The US military is planning to launch a new, efficient method of sending small satellites into space which will dramatically boost soldiers\u2019 ability to locate, track and eventually annihilate potential enemies.<\/p>\n
The military has spent years quietly developing and implementing
\nradio-frequency identification (RFID) tags to track Taliban
\nleaders, suspected terrorists, and other perceived enemies.
\nTribesmen in the Middle East are paid to \u201cplant the electronic
\ndevices<\/i>\u201d on the intended targets or the targets\u2019 home,
\naccording to a 2009 report in The Guardian.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The device can be tracked to within three feet of its location,
\nproviding targeting co-ordinates that have become integral in
\nlaunching drone strikes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTransmitters make a lot of sense to me<\/i>,\u201d former CIA case
\nofficer Robert Baer told Wired in 2009. \u201cIt is simply not
\npossible to train a Pashtun from Waziristan to go to a targeted
\nsite, case it, and come back to Peshawar or Islamabad with anything
\nlike an accurate report. The best you can hope for it they\u2019re
\nputting the transmitter right on the house<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) will Wired noted that each of the eight satellites is roughly the This is not America\u2019s first foray into using outer space for But the military\u2019s reliance on less-than-trustworthy operatives In a video released in April 2009, 19-year-old Habibur Rehman, \u201cI was given $122 to drop chips wrapped in cigarette paper at A US official told NBC News that the video was nothing more than \u201cI thought this was a very easy job<\/i>,\u201d Rehman went on.
\nadvance that strategy with the September rocket launch from
\nWallops, Virginia. Attached to the sides of the rocket will be
\neight devices that will be dispersed 300 miles above Earth then act
\nas beacons for US intelligence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nsize of a \u201cwater jug<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\ngaining intelligence. A 2009 test program launched similar location
\ndevices to great success, with special operations officials later
\nreporting that the technology was used to help locate Al Qaeda
\nleader Osama bin Laden.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nto carry out the most important part of such an expensive mission,
\nlocating the original target, has some people very concerned.
\nRecruiting and paying poor people in hostile countries to carry out
\ndangerous tasks could have intended, but serious,
\nconsequences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nreading a script written by the Taliban, who then executed him on
\nfilm, claimed he was so desperate for money that he took advantage
\nof his US handlers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nAl Qaeda and Taliban houses<\/i>,\u201d Rehman said, before being shot
\nfor spying for the US. \u201cIf I was successful, I was told, I would
\nbe given thousands of dollars<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\u201cextremist propaganda<\/i>,\u201d but it does raise moral questions
\nsurrounding drone warfare and targeted killings in the modern
\nera.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe money was good so I started throwing chips all over. I knew
\npeople were dying because of what I was doing, but I needed the
\nmoney<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n