaboration with the Government of Mexico in addressing border security issues, "without specifying the form and objectives of this collaboration." As part of the US global drug war and as an extension of border security, unarmed drones are also crossing the border into Mexico. The US Northern Command has acknowledged that the US military does fly a $38-million Global Hawk drone into Mexico to assist the Mexico's war against the drug cartels. An April 28 Washington Post article by Dana Priest raises new questions and concerns about the increasing mission creep of homeland drones into foreign missions involving the U.S. military, CIA and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). President Felipe Calderón began requesting US drone flights into Mexico on targeted killings missions soon after he became president in December 2006. However, it wasn't until the July 2009 killing of a US Border Patrol agent by suspected Mexican drug smugglers that the US government began deploying unarmed Predator drones. According to Washington Post reporter Priest, "[H]ours after Mexican smugglers shot and killed a U.S. Border Patrol agent while trying to steal his night-vision goggles, U.S. authorities were given permission to fly an unarmed Predator drone into Mexican airspace to hunt for suspects. Intelligence from the flights was passed to the Mexican army. Within 12 hours, the army brought back more information, according to two U.S. officials involved in the operation. Eventually, four suspects were captured. Three pleaded guilty, one is awaiting trial and a fifth remains at large." "That first flight dispelled Mexican fears that U.S. authorities would try to take control of drone operations,” noted the Washington Post article, "An agreement was reached that would temporarily give operational control to Mexican authorities during such flights. U.S. pilots sitting in the states would control the planes remotely, but a Mexican military or federal police commander would be able to direct the pilot within the boundaries of a Mexico-designated grid. By late 2010, drones were flying deeper into Mexico to spy on the cartels ..."

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