Dystopian checklist

I remember this from an episode of Dark Angel …

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's plans to patrol his city with flying police drones didn't get off the ground, but it's just a matter of time before some other sheriff or police department manages to pull this off.

Flying police drones, usually armed, are a staple of dystopian science fiction. The key word there is "dystopian." What is it that makes some people watch Bladerunner or Dark Angel or even Waterworld and think: "Gee, how can we make our society more like this postapocalyptic fantasy world?"

The domestic use of unmanned aircraft by police or the U.S. military is a Very, Very Bad Idea. It also seems inevitable.

Here, for example, is the Miami Herald's Kevin G. Hall reporting that "We are losing, border agents say":

Rank-and-file Border Patrol agents also want more agents, more technology and more walls and vehicle barriers.

''The more effectively we can make use of technology, the more efficient we are,'' said Jim Hawkins, a senior Border Patrol agent and spokesman in Nogales.

… Agents also want more drones, the unmanned aircraft that can pinpoint the location of anyone for agents wearing night-vision goggles.

These unmanned aircraft are already being used for border patrol, but "we are losing." How long before someone proposes the Very, Very Bad Idea of helping us "win" by using armed drones (just like the ones that are helping us "win" in Iraq)?

And if such a decision is made, how public do you suppose the announcement of it will be?

PREDICTION: Soon, perhaps within a year or two, The New York Times and other newspapers will report on the fatal shooting of an illegal immigrant/unarmed civilian/terrorist suspect/Brazilian electrician by a military drone flying in American air space.

This news will be followed, almost immediately, by condemnations of the Times for "compromising national security" by reporting on the classified use of classified aircraft in this classified domestic mission. Bush administration officials will call the report "disgraceful" and suggest that the newspaper will be to blame for any future loss of American life in any future terrorist attack. Dick Cheney will murmur something about trying the Times editors for treason.

Panels of pundits on CNN and NPR will debate whether or not it was "appropriate" for the paper to have reported the story. "If you're innocent, you have nothing to worry about," the pundits will say. "Opposing this will cost the Democrats votes," David Brooks will say, and Joe Biden will agree.

And that will be the entire shape and content of our public debate about the domestic use of such weapons.

Six months later, Seymour Hersh will report in The New Yorker that domestic drones, now called "Guardian Angels," are being equipped with Hellfire missiles.

Six months later, Seymour Hersh's New York apartment will be destroyed by a predator drone in what will be officially described as "an unfortunate and tragic accident that should in no way be used to discredit the fact that our Guardian Angels help to keep Americans safe."