How to discern UAV sightings amidst UFO reports?
I started thinking out loud on Twitter today about the potential use of UAVs by terrorists within the US. Use by Hezbollah dates back at least to 2004. I began wondering how long before a suspicious UAV sighting over New York City made the news and caused at least a moderate wave of panic. How would the Intelligence Community (IC) respond to the event? Would the IC have the ability to look back at similar UAV sightings in the past and possibly discern a pattern to understand likely targeting by a terrorist group? My short investigation into this issue seems to indicate this would not be possible.
Looking further into how UAV sightings are reported, I discovered there is no credible source specific to UAV sightings. It occurred to me that UAVs are likely either reported to local law enforcement or as UFO sightings. Unless the police think it suspicious enough to warrant tipping off the FBI and the FBI thinking it warrants DHS involvement (based on this DHS Information Bulletin on Remotely Piloted Vehicle Threats), the only way the incident would see the light of day is if the media picked up on it. This is concerning as there’s the possibility for multiple UAV surveillance/reconnaissance flights over a period of time by a terrorist cell in the US to “fly under the radar” so to speak and the pattern would not emerge to uncover the plot (unless through other means).
I found a few articles on the topic of “UAV or UFO” discussing the issue of UAV sightings being reported as UFOs - space.com article from 2003 “UFOs vs UAVs: How to Tell Friend from Faux” explains that the increase in UAV projects is making it more difficult to separate UAV sightings from supposed UFO sightings. The article mentions a National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) hotline was setup for reporting sightings, but the institute has since shuttered operations in 2004. A WikiHow article explains “How to Report a UFO Sighting“, but makes no mention of UAVs. There are a few websites where UFO sightings can be reported, the National UFO Reporting Center and Mutual UFO Network seem to be the most complete and (dare I say) credible sources. These sites encourage users to submit a report with detailed characteristics about the incident, including the shape of the craft (e.g., blimp, boomerang, disc, triangle, etc.) and behavioral characteristics (e.g, emitted beams of light, left a trail, had lights, etc.) and further encourages the user to upload a photo. Unfortunately, these sites make no mention of UAVs and their classification schemes are not amenable to capturing UAV characteristics sufficient to classify a UAV sighting. Just for fun, here’s a “true believer” perspective on “Are UFO’s Nothing but the next generation of UAV?” (I’m sure 95% of comments were by X-Files fans).
This NASA/Georgia Tech UAV Database provides the specifications of many UAVs, but doesn’t include photos which could be used for identification purposes.
Should a National UAV reporting database be setup to track (and possibly regulate?) UAV activities? What rules and regulations are currently enforced for UAV systems in urban areas in the US? Do you think the threat of UAV use by domestic terrorists in the US either for offensive weapon purposes or for surveillance/reconnaissance poses a real threat to our homeland security and requires closer scrutiny? I’d appreciate your perspective, sound off below.
Next, I’ll take a closer look at FAA policies regarding UAVs.
Tags: homeland security, Terrorism, UAV
#1 written by Jack Burke December 4th, 2009 at 10:38
Please be aware that not all “X-Files fans” are UFOlogists. The implication that program watchers are somehow less than working with a full deck is offensive. Believe it or not some persons can distinguish between cerebral activity and entertainment.
Also , what comments have been posted by model airplane race enthusiasts? Do they have any guidelines to assist in identifying UAV activity as associated with their organized activities, as a way to eliminate any of their meetings from your proposed database.
#2 written by Dustin Burke December 4th, 2009 at 10:59
The X-Files mention was just for jest, I didn’t mean to insinuate that being an X-files fan necessarily implies being an UFOlogists. However, I’m pretty sure those two groups of people aren’t mutually exclusive! Also, I tried to be careful and not classify every person who posts in such forums as being an alien weirdo - those communities are folks with a common special interest and likely some of them have extreme viewpoints, but the profile doesn’t apply to them all. Again, my (failed) attempt was to discuss that aspect of this topic in a light-hearted way. The credibility issue (from the Intelligence Community or similar standpoint) as a reliable source of UAV sightings is real though.
I’m not really sure about guidelines (or FAA rules or laws) regarding UAV hobbyists, be it individuals or organized communities as you suggest. I’m sure there are restrictions in place, but I wonder to what extent they’re required to submit an application or otherwise disclose their UAV related activities to an authority. Worth looking into, but the idea is the proposed database would serve as a centralized repository of all such applications and registrations by UAV owners and operators for law enforcement and the Intelligence Community to identify illegal activities and investigate.