The COVID-19 outbreak is proving to be the Trojan horse that justifies the ushering in of the surveillance state. We’ve noted how governments and corporations are quickly deploying big data and spy tools to monitor people during the pandemic.

The war on terror, the war on drugs, the war on illegal immigration, and now the war on COVID-19: all start out as legitimate responses but then are used by politicians to increase the surveillance state and erode any freedoms citizens have left.

What’s coming to America in the not too distant future is a full-blown surveillance state, that could be on par with China’s. In particular, we want to show ZeroHedge readers what could be coming down the pipe: That is, “pandemic drones” outfitted with specialized sensor and computer vision system that can fly around cities and detect if people have elevated body temperatures, respiratory rates, as well as to identify if people are sneezing and coughing (all signs of a COVID-19 carrier)

A US-based drone company called Dragonfly is spearheading the effort to build a drone network across public areas to detect infected people. The drone network is called the “global early warning system” that would be able to spot the first signs of a pandemic.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) issued a peculiar request over Twitter on Wednesday, asking for underground tunnels to use for research — as soon as possible.

Though DARPA's request managed to spook Twitter users, DARPA told Insider that the request is related to technology development for underground combat and search-and rescue operations.

While President Donald Trump looks to create a Space Force — an entirely new military branch — the Pentagon itself has put more than half a billion dollars into technology and training to compete on underground battlefields.