White House seeks more powers to shoot down threatening drones

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The White House said Monday it is asking Congress to grant new powers to detect and take down threatening drones as they pose increasing dangers across the United States.

Officials said they want the CIA and NASA to be added to the list of agencies authorized to combat drones and expand the reach of the Department of Homeland Security and Justice, which must tackle drones affecting their operations.

The request comes just weeks after Homeland Security officials uncovered massive holes in the country’s drone defenses, with thousands of drones occupying US airspace on the southern border and American flights making evasive moves to avoid collisions inside the US.

The Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems National Action Plan, or C-UAS, will create a national registry of threatening events to give the government a better idea of ​​what is going on.

And it would establish a pilot program to improve cooperation on drones with local law enforcement and critical infrastructure locations.

“These threats are increasing at home and abroad, and the plan and legislative proposal calls for the reauthorization and expansion of DHS’s C-UAS mandate,” Homeland Security Minister Alejandro Majorkas said in a statement.


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Part of the problem is that the government isn’t sure what the scope of the threat is.

An official from Customs and Border Protection, part of Homeland Security, told Congress last month that a new drone scanning system has been brought online in an area of ​​the border. They immediately saw 40 to 45 drones in the sky that they didn’t know were in the sky.

Some were counter drones of the Mexican government, but others flew back and forth across the border. They may be hobbyists who knowingly or unknowingly break the law, but some were likely cartel-controlled drones carrying drugs or monitoring Border Patrol movements to detect gaps in coverage.

The CBP official said they have the ability to disrupt communication between pilots on the ground and drones flying. But they don’t shoot down drones.

This is a problem, given the growing concern about autonomous drones without pre-programmed and continuous pilot communication.

The Transportation Security Administration, which handles drone threats at airports, said there are also gaps in its ability to thwart drone attacks.



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