Pentagon system tracks every auto

A new Pentagon system officials say will be deployed to combat zones in foreign lands has the capability to track every single car in urban areas, the Associated Press reported Tuesday, leading some to worry the technology will lead to a further erosion of privacy.

Besides tracking the vehicles, the Defense Department’s system – dubbed “Combat Zones That See” – can also analyze vehicular movement, a capability the Pentagon says will help U.S. troops fight and protect themselves overseas.

At the center of the unclassified technology is an innovative computer program that can immediately identify vehicles by size, shape, color and license plate. It also can reportedly identify drivers and passengers by face recognition, reports AP.

‘Super weapons’

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, in charge of development of the new surveillance system, is also helping the Defense Department develop new military weapons and technologies for use by U.S. forces in the 21st century.

That research includes so-called “super weapons” – hypersonic armed drones and other space-based missiles and bombs that can be employed against an enemy in as little as two hours, all from American soil.

The London Guardian newspaper says DARPA is following a Defense Department directive to reduce the need for U.S. forward-deployed bases in the future. In recent years, internal political pressure from some U.S. allies, such as Japan and South Korea, has forced the Pentagon to consider alternatives to basing thousands of U.S. troops on foreign soil, yet still maintaining the military ability to strike enemies far from home.

Those weapons are being developed under the code name “FALCON,” or “Force Application and Launch from the Continental U.S,” said the paper. Testing could occur as early as 2006.

Ultimately, the Pentagon wants the ability to deploy a “reusable hypersonic cruise vehicle (HCV) … capable of taking off from a conventional military runway and striking targets 9,000 nautical miles distant in less than two hours.”

The unmanned strike weapon could weigh up to 12,000 pounds and travel at speeds 10 times the speed of sound.

The U.S. will deploy short-range, disposable missiles and weapons that can be launched into space, then directed against a target, on a regional basis, according to the Guardian. The “super weapons” will have global reach, says DARPA.

In the meantime, public and government privacy advocates worry the Pentagon’s new system could be used to spy on American drivers in American cities. Already some experts complain the U.S. and other countries rely too much on surveillance technology, and similar technology has been used at the Super Bowl, to screen for possible terrorists.

“Privacy has been called ‘the civil rights issue of the information age,'” said an analysis from Minnesota Public Radio. “Americans enjoy unlimited benefits from new technologies in a wired world. But those wires send information in two directions, and the access to our personal data has never been more open for abuse.”

Says the American Civil Liberties Union, “Big Brother is no longer a fiction.”

“Many people still do not grasp that Big Brother surveillance is no longer the stuff of books and movies,” says Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU’s Technology and Liberty Program. “Given the capabilities of today’s technology, the only thing protecting us from a full-fledged surveillance society are the legal and political institutions we have inherited as Americans.”

“Cell phones that pinpoint your location. Cameras that track your every move. Subway cards that remember. We routinely sacrifice privacy for convenience and security. So stop worrying. And get ready for your close-up,” said an analysis in Wired Magazine.