In a $6.7 million deal with software company Kitware, a DARPA project will develop a method of "indexing and rapidly finding video from archived surveillance tapes."

According to a DARPA document:

"The U.S. military and intelligence communities have an ever increasing need to monitor live video feeds and search large volumes of archived video data for activities of interest due to the rapid growth in development and fielding of motion video systems."

This is like "Enemy of the State" meets "You Tube" in an effort to combat terrorism.

Another sad commentary on our times as Toronto adds surveillance cameras to its transit system. Plans are already underway to "ensure every person using Toronto’s transit system will be photographed as of next June," which means that some 12,000 cameras will have to be installed on "every bus, streetcar, subway car and at each station."

Seems the Navy and Air Force are competing over who has the better robotic aircraft. Right after the Navy’s announcement of it’s developing unmanned fighters, the USAF is taking delivery of "its initial BATMAV micro unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)."

These are small (29-inch wingspan) model-types, if you will. They are designed to carry integrated forward and side looking electro-optical color / infrared cameras to provide "real-time video imagery to a handheld controller used by tactical units" in reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition missions.

Those Europeans certainly have a thing about keeping tabs on their citizens. In this case, France plans to triple the number of surveillance devices, to reduce violence and terrorism. All of this is, of course, to protect the French people’s ability to move freely about. Methinks there’s some irony in there somewhere.

Whatever makes things safer for American soldiers is good by me. The Army’s Rapid Equipping Force is deploying the Rapid Deployment Integrated Surveillance System (RDISS), which provides an integrated view of security checkpoints and combat posts through Iraq (for now, I’m sure). Knowing where the enemy is and what they’re up to is a good thing, I think.