Posted at 10:15 am by

Drones are mainly associated with the Predator airships that patrol the Afghanistan sky. But thanks to a bipartisan vote last week, the public can expect 30,000 domestic drones flying over the United States in the next eight years.

The dramatic change in policy, which has raised concerns with everyone from civil liberties groups like the ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation to the pilot association and the Independent Institute, as well as conservative think tanks, occurred thanks to an aggressive and well-organized effort by drone makers and their lobbyists.

Yesterday, we reported how the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVS), a drone trade group, actually doubled its recent lobbying expenses. Today, we report on a PowerPoint presentation put together by top AUVS lobbyists Michael Toscano, Mario Mairena, and Ben Gielow. The lobby group — which maintains an official partnership in Congress with Reps. Buck McKeon (R-CA), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), and dozens of other lawmakers — was the driving force behind the domestic drone decision passed last week. In the presentation obtained by Republic Report, there are several fascinating concerns raised by the lobbyists:

– Page 5: Drone lobbyists claimed access to airspace and “Global Conflict – particularly U.S. and allied nation involvement in future conflicts” will “either positively or negatively” influence “market growth” for the industry.

– Page 6: The drone lobbyists take full credit for authoring the expansion of domestic drone use codified in the FAA authorization bill passed last week, noting “the only changes made to the UAS section of the House FAA bill were made at the request of AUVSI. Our suggestions were often taken word-for-word.”

– Pages 10-12: The drone industry eagerly anticipates that civil drone use, including use of drones for “suspect tracking” by law enforcement, will soon eclipse military use of drones. Under a section called “Challenges facing UAS,” the lobbyists listed “Civil Liberties.”

View the presentation below:

 

Drone Lobby Presentation

View more presentations from lhfang.

 

 

Filed under: Lobbying

April 10, 2012

Five Ways The Pink Slime Industry Is Buying Influence In Government

January 14, 2013

For-Profit College Shuts Down, Leaving Students Out In The Cold

Add a comment
Related

GRAPH: Pro-Domestic Drone Group Doubled Its Lobbying Expenses Last Year

Read article »

Tip Line

Help follow the money
tips@republicreport.org

Top 5 Stories

  1. For-Profit College Shuts Down, Leaving Students Out In The Cold »
  2. If A For-Profit College Becomes a Non-Profit, Is That Good? Not Necessarily »
  3. Mitch Daniels & Mike Mullen Should Tell For-Profit Colleges Hard Truths, or Else Stay Home »
  4. For-Profit College Industry's Phony Pitch to Obama: Now We're BFFs! »
  5. Before Rubio, Before Luntz: Meet A Founding Father of Climate Change Denial »

Bad Behavior has blocked 715 access attempts in the last 7 days.