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The Department of Homeland Security is to assume control of surveillance blimps used to monitor the US-Mexico border, a disconcerting development given that the federal agency considers all areas 100 miles inland of the border to be \u2018constitution-free zones\u2019 within which the Fourth Amendment does not apply.<\/p>\n
DHS will now oversee the giant tethered blimps, used ostensibly to look out for drug smugglers, which are located in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpokesman Bill Brooks of the Customs and Border Protection told the Yuma Sun that the department accepted the Aerostat system from the Air Force earlier this summer and will manage and maintain it for the foreseeable future,\u201d reports the\u00a0Arizona Daily Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n While on the surface it appears that the blimps will merely be used for border security, the fact is that the DHS now considers any area within a 100 mile radius of the entire US border to be what the ACLU has described as a \u201cconstitution free zone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to legal precedent, the Fourth Amendment \u2013 the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures \u2013 does not apply along the border,\u201d\u00a0reports Wired<\/a>. \u201cBy the way, the government contends the Fourth-Amendment-Free Zone stretches 100 miles inland from the nation\u2019s actual border.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of this usurpation of power, the DHS has announced that it has the right to examine electronic devices without a warrant in the name of \u201cnational security.\u201d<\/p>\n Given the DHS\u2019 complete disdain for the Fourth Amendment within this imaginary \u201cconstitution free\u201d zone they have created, trusting the agency to operate sophisticated spy blimps within that same geographical area is a privacy disaster waiting to happen.<\/p>\n Police Departments across America are already\u00a0attempting to secure permission<\/a>\u00a0from the FAA to deploy surveillance blimps to spy on \u201csuspicious activity\u201d and last year the US Army\u00a0tested a football field-sized blimp<\/a>\u00a0over the city of New Jersey.<\/p>\n In a related story, the\u00a0Pentagon also recently announced<\/a>\u00a0that it would permanently deploy two giant surveillance blimps over Washington DC and Baltimore as a replacement for ground-based radar systems used to detect \u201ccruise missiles, high-speed attack boats, armed drones, planes, tanks, and trucks.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite assurances that the aerostats would not be used to spy on the public,\u00a0some have expressed concerns<\/a>\u00a0that the sheer size of the 238-feet drones would make it fairly easy to attach all kind surveillance devices to the blimps.<\/p>\n See a map of the \u201cconstitution-free zone\u201d below.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/static.prisonplanet.com\/p\/images\/august2013\/200813border.gif\")
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