A new federal plan giving the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) responsibility for countering unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) that pose potential threats to airport operations is “unlawful” and should instead come under the authority of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) because nearly all drone incidents are safety related, a Republican congressional aide said earlier this month.
The “vast, vast majority of these UAS fall under the careless and clueless category,” the aide said, adding that this will likely remain the case going forward and that this is viewed as an aviation safety issue, which the FAA is in charge of.
“So, I don’t want the TSA to get out ahead of the FAA,” the aide said at an aviation security conference. “I am deeply concerned that they that they are doing that. I’m deeply concerned that they are clearly outside of their authorities and the program itself is unlawful.”
Congress in October 2018 passed an FAA Authorization Bill that included provisions giving the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice authorities to detect, track, identify and mitigate threats from small drones to covered assets and facilities in the U.S. The bill was signed into law before an incident at London’s Gatwick airport last December that caused the cancellation of flights into and out of the airport for more than a day.
The Gatwick incident triggered the White House National Security Council and interagency partners, including DHS, DOJ and the FAA, to develop a federal concept of operations (CONOPS) that resulted in TSA this fall being given the lead authority for the Counter UAS (CUAS) mission at U.S. airports in the event of a “persistent disruption of the national airspace.”
The new CUAS CONOPS prompted Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Sam Graves (R-Mo.) in fire off a letter in mid-November to Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf objecting to TSA being given the authority to detect and mitigate drone threats at airports.
“We believe this concept of operations is wholly inconsistent with, and contrary to the legislative intent of, the limited C-UAS authority provided by Congress to DHS,” they wrote, noting that airports were not included in covered assets and facilities and that the authorities only apply to the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Secret Service.
The Republican aide said that TSA is “overdue” to provide Congress with a report on any gaps in its authorities. This assessment “was TSA’s opportunity to say, ‘Hey, we’ve done a year of research, we’ve done a year of diligence, we’ve looked at these emergency authorities to protect federal buildings and major events and here’s what we want to do for airports,’” the aide said at the conference, which was hosted by the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE). “That’s what they should have done.”
Joel Bacon, AAAE’s executive vice president of Government and Public Affairs, who moderated an off the record congressional panel on aviation security, highlighted the concerns of airports related to drone incidents that they are frequently addressing.
“So, what happens next?” Bacon asked. “Does Congress legislate further to provide potential guidance? We have a lot of airport and aviation folks in the room who I think are cognizant of the threat and the danger. They want answers and want to move forward and be part of the conversation moving forward and there’s obviously some frustration about a lack of clarity on where we are right now and where it is, we might be going.”
The Republican congressional aide replied that the first thing DHS and TSA need to do is get Congress the assessment on gaps in authorities, which the aide pointed out will include the CUAS mission space. But, the aide said, the assessment was essentially completed before federal stakeholders briefed Congress in November on the CUAS CONOPS.
“Now they are going to have to go and redraft part of it,” the aide said, referring to the assessment. “But if they want to come to Congress in compliance with the law and say, “Hey, we did what you asked. We identified gaps at airports. Here’s what we think we should do,’ that’s when Congress can take the next steps. The problem is, they just spent all their political capital on a program that is not in compliance with the law.”
A Democratic aide on the panel said the House majority is “still working through the issue” of TSA’s leadership in the CUAS mission.
“We do have some discomfort with any kind of delegation within the Department of Homeland Security,” the aide said. Still, based on a recent briefing of the CUAS CONOPS, the aide was “heartened” by FAA’s role in working with DHS through the interagency process.
“The one big takeaway is to date, the way they’ve been using the authorities has been very, very judicious, very, very limited,” the Democratic aide said.
HSR sister publication Defense Daily received permission to quote AAAE’s Bacon on the record and the congressional aides on background.
TSA Plans for CUAS Testbed
TSA officials earlier at the AAAE conference outlined their general plans for a testbed they hope to have in place sometime next year at Miami International Airport that will allow them to begin testing technologies and sensors for detecting, tracking and identifying drones around airports. Ultimately, TSA wants to be able to test systems that can also mitigate potential UAS threats.
TSA officials at the conference also acknowledged the need to work with Congress related to counter-drone authorities and the need to clarify roles and responsibilities.
However, TSA doesn’t have specific authorities granted by Congress for counter drone operations. Aaron Roth, deputy executive assistant administrator for Operations Support at TSA, told Defense Daily at the AAAE conference that the agency, DHS and other stakeholders need to engage Congress on the next legislative steps to help clarify roles and responsibilities around counter UAS operations.
Roth told attendees that the process for creating the CUAS CONOPS was significant because it brought federal, airport and local stakeholders together and begin to sort out the various challenges associated with detecting, tracking, identifying and responding to unauthorized drone operations around airports.
Nuisance Drones
Airport officials at the conference told Defense Daily they frequently have to cope with unauthorized drone operations, most of which are a nuisance. But even careless or clueless use of drones could have tragic consequences, they pointed out.
Terry Blue, vice president of Operations at Memphis International Airport, who moderated the CUAS panel at the conference, began the discussion with several slides showing photos taken by drones near airports. One photo showed an Airbus A380 jumbo passenger plane heading toward the UAS that was taking pictures of the flight and another photo showed a plane that had just flown under a drone.
Roth described the CUAS CONOPS as a “phone book” that enables relevant stakeholders to communicate with one another as necessary. Response plans will vary from airport to airport, and depend in part on a particular airport’s organic capabilities, he said. What is a persistent concern from small drones at one airport may not be viewed the same way by another airport, he told Defense Daily.
TSA and its partners are also sorting out what capabilities they would have to bring to bear if an airport needs help, Roth said. In the short-term, the agency may need to be able to have solutions that it can move into place as needed before longer-term solutions are sorted out, he said.
The agency is working with Miami International Airport, local police and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to establish the counter-unmanned aircraft system (CUAS) testbed, Keith Goll, deputy associate administrator for TSA’s Office of Requirements and Capabilities Analysis, said the aviation security conference. The goal would be to bring in various sensors such as acoustic, radio frequency and radar, on “a repeatable basis…and develop a catalog of UAS detection, tracking and identification technologies,” he said.
Ultimately, TSA would like to add to the testing effort technologies than can mitigate and defeat small UAS threats, but the initial emphasis is on detect, track and identify, Goll said.
Product ‘Clearinghouse’
Through the testing, TSA would provide interested stakeholders a “clearinghouse” that describes how well a sensor or system works compared to what a manufacturer says it will do and include other things like performance requirements, Goll said.
Before the testbed can be established, related policies, operating plans, spectrum requirements for any technologies being used, and training have to be in place, he said.
Congress in 2018 also authorized the FAA to conduct testing at five U.S. airports of CUAS capabilities. Goll said that TSA, which already received funding from Congress for perimeter security evaluations, is moving out quickly on its test plans but is also working closely with the FAA so that they two organizations don’t overlap in their testing and also share information with each other.
In response to the Gatwick incident, U.S. airports this year began doing their own testing of technologies to detect, track and identify small drones. For example, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport has evaluated and deployed an array of sensors called Aeroscope, which is supplied by Chinese drone manufacturer DJI. Aeroscope detects, tracks and identifies DJI-made drones and locates the operator so that authorities can respond more effectively.
DJI’s drones make up 75 to 80 percent of the market for small drones in the U.S, which amounts to around 1.5 million, with more than a million of those purchased for recreational purposes.
The operator or operators of the drones at Gatwick were never caught and the event triggered a response in the U.S. that led to an interagency CONOPS that gave TSA the lead authority for countering UAS at U.S. airports when a persistent threat is occurring.
CUAS Roadmap
The forthcoming testing of sensors by TSA and others will help inform what the agency acquires to carry out CUAS missions, Roth said. There is a lot to be learned about what TSA will need in terms of technologies and systems, he said.
Patty Cogswell, acting deputy administrator of TSA, said at the conference that TSA will soon “memorialize” the CUAS CONOPS in a roadmap, which will give insight into where the agency is going, what it is focused on and pursuing.
DHS is also tackling CUAS at an enterprise level. The testing that TSA and the FAA are planning will happen alongside evaluations next year led by the DHS Science and Technology Directorate of detection, tracking and identification sensors and systems in environments along the northern border.
The department’s Joint Requirements Council is working on a joint requirements document for all DHS CUAS mission needs.