What I found to be shocking and unacceptable is that there will soon be about 30,000 drones being used around the world in the next few years.
The article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22976598
Vocabulary to help you understand the article:
surveillance - the process of watching or monitoring someone or some group.
a US Senate committee - the US Congress makes laws. The Congress is divided into two parts: 1) The House and 2) The Senate. A Senate committee is a group of Senators who can investigate situations they think might be wrong.
a minimal way - a minor way; not in an important way.
initial stages - beginning stages.
amid a debate - during a debate (about how the US government has been violating the privacy rights of citizens of the USA by claiming that stolen information is necessary to protect US citizens).
emerged - was revealed, was shown
harvesting phone records - gathering, collecting phone records.
testimony - statements made in a formal proceeding (like a court or before Congress).
judiciary committee - a committee dealing with laws.
our footprint is very small - they haven't done a lot of spying, yet, using the drones.
a stand off - a situation in which a man was holding a child as a hostage and threatening to kill him. The police couldn't do anything because he had the boy in an underground area and could have killed the boy if the police attacked him. Finally the police figured out a way to get into his underground room and kill him. Since the guy was underground, I do not know how drones could have helped the police.
to deploy drones - to put drones into action.
a pledge - a promise.
a filibuster - this is difficult to explain. If a Senator wants to waste time so that a vote cannot be taken in the Senate, he can keep talking and talking and talking. By doing this, the Senate could not vote on an issue.
to curtail the use - to decrease the use of something.
overt - obvious, clear.
