Danger Room What’s Next in National Security Insect Drones ‘Spotted’ on U.S. Streets (Updated)
Sharon Weinberger
(10/07)
Sightings of robotic-looking insects — combined with reports that the Pentagon is working on cyborg insects — is prompting people to speculate that the government has perhaps already deployed this super-cool technology. As the Washington Post reports in an article that truly made my day:
"I heard someone say, ‘Oh my god, look at those,’ " the college senior from New York recalled. "I look up and I’m like, ‘What the hell is that?’ They looked kind of like dragonflies or little helicopters. But I mean, those are not insects."
Out in the crowd, Bernard Crane saw them, too.
"I’d never seen anything like it in my life," the Washington lawyer said. "They were large for dragonflies. I thought, ‘Is that mechanical, or is that alive?’ "
That is just one of the questions hovering over a handful of similar sightings at political events in Washington and New York. Some suspect the insectlike drones are high-tech surveillance tools, perhaps deployed by the Department of Homeland Security.
Of course, as the article notes, no agency admits to actually deploying Elvis insect bugs, but hey, why would they?
www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/10/insect-drones-s/