The Trump administration is developing a second set of proposed legislative authorities to allow relevant federal departments and agencies the ability to counter unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in domestic airspace, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
Last year the government proposed legislation to Congress to provide federal authorities to counter UAS threats, Nielsen says. “We currently lack the authorities needed to counter threats from unmanned aircraft systems,” according to her prepared remarks to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 16.
“After extensive discussions,” the administration is reworking the proposal for Congress, which will be delivered shortly, she says in written remarks prepared for the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“In the meantime, I am eager to share our concerns in a classified setting, which we recently did with the House Homeland Security Committee,” Nielsen says. “I expect to have the legislative proposal to you in the next few weeks, and I urge the committee to help champion efforts to resolve this challenge.”
Current laws prohibit the downing of aircraft, including drones, in the National Airspace System. Anh Duong, program executive officer at the Science and Technology Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security, last fall said at an industry day that laws for counter-UAS technologies need to be updated because “the playing field for drones may tilt to the bad guys” because they don’t have to worry about the laws.
Duong mentioned then that that DHS was part of an interagency effort looking at drones, including changing laws for counter-UAS systems.
Federal, state and local officials have raised concerns about UAS systems over a number of issues, including potential use in terrorist attacks, interference with commercial aircraft, and unauthorized surveillance of sensitive sites.
Nielsen’s written statement says, “We know that terrorists are using drones to conduct aerial attacks to conduct aerial attacks in conflict zones, and already we have seen aspiring terrorists attempt to use them in attacks outside the conflict one. This is a very serious concern for the department.” In her prepared remarks, she told the panel DHS is concerned that UAS can be used for surveillance and smuggling of illegal goods into the U.S.
Duong said last fall that there has been a lot of development of counter-UAS systems, noting thought that that these are primarily for military use. She added that three hasn’t been much testing of counter-UAS solutions in homeland security environments.