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| A US Air Force surveillance blimp, soon to lose funding |
Grits has gotta say, if the federal government must reduce spending, cutting the budget for surveillance blimps to me seems like a good place to start. (Reminds me of the alternate universe from Fringe.) Bellow reports that the contractor sent out an email to its employees, which he reprinted in full, announcing that the Air Force would cease funding for the project as of March 15, 2013. An employee who (understandably) insisted upon anonymity told Bellow that "Without these defense radars, low flying aircraft will go undetected. It will be open season for any drug/gun/slave smugglers, terrorists flying in with nukes, low altitude missiles, or even a full scale low elevation invasion/attack against America.” Uh huh. Those blimps and the Rio Grande were all that stood between us and a "full scale low level invasion/attack," says the anonymous guy who'll lose his job if the contract runs out. Lucky the river's still there. In reality, given the actual nature of border violence and the intense buildup of Border Patrol, customs agents and, often redundantly, the Department of Public Safety, along the Rio Grande, it's laughable to give this contractor's surveillance blimps much credit. One imagines the US Air Force feels perfectly secure they're up to job of stopping a "full scale invasion/attack" from the south without this company's services, since they're the ones who cut them loose. If you do call your Senator or Congressperson, as per Mr. Bellow's request, Grits would suggest telling them, "Support the Air Force's decision and don't spend one more dime on surveillance blimps."
I am shocked at you Grits. These contractors work hard to find a nice gravy-train boondoggle and here you are trying to mess it up.
ReplyDeleteIf this happens, what will the gun lobby use for target practice ???
ReplyDeleteActually.We have been told from Eastern Air Defense Sector(EADS) and JAITF-South that the information that they receive from the TARS program is very important and vital to their mission. We were tasked to fly during Obama's/Romney's trips to Florida and when other high ranking officials, be it U.S.or a foreign dignetrary are flying in the area. The Mexican border is only a small part of the umbrella. The Cudloe Key and Lajas sites are able to cover areas including Cuba,the Florida Straits and open water areas that no other system is able to cover.This radar is able to pick up moving targets on the water as well. We all know that there is a budget problem happening and U.S. citizens have died in the last few days. Lets dont be short sighted in our thinking about safety.
ReplyDeleteBlimp Boy, it's perhaps telling that the US Air Force didn't agree that surveillance blimps are "vital" and seem to think they can repel a southern invasion without them.
ReplyDeleteYou suggest that "U.S. citizens have died in the last few days," but that's with the blimps already in place (they're operating through March 15). So, though I'm unaware of your exact reference, whatever it was, the surveillance blimps failed to prevent those deaths. So how is that an argument for keeping them?
Most drug trafficking, by far, happens though the checkpoints, not out in the middle of nowhere where the blimps are located. This is a boodoggle, more security theater than a safety upgrade. When the blimps go away later this year, IMO border security won't miss a beat.
Most drugs do come through the checkpoints. But, light aircraft stolen in the US and flown back to Mexico to be loaded with drugs and illegals don't bother stopping at the checkpoints.
ReplyDeleteAnd how many of those have been caught by the Air Force or Homeland Security thanks to these blimps, 7:29? Any at all, that you can document?
ReplyDeleteI see how you work, you only add comments that make you look/sound good and not the one I've posted.
ReplyDelete7:21, I don't know what you're talking about. What did you write? May have gotten caught up in the spam filter.
ReplyDelete