Small drone crashes at White House complex, origin unclear

[mick silver]

Small drone crashes at White House complex, origin unclear
https://s.yimg.com/lo/api/res/1.2/T5ejn2uPqCLKGowHgRwf8w--/YXBwaWQ9bWFnYXppbmVzO2ZpPWZpdDt3PTE1MA--/https://s.yimg.com/os/152/2012/04/21/image001-png_162613.png (http://www.ap.org/)Associated Press (http://www.ap.org/)



NEDRA PICKLER‎January‎ ‎26‎, ‎2015





WASHINGTON (AP) — A small drone flying at low altitude crashed into the White House complex before dawn Monday, the Secret Service said. President Barack Obama was not at home.
https://s.yimg.com/lo/api/res/1.2/HqtaOa5ajSLe1Y429UW6lw--/YXBwaWQ9bWFnYXppbmVzO3c9NTAwO2ZpPWZpdA--/https://s.yimg.com/os/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/f45566e7323656046c0f6a7067004e93.jpgSecret Service officers search the south grounds of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. A device, possibly an unmanned aerial drone, was found on the White House grounds during the middle of the night while President Barack Obama and the first lady were in India, but his spokesman said Monday that it posed no threat. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The crash prompted an immediate lockdown of the White House campus until officials could determine that the device didn't pose a threat. The Secret Service said the device was a commercially available quadcopter — a small, unmanned aircraft that is lifted by four propellers.
https://s.yimg.com/lo/api/res/1.2/H0IfRJbDScHYk71LL_ZJ.A--/YXBwaWQ9bWFnYXppbmVzO3c9NTAwO2ZpPWZpdA--/https://s.yimg.com/os/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/fab804a331fb55046c0f6a706700e6f9.jpgThis image made with an iPhone shows emergency vehicles surrounding the southeast corner of the White House complex, near the main Treasury building, right, after a device, possibly an unmanned aerial drone, was found on the lawn early in the morning Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Nedra Pickler)
"An investigation is underway to determine the origin of this commercially available device, motive, and to identify suspects," said Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary. He said the drone crashed on the southeast side of the White House complex just after 3 a.m.
Quadcopters make up many of the small drones used by hobbyists and commercial operators. Often weighing only a few pounds, they sell for as little as a few hundred dollars or less, and were popular Christmas gifts last year.

The president and first lady Michelle Obama are traveling in India and were not present for the incident. But it was unclear whether their daughters, Sasha and Malia, were at home at the time of the incident with their grandmother, Marian Robinson, who also lives at the White House. The White House had said before the president's trip that the daughters would remain in Washington so not to miss school.

[Celtic Rogue]

Test flight? Testing defenses... Armed drone too follow? Or maybe just a high tech peeping tom.

[mick silver]

what are they going to build now to stop this from happen again

[midnight rambler]

Test flight? Testing defenses... Armed drone too follow? Or maybe just a high tech peeping tom.

Cannot rule out an 'inside job'/FF in order to come down HARD on drone use, using this *grave threat to NATIONAL SECURITY* as the excuse.

[mick silver]

Man takes responsibility for drone over White Househttp://l.yimg.com/os/152/2012/04/21/image001-png_162613.png (http://www.ap.org/) By JOSH LEDERMAN and JOAN LOWY 10 minutes ago




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WTVD – Raleigh/DurhamSpokesman: Secret Service recovers 'device' at White House
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Spokesman: Secret Service recovers 'device' at White House

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A small drone flying low to the ground crashed onto the White House grounds before dawn Monday, triggering a major emergency response and raising fresh questions about security at the presidential mansion. A man later came forward to say he was responsible and didn't mean to fly it over the complex.
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The man contact with the Secret Service after reports of the crash spread in the media, a U.S. official said. The man told the agency that he had been flying the drone recreationally. The man is a Washington resident and is cooperating with investigators.
Secret Service agents are now interviewing other people to corroborate the man's story, and they don't currently have any reason to doubt the man's story, the official said.
The official wasn't authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity
Although President Barack Obama was not at home, the security breach prompted a lockdown of the entire complex until officials could examine the drone. The White House later said it did not pose a threat.
The drone crashed on the southeast side of the White House grounds just after 3 a.m., Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary said.
The device was described as a two-foot-long quadcopter — a commercially available unmanned aircraft that is lifted by four propellers. Many small quadcopters are essentially sophisticated toys that can also be useful for commercial operations like aerial photography and inspections. Often weighing only a few pounds, they sell for as little as a few hundred dollars or less, and were popular Christmas gifts last year.
The president and first lady Michelle Obama were traveling in India, but their daughters, Sasha and Malia, may have been at home. White House officials declined to comment on the daughters' whereabouts Monday, but ahead of the president's trip aides had said the daughters would remain in Washington so as not to miss school.
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(http://news.yahoo.com/photos/device-possibly-aerial-drone-found-on-white-house-grounds-1422283787-slideshow/)The South Lawn of the White House in Washington is seen on Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. A device, possibly …

"The early indications are that it does not pose any sort of ongoing threat to anybody at the White House," said presidential spokesman Josh Earnest.
Still, the incident was likely to reinvigorate a long-running public debate about the use of commercial drones in U.S. skies — as well as White House security. The Secret Service is still recovering after a string of breaches that raised questions about whether the president is adequately protected.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, a chief critic of Secret Service leadership, said the agency has been working for some time to figure out how to deal with the threat posed by unmanned aircraft. He said a wake-up call came in 2013 when a camera drone crashed in front of German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a campaign event in Germany.
"Any time you can breach the White House perimeter, it's deeply concerning," Chaffetz said in an interview Monday. "You don't know if it's some guy in a van down by the river controlling the drone or somebody who has some very nefarious intentions."
Although remote-controlled airplanes and related toys have been available for decades, White House aides could not recall any similar incidents having occurred in the past. The incident comes just as policymakers are, for the first time, grappling seriously with how to integrate unmanned aircraft into the nation's skies.
The recent proliferation of inexpensive drones has prompted growing fears about potential collisions with traditional aircraft. Technological advances have also made it easier to equip drones with advanced capabilities such as cameras, raising privacy issues as well as concerns that such devices could carry weapons.
Industry experts said that to carry and fire a weapon, a drone would need more engines and more propellers than most commercially-manufactured quadcopters.
At the urging of the drone industry, the Obama administration is on the verge of proposing rules to permit commercial flights by small drones, but no date has yet been set for release of the proposal. Currently, the Federal Aviation Administration bans commercial drone flights — with some exceptions — and hobbyists are barred from flying drones above 400 feet in altitude or within 5 miles of an airport.
Airspace around the White House is heavily restricted to protect the president and other sensitive sites in the vicinity. Yet Monday's crash wasn't the first time police have responded to reports of drones in the area. Last August, District of Columbia police reported the arrest of a person who got stuck in a tree while trying to retrieve a small drone lodged in the branches. And in July, U.S. Park Service police investigated reports of a small quadcopter in the vicinity of the Lincoln Memorial, according a compilation of recent incidents by the FAA.
The response from emergency officials to Monday's crash was swift and intense. Police, fire and other emergency vehicles swarmed the White House, and the entire perimeter was locked down for about two hours. After daylight, more than a dozen officers fanned out to search the lawn with flashlights, and there was a heavier-than-usual presence of Secret Service agents on the roof of the White House.
The agency recently has faced persistent questions about its effectiveness and ability to protect the president.
Four high-ranking executives were reassigned this month, and former Director Julia Pierson was forced to resign last year after a Texas man armed with a knife was able to get over a White House fence and run into the executive mansion before being subdued.
___
Associated Press writer Nedra Pickler contributed to this report.


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[mick silver]

comment from site , hitch was this you .... Hitch 1 hour ago 0
2
Maybe the drone was launched by one of the many prostitutes hired by Secret Service agents over the years...checking on them in case the lover-lust is heavy while the boss is away

[madfranks]

Use bureaucracy against them. How many millions of $ were spent on this "major emergency response?" I wish we'd see toy drones crashing into the white house every day.

[SWRichmond]

Use bureaucracy against them. How many millions of $ were spent on this "major emergency response?" I wish we'd see toy drones crashing into the white house every day.

War is economic. You win a a war by making it economically impossible for your opponent to field a force to oppose you. This used to mean bombing the shit out of your opponent's military factories. Now you can just get your opponent to spend themselves into oblivion, as the welfare / warfare state currently is doing.

In an era of 4GW and 5GW, states can easily be induced to bankrupt themselves. States are run by control freaks, who will respond to every incident with a 100-fold increase in their desired control condition. Economy collapses, as it becomes impossible for anyone to make anything or do anything while complying, and the state employs so many non-productive (and counter-productive) people at high pay that there is no one left to make anything and pay taxes.

This is visible now on our horizon.

This also IMO reveals the fallacy of dystopian nightmares like Hunger Games. Such a level of repression and control is impossible while still maintaining a productive economy. The USA couldn't even control Iraq for crying out loud.

A couple of cops get shot in NYC and the cop union calls a work stoppage. Some Police State.

[Rubicon]

Why didn't the blimps detect it? (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pentagon-to-launch-blimps-to-guard-against-cruise-missiles/)

[Cebu_4_2]

Why didn't the blimps detect it? (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pentagon-to-launch-blimps-to-guard-against-cruise-missiles/)

FFS...

http://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2014/01/24/2df0f408-f303-41d2-95c2-6e70d8f9dbfc/thumbnail/620x350/aaaef44607b900952c02a0292b683e47/blimp.jpg