Surveillance Balloons Could Be Watching You

If anyone has been deployed to a secured overseas base or a FOB (Forward Operating Base) you're familiar with surveillance balloons. The military will not reveal what these balloons do, however they credit them with keeping American service personnel safe while defending our country.   Now that same type of instrument could be used on the Homeland.  The U.S. military is reportedly testing experimental 'surveillance balloons across the Midwest. 25 solar-powered balloons will float 65,000 feet in the air and be equipped with " hi-tech radars designed to simultaneously track many individual vehicles day or night", according to The Guardian.

Newsweek reports:  The craft operate as a network, fitted with advanced mesh networking technologies meaning they can communicate with one another. The balloons can pass information—including video—to each other and to receivers on the ground.

Officials say the balloons can be used to help prevent drug trafficking and other threats.  But opponents say the balloons are too intrusive and will be used to collect data on U.S. citizens. Currently the program is too new for civil rights groups like the ACLU to respond.  Judging from the groups history, one can expect numerous lawsuits to prevent these military balloons from being put to use in the Midwest.  What's your take on the balloons?  Is surveillance and data-collecting going too far?  Do you trust the military to keep an eye on Americans in America?