The Pentagon plan to deploy two large blimplike aircraft 10,000 feet into the sky about 45 miles northeast of Washington, D.C., has raised new privacy concerns even though the Army says there is nothing to be worried about.

The aircraft was described as aerostats, which means they are lighter than air while being tethered to the ground, The Washington Post reported. These aircraft have been employed in Iraq, Afghanistan and on the Mexican border because they can be equipped with radars and high-altitude surveillance systems that are capable of spotting flying objects up to 340 miles away. These systems are militarily valuable because they are capable of tracking low-flying missiles and movement on the ground.

The $2.7-billion Maryland project is reportedly set to begin in October and span three years on the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in suburban Baltimore. The project's intended goal is to detect any low-flying missiles or enemy aircraft that might be headed to the capital, the report said.

Raythoen, a defense contractor, said last year that these aerostats can carry powerful surveillance systems capable of tracking people and vehicles from miles away, the report said. The Army, though it did not rule out the possibility of mounting these cameras, reportedly said it has no current plans to install them.

The Washington Post reported that the Army said in a letter to the newspaper that it did not conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment because there is no intention of collecting any personally identifiable information.

"The primary mission . . . is to track airborne objects," the Army said in the letter to The Post. "Its secondary mission is to track surface moving objects such as vehicles or boats. The capability to track surface objects does not extend to individual people."

The radar system on these aerostats, which will be visible from downtown Baltimore on a clear day, will be radars capable of tracking the movement of planes about 340 miles from the base and cars 140 miles away.

"That's the kind of massive persistent surveillance we've always been concerned about with drones," Jay Stanley, a privacy expert for the American Civil Liberties Union, told The Washington Post. "It's part of this trend we’ve seen since 9/11, which is the turning inward of all these surveillance technologies."

Meanwhile, an independent board tasked with reviewing National Security Agency surveillance called Thursday for the government to end its mass data collection program and "purge" its files, declaring the program illegal in a major challenge to President Obama.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/24/blimplike-surveillance-craft-set-to-fly-over-maryland-raises-privacy-questions/

I don't see the problem with this. We have used them since WW2 they were excellent at picking up Submarines and Planes. We also could use them along the Mexican borders to catch boarder jumpers and Narco.

Yet another huge waste of taxpayer money.

It seems counterproductive in terms of technology.
You'd figure that the army would already have something better.
Might as well have went ahead and built Marvel's heli-carrier that shield uses.
That would have far more uses than some outdated blimp design.

More domestic spying the creep to fascism is never ending.

Pros: The blimps provide radar and ship tracking that replace planes, men, and maintenance of same... saving a great deal of money.

Cons: The program costs way more than it should making the above cost savings disappear.

It would be a great way to help seal the borders using IR and motion tracking cameras. I doubt it would be used there. The illegal aliens would sue for violation of their privacy rights.

and those Blimps have nice Tethers,like the Kites we used to fly!
Lets hope those Things are filled with Hydrogen,and their Skins impregnated with Nitro-Cellulose Lacquer!

is Washington in danger of low flying missiles now?

Get real with our current abilities we can do all this had we the will. The Snowden leaks have proven they can get any information at any time they wish had they wanted too they could crush the drug cartels.

They wont because the drug business is good business, everyone has a hand in it including the CIA it is well documented.

They can lock up drug users in our for profit prisons and turn a buck.

The only reason they want these things is to spy on you and me and crush any domestic discontent that will be rising as they continue down the road to fascism. Picture the world we are building a sky full of drones and blimps and every text and e mail kept and recorded.

What would you call such a society?

don't email or text... wasn't a problem 10 years ago...

The way Obama has cut our military and defense resources, I honestly think so.

you really think they going to put themselves voluntarily out of Business?

This article is from 1945 right? Lol

actually the Hindenburg-Disaster happened in early May 1935!

This idea of floating blimps with radar is nothing new. The military has been running such a system for the past 30 years. This predates Obama by decades. It's probably just the DoD and ICE.

seems like a waste of money, barry wouldn't have anything to with that... he just helps set the military budget, he doesn't tell them what to spend it on... his generals and Senators do that

It is believed that on 9/11, UA93 was destined for the WH or the Capitol Building.

Exactly, and coupled with the threat of more terror attacks, the initiative makes sense. I fail to see how this will limit one's freedom without resorting to the usual hyperbole.

but of course, why else would the army build blimps?

What did they do? Shove a tank of helium up Meeshels bum?

Now, if other posters can print sphincter, bum should be PmfkinG,si?

b-b-bbbbut Sphincter is a scientific expression!