New Radar Drone Reveals Holes in U.S. Border Security

Border agents apprehended fewer than half of those who crossed border illegally in test phase
AP

A new advanced radar system has uncovered gaps in security along the U.S. border with Mexico–and revealed that border patrol agents apprehended fewer than half of those who crossed the border illegally in Arizona.

Armed and Dangerous

Saudi Arabia buying South African armed drone
Saudi Arabia is secretly purchasing an armed drone system from South Africa's Denel Dynamics similar to the company's Seeker II unarmed drone / Source: Denel Dynamics product brochure

Saudi Arabia is buying an armed drone from South Africa after the Obama administration declined to sell the oil-rich kingdom U.S. Predator or Reaper missile-firing unmanned aircraft.

Game of Drones

China stepping up drone deployment
China's CH-4 armed drone disclosed for the first time in November / Source: Reuben Johnson

China’s military is expanding its unmanned aerial vehicle forces with a new Predator-like armed drone and a new unmanned combat aircraft amid growing tensions with neighbors in Asia, according to United States intelligence officials.

Iran Preps New Drones

American assets put at risk by new Iranian UAVs
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad / AP

Intelligence from a downed U.S. drone could have helped Iranian engineers produce a newly unveiled unmanned aircraft reportedly capable of shooting targets from 31 miles away and reaching an altitude of 15,000 feet, according to a U.S. Army analysis.

Fly Over Country

Congress demands answers on EPA drones over Iowa and Nebraska
1024px-US_Navy_110604-O-GR159-001_A_Tiger_Shark_unmanned_aerial_vehicle_returns_from_a_mission_supporting_forces_in_theater

U.S. Congressmen are demanding answers from the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the Obama administration’s surveillance flights over U.S. farms.

Petraeus at Langley

CIA director quietly pushing reforms, but critics say too much focus on drone war continues
CIA Director David Petraeus / AP

CIA Director David Petraeus, who won praise as the Army’s out-of-the-box theorist, is quietly reshaping the CIA toward covert paramilitary operations, and some agency hands say the continued military focus is limiting efforts to improve CIA spies’ mission of stealing secrets.