As you walk the streets of New York, someone is watching you from above -- and it isn't the FDNY Firefighter Spies. You can't see them, but they can see you. You don't know where they are -- but they are always... there. Right there:
A dramatic close-up of Lady Liberty's frozen gaze fills one of three flat-screen computer monitors mounted on a console. Hundreds of sightseers below are oblivious to the fact that a helicopter is peering down on them from a mile and a half away. "They don't even know we're here," said crew chief John Diaz, speaking into a headset over the din of the aircraft's engine.Are you comfortable being spied upon by an eye in the sky you cannot see?
The helicopter's unmarked paint job belies what's inside: an arsenal of sophisticated surveillance and tracking equipment powerful enough to read license plates -- or scan pedestrians' faces -- from high above the nation's largest metropolis.... "It looks like just another helicopter in the sky," said Assistant Police Chief Charles Kammerdener, who oversees the department's aviation unit.... The chopper is named simply "23" -- for the number of police officers killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The $10 million helicopter is just part of the department's efforts to adopt cutting-edge technology for its counterterrorism operations.
How much privacy are you willing for forfeit in the name of fighting terror you cannot see, touch, feel, or comprehend?
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