The Secret Service announced Wednesday it would conduct a test to evaluate a tethered drone during President Donald Trump’s scheduled visit later this month to his residence at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.
The primary purpose of using a tethered drone is to provide sustained situational awareness and improve the Secret Service’s ability to detect suspicious persons, activities and pre-incident behaviors.
The drone — equipped with electro-optical and infrared camera — has surveillance and image capturing capabilities for an operator to control and flies autonomously at an altitude of 300 to 400 feet. According to the Secret Service, flying at that altitude makes it unlikely but possible that images may be clear enough to help investigators identify an individual.
The tether makes the system stationary with minor movement due to weather conditions and also provides power to the aircraft and the secure video from the aircraft to a laptop that provides software to operate the system. The camera transmits video images through the tether back to the laptop using an encrypted feed, as images are not stored on the drone. The images can be seen by authorized users and decision makers for real-time support and will either be overwritten within 30 days or become part of an investigation file if appropriate.
To decrease the risk of unintentional privacy violations, the drone camera operator’s primary focus will be on the outer perimeter of the Secret Service-established secure zones of protection in and around the Trump National Golf Club. The drone will not physically intrude or disturb the use of private property outside of the Trump National Golf Course, according to the Secret Service.
The test of the drone is designed to help determine the potential for future use as currently, the Secret Service relies on other federal, state and local government agencies to provide manned aircraft for aerial surveillance that are limited in scope, unable to operate over a longer period of time, and too loud for certain venues.
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Tethered drones have provided tools for law enforcement to increase situational awareness during large outdoor public events, including sporting events. In April, robotics company CyPhy Works had its tethered drone, PARC, be part of the safety and security measures at the Boston Marathon. That PARC is a tethered drone allows it to stay aloft indefinitely, and in February 2016 it provided a secure feed and streaming video of the finish line at the Tokyo Marathon for police.
At the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, the golf course hosted the U.S. Women’s Open last month and has provided plenty of intrigue surrounding President Trump, who continues to play golf there and tweeted multiple times about attending the tournament there.
Trump was also recently seen in June driving a golf cart across a green on that course.
“The best security in the history of golf,” Trump mused to a group that shot video of the interaction.
Trump driving on green at Bedminster..”playing well till this hole” *knucks* @ForePlayPod pic.twitter.com/ftBmxiNrwy
— Mike Frank (@MikeNFrank) June 21, 2017