Only Marxists, anarchists and a few antisocial grumblers would express any alarm at the encroaching militarization of our leading public institutions because, well, nothing could be further from the truth:
The role of the Pentagon in funding drone technology on U.S. campuses is visible everywhere. The U.S. Army Research Laboratory funds micro-drone research at Georgia Tech. The Army has pledged to give three drones to Middle Tennessee State. The Air Force’s Office of Scientific Research and the Air Force Research Labs in Dayton Ohio fund the work of four professors at the University of Michigan, according to Dan Inman, chairman of the school’s Aerospace Engineering Department.Many of the leaders in the field of domestic drones are military men. Mississippi State University is co-sponsoring a UAV conference later this month to discuss how unmanned systems can “provide solutions in agriculture, coastal environments, and disaster response to name but a few.” The keynote speaker will be U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. James O. Poss, assistant deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
Among the sponsors of the conference are major defense contractors, including Northrop Grumman, Aurora Flight Sciences and Stark Aerospace, a Mississippi-based subsidiary of Israeli Aerospace Industries, one of the world’s leading drone manufacturers, which touts its products as useful for “urban warfare.”
I've known young people who enrolled in college with the dream of becoming a surgeon, a minister, an attorney, a marine biologist or a professional athlete, but I've never known one who aspired to be a drone operator. But I guess an empire requires a civilian army as well as one that wears a uniform.
Snark aside, as mentioned earlier, always remember that somebody, somewhere, is making a boatload of money off this. Otherwise it wouldn't be happening.
At least we know we're free.
---Vitelius
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