November 4, 2009
Lon T

Hi Steve,

I wanted to share some pieces I saw today that might fit into a bigger picture since you hear from many people daily. There is some drone surveillance going on along the Columbia River and I-84 in Oregon. I drove West on Interstate 84 going to Portland, Oregon this late afternoon on business. Just about 1 hour East of Portland outside of The Dalles, I came up on a black, shiny, Black Ops – looking vehicle. It looked like one of those Loomis Security Bank Transfer rigs but was beefier and had arms with satellite dishes on it. On the side was, “Insitu” and “UAS” it also said “field mission support vehicle”, or something of that nature. As soon as I saw it I knew something was creepy about it. I had my iPhone on me and Googled “Insitu” and “UAS” and I came up with Unmanned Aerial Systems or drones.

The site www.insitu.com has a video on their homepage and shows that they do unmanned aerial reconnaissance and surveillance missions and that they serve the global defense community. The vehicle I saw is in the video and it launches the drone and tracks information within the vehicle.

My question was, “What are they doing in Oregon on the freeway here? Who are they surveying?”

I decided to stop since I passed them, and let them pass me again to get a better look. Evidently they had turned off in The Dalles because I never saw them go by. Their home base is Bingen, Washington and so they might have turned off on the Interstate bridge to Washington at the East end of The Dalles.

When I got to Portland, I went to a hotel for business by the airport. The hotel houses a inconspicuous military entrance processing station (MEPS). It was operated by CMS www.cms-corp.com. There were soldiers in fatigues and camo around the hotel. I had also seen three Humvees driving by me when I left town on the trip.

What is going on? I feel like the military and surveillance fist is closing – only we aren’t letting the reality sink in…well it sunk in for me today when I saw it in my own “backyard”.

Thanks for all you do Steve. You are a blessing.
Sincerely,
Lon T