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RISING TO A NEW THREAT
无人机成为新威胁
BY W.J. HENNIGAN
文/W.J.亨尼根
LAST FOURTH OF JULY, AS FIREWORKS BURST across the night sky
去年7月4日（美国国庆日），趁着烟花在夜空中绽放之际，
near the Lieber Correctional Institution in Ridgeville, S.C.,
南卡罗来纳州里奇维尔的利伯惩教所附近，
convicted kidnapper Jimmy Causey tucked a lifelike dummy into his bed,
被判绑架罪的吉米·考西往床上塞了一个栩栩如生的假人，
sneaked out of his prison cell and completed a daring escape.
便偷偷溜出牢房，完成了一次大胆的越狱。
It wasn’t until three days later, when Texas Rangers found Causey holed up 1,200 miles away,
直到三天后，德州护林员在1200英里（约1930公里）之外发现了科西的藏身之处，
that authorities offered an explanation for how he had obtained the equipment for the breakout,
当局才对他获取越狱设备的方式做出解释，
including a pair of wire cutters used to snip through four fences that encircle the maximum-security prison.
他的设备中有一把钢丝钳，可用来剪断重刑监狱四周的四道围栏。
“We believe a drone was used to fly in the tools that allowed him to escape,”
南卡罗来纳州惩教署署长布莱恩·斯特林在新闻发布会上告诉记者，
Bryan Stirling, director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, told reporters at a news conference.
“我们认为，有人用无人机给他递那些工具，他才得以逃脱。”
A lengthy investigation confirmed that an accessory role was played by a small, of-the-shelf drone.
漫长的调查也证实，一架无需改装的小型无人机起到了辅助作用。
And with that, law-enforcement and national-security officials added “prison breaks”
于是，执法部门和国家安全官员将“越狱”纳入了
to the potential ill-uses lurking in a technology widely available at retailers including Amazon and Walmart.
亚马逊和沃尔玛就能轻松买到的这一科技产品的潜在弊端。
Unlike military drones that can cost more than $15 million and look like small airplanes,
与军用无人机不同的是，军用无人机价格高达1500万美元以上，体型跟小型飞机差不多，
mini quadcopters can be obtained for a few hundred dollars—and their capabilities are exciting the imaginations of bad guys.
而小巧的四轴无人机只需几百美元，其强大的性能也大大激发了心怀不轨之人的想象力。
Criminals have used drones to drop drugs into prisons.
罪犯用无人机往监狱投递毒品。
Mexican smugglers have flown them above the border to spy on the movement of patrolling federal officers.
墨西哥的走私犯在边境上空布置无人机，监视巡逻的联邦官员的行动。
ISIS used them to drop crude bombs on U.S. and allied forces in Iraq and Syria.
ISIS利用无人机向美国及其在伊拉克和叙利亚的盟军投掷土炸弹。
It is the widespread availability of commercial drones that poses the largest threat.
最大的威胁来自于商用无人机的获取门槛已经很低。
Almost everybody who uses a drone in the U.S.—
美国使用无人机的人——
and the Federal Aviation Administration has licensed more than a million operators—flies by the rules.
FAA已经授权了100多万个使用者——几乎都有遵循使用规定。
But not everyone, and perhaps the major lesson of 9/11 was to look for threats from unexpected places, especially overhead.
但也不是所有人，或许，“9·11事件”的主要教训就是留意来自意想不到的地方的威胁，尤其是来自头顶的威胁。
Yet on drones, the federal response has been largely haphazard and behind the curve.
然而，在无人机问题上，联邦政府的反应很大程度上都存在随意、滞后的问题。
The Pentagon is working to develop and deploy technologies to defeat drones
巴德学院无人机研究中心的一项研究显示，
and intends to spend $401.2 million on counter-drone initiatives this fiscal year,
五角大楼正致力于研发和部署反无人机技术，
according to a study by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College.
计划在本财年投入4.012亿美元开展反无人机行动。
“We know that terrorists are using drones overseas to advance plots and attacks,
国土安全部部长克尔斯蒂恩·尼尔森接受本刊采访时表示，
and we’ve already seen criminals use them along and within our borders for illicit purposes,”
“我们知道，恐怖分子正在海外操纵无人机大搞阴谋和破坏，
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen tells TIME.
我国的边境沿线及边境线以内也出现了将无人机用于非法用途的犯罪分子。”
“We are working with Congress for the authorities needed
他说：“我们正在与国会合作，争取必要的权力，
to ensure we can better protect the American people against emerging drone threats.”
来确保我们能够更好地保护美国人民免受无人机的威胁。”
Part of the problem is that our laws and regulations aren’t designed for this new kind of threat.
造成这一问题的部分原因是，我们的法律法规并不是针对这种新的威胁而制定的。
Current electronic-eavesdropping laws preclude government officials from disabling drones mid-air with electromagnetic signals.
目前的电子窃听法禁止政府官员用电磁信号干扰半空中的无人机。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
