Signals intelligence

The FAA has been charged with coming up, by 2015, with rules for how drones can be used for government and commercial operations domestically. But safety and privacy concerns are pressing issues.

In an effort to secure its own facilities and its employees in the wake of the U.S. military pullout, the U.S. Embassy in Iraq is operating a small fleet of mini-drones for use in real-time surveillance. They’re trying to get permission from the Iraqi government to make their use permanent.

Israel is employing a growing fleet of drones to monitor its adversaries and to have should the country ever again be threatened militarily. But one of their newest and most advanced versions crashed over the weekend, just weeks before it was expected to be declared operational.

In January, the FAA is expected to issue new air space regulations allowing for the civilian use of unmanned aerial vehicles. Police departments are expected to be early and widespread users of the drones, but some are raising concerns about privacy.

Amidst the arctic foxes and caribou, a small Canadian military outpost, CFS Alert, is the permanent home of about 70 people. Living there year round, it’s the permanent community closest to the North Pole.