Civilian Expertise Bridges Law Enforcement Drone Surveillance Gaps - Episode Hero Image

Civilian Expertise Bridges Law Enforcement Drone Surveillance Gaps

MIT Technology Review Narrated · · Listen to Original Episode →
Original Title:

TL;DR

  • Civilian expertise in advanced sensor technology, developed by electrical engineers, provides domestic law enforcement with crucial data on unidentified aerial phenomena that official channels lack, enabling detection of stealthy drone signatures.
  • The brothers' "Nightcrawler" mobile lab, equipped with military-grade sensors like active radar and infrared, offers a transparent, open-source solution for investigating drone incursions, bridging gaps in government surveillance capabilities.
  • Unexplained radio frequency spikes detected by the brothers in restricted government bands suggest that some mystery drones may originate from government projects or sophisticated enemy surveillance, not hobbyists.
  • The frères' work highlights a critical gap in law enforcement's ability to address drone incursions, as current authority is limited to reporting incidents, creating a "black hole" at the FAA without operator apprehension.
  • The development of consumer versions of the brothers' specialized detection devices offers domestic law enforcement a more accessible path to acquiring advanced surveillance tools, addressing desperation for actionable intelligence.
  • The normalization of frequent drone incursions into sensitive airspace, coupled with a lack of proactive investigation, risks future regret as unidentified aerial anomalies could eventually lead to severe consequences.

Deep Dive

The proliferation of unidentified drone incursions over US military and sensitive sites has created a significant intelligence and law enforcement challenge, leading domestic agencies to seek expertise from unconventional sources. While official responses remain limited and often contradictory, the sophisticated, homemade surveillance capabilities developed by brothers John and Gerald Tedesco offer a potential solution for gathering actionable data on these phenomena, bridging a critical gap in national security and public safety.

The core of the problem lies in the persistent and widespread nature of these drone incursions, which defy easy explanation and official attribution. Incidents like the multi-drone breach at the US Army Natick Soldier Systems Center and numerous unauthorized flights over Picatinny Arsenal and Donald Trump's golf course highlight a pattern of airspace violations that have prompted FBI investigations and FAA flight bans. These events have generated public hysteria, fueled by speculation ranging from Iranian drone ships to misidentified commercial aircraft. Despite the Trump administration's eventual assertion that the New Jersey wave was benign, military officials like NORAD's General Gregory Guillot have reported hundreds of unsolved incursions over US installations, often without evidence of foreign intelligence involvement. This official ambiguity and lack of clear answers have left domestic law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, struggling to effectively investigate and understand the nature of these "mystery drones."

In this vacuum, the Tede­sco brothers, with their backgrounds in electrical engineering and private sector instrumentation design, have emerged as unlikely experts. They have developed a mobile field laboratory, the "Nightcrawler," equipped with advanced sensors typically found outside classified defense applications. This includes radar, night vision, radio frequency scanners, and specialized ultraviolet (UV-C) and infrared (IR) sensors. Their work, initially supported by Harvard's Galileo Project and drawing interest from aviation safety advocates, physicists, and even law enforcement like Deputy Sheriff Chris Groomes, focuses on collecting detailed, multispectral data that goes beyond what standard police equipment can capture. For instance, they documented drones appearing to "disappear" by identifying that they were actually shifting their light frequency into the infrared spectrum, a tactic akin to military "signature management." This ability to capture nuanced data, such as detecting UV-C emissions from unexplained aerial phenomena or identifying unusual radio frequency spikes within US government communication bands above Gabreski Airport, provides domestic law enforcement and intelligence communities with novel insights.

The implications of the Tede­sco brothers' work extend to both the operational capabilities of law enforcement and the broader understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). Their sophisticated, open-source approach offers a transparent method for gathering data that may reveal government projects, sophisticated surveillance drones, or even phenomena beyond current explanation. This has led to informal collaboration with the FBI, despite strict guidelines and redactions on information sharing. A former senior law enforcement official confirmed the FBI's genuine interest, emphasizing the need for discretion in these collaborations. Even the Pentagon's former UAP hunting group, AARO, has acknowledged cribbing ideas from the Tede­scos' self-published book on the Nightcrawler project, including their mobile sensor plans. However, the effective integration of such advanced tools into law enforcement requires significant training and product testing, as noted by AAAA UAP team members. Furthermore, current legal frameworks restrict domestic intelligence collection on drones, creating a complex problem of coordination between agencies and potentially leading to a preference for quiet monitoring over information sharing that could compromise surveillance operations. This dynamic suggests that while the Tede­scos provide invaluable data, the ultimate resolution of these incursions may be hampered by interagency priorities and legal limitations, leaving law enforcement with limited authority unless operators are apprehended on the ground.

The critical takeaway is that the persistent mystery drone incursions represent a growing national security and public safety concern that current official structures are ill-equipped to fully address. The innovative, albeit unconventional, data collection methods developed by civilian experts like the Tede­sco brothers are proving essential for providing actionable intelligence. However, the challenges of integrating this expertise, overcoming interagency coordination issues, and navigating legal restrictions highlight a systemic vulnerability that, if unaddressed, could lead to future regrets when a more serious incident inevitably occurs.

Action Items

  • Audit 10-15 drone incursion reports: Identify common sensor limitations and data gaps for law enforcement (ref: Tedeasco methods).
  • Design standardized data collection protocol: Define 5-7 key parameters for documenting UAP/drone sightings to improve inter-agency sharing.
  • Develop training module for law enforcement: Cover 3-4 advanced sensor techniques (e.g., RF scanning, IR signatures) for drone identification.
  • Evaluate 2-3 commercial sensor packages: Compare performance against Tedeasco's "Nightcrawler" capabilities for potential adoption.

Related Episodes

Key Quotes

"when lazen arrived on base later that weekend he says he saw drones that were larger than traditional consumer models most of which are pre programmed to respect us military airspace these days anyway by the end of this weekend long breach base police not only had called in local law enforcement for backup but were coordinating with the fbi and us army commanders as well"

Deputy Chief Brian LaZan describes the scale and seriousness of the drone incursions at the Natick Soldier Systems Center. This quote highlights the escalation of the situation, involving multiple levels of law enforcement and military command, indicating the unusual nature and potential threat perceived by authorities.

"The term ufo has officially gone out of fashion nowadays many policymakers and scientists and even plenty of old school ufologists favor the term unidentified anomalous phenomenon or uap it's an intentionally pedantic step backward an acknowledgment from today's more disciplined cadre of scientists that a given witness to a strange thing in the sky might not actually be seeing a solid object per se much less anything flying in the strict aerodynamic sense"

This quote explains the shift in terminology from UFO to UAP. The author clarifies that this change reflects a more scientific and cautious approach, acknowledging that observed phenomena may not be conventional aircraft and could encompass a wider range of unexplained events.

"to our knowledge as the tedescos put it in an engineering journal article in 2024 no other organizations use active radar for this purpose civilians are not ordinarily allowed to beam active radar owing to federal concerns over harmful interference with core systems like air traffic control but in january 2023 the duo got a rare license from the federal communications commission that permits them to beam radar from robert moses"

The author details the unique capabilities of the Tedesco brothers' "Nightcrawler" surveillance unit. This quote emphasizes their innovative use of active radar, a technology typically restricted to government entities due to potential interference, highlighting the special FCC license they obtained.

"The Tedescos' work promises a transparent open source solution to the past several years worth of bizarre and troubling drone incursions into us airspace for academics hunting for ufos and other aerial anomalies the tedescos have become informal collaborators and a font of new ideas for novel data collection equipment but for better or worse some of the secrets they might be revealing may be the government's own"

This quote positions the Tedesco brothers' efforts as a significant contribution to understanding unexplained aerial phenomena. The author suggests their open-source approach offers a valuable alternative to classified government investigations, potentially uncovering sensitive information about the government's own activities.

"The implication that the night crawler has caught gravitational lensing off some warp drive craft has rankled a few galileo project collaborators the harvard led effort to search for extraterrestrial life or technology within our solar system emphasizes its excruciatingly methodical work of late calibrating validating and recalibrating uap detection hardware before researchers even try to hunt for true anomalies although galileo scientists have visited and conferred with the tedescos on uap hunting instruments the brothers' more rough and tumble courtroom ready forensic science approach has caused turbulence in the relationship"

The author illustrates a point of contention between the Tedesco brothers and academic researchers. This quote highlights the difference in methodologies, with the Tedescos employing a more direct, forensic approach that contrasts with the rigorous, calibration-focused work of the Galileo Project.

"The signals suggested that whatever the tedescos were tracking above gabreski airport they were likely not from hobbyists instead they might have been from a government project or from something like an enemy surveillance drone hoping to pass off its signals as just another heavily siloed top secret broadcast for operations security reasons"

This quote presents a key finding from the Tedesco brothers' investigation at Gabreski Airport. The author explains how the detected radio frequencies suggest the drones were not civilian hobbyist craft but potentially linked to government projects or sophisticated enemy surveillance, raising questions about their origin and intent.

Resources

External Resources

Books

  • "The Nightcrawler Project" by John and Gerald Tedesco - Self-published account of their UAP detection project.

Articles & Papers

  • "How two brothers became go-to experts on America’s “mystery drone” invasion" (MIT Technology Review) - Primary article detailing the Tedesco brothers' work.
  • Engineering journal article (2024) - Mentioned in relation to the Tedesco brothers' hypothesis on radar delays and gravitational lensing.

People

  • John Tedesco - UFO hunter, co-creator of the "Nightcrawler" surveillance unit.
  • Gerald Tedesco - UFO hunter, co-creator of the "Nightcrawler" surveillance unit.
  • Matthew Phelan - Author of the article.
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