{"id":161022,"date":"2026-02-12T04:19:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T04:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/161022\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T04:19:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T04:19:24","slug":"customs-and-border-protection-personnel-not-u-s-troops-used-military-laser-to-shoot-object-near-el-paso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/161022\/","title":{"rendered":"Customs and Border Protection personnel \u2014 not U.S. troops \u2014 used military laser to shoot object near El Paso"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel \u2014 not American service members \u2014 shot down an object with a military laser earlier this week near El Paso, Texas, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.<\/p>\n<p>Troops with Joint Task Force \u2013 Southern Border were not authorized to shoot down drones in the area. The task force \u2014 which works hand-in-hand with federal law enforcement and serves as the primary military entity for the U.S.-Mexico border mission \u2014 trained CBP personnel on the equipment who used it during the incursion.<\/p>\n<p>A source familiar told DefenseScoop that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved the transfer of a military counter-drone system to CBP.<\/p>\n<p>Sources did not identify the specific laser system that was used. U.S. Border Patrol falls under CBP.<\/p>\n<p>The operation reportedly caused interagency turmoil between the Pentagon and Federal Aviation Administration, prompting the latter to issue a 10-day flight restriction that lasted only hours into Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>CBS News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/airspace-closure-followed-spat-over-drone-related-tests-and-party-balloon-shoot-down-sources-say\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reported<\/a> that the military planned to use counter-drone technology near Fort Bliss, Texas, which is near the El Paso International Airport. The FAA and Pentagon were expected to meet later this month to discuss the operation, but the military moved forward with the operation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Earlier today, a Trump administration official told DefenseScoop that \u201cMexican cartel drones breached U.S. airspace\u201d and the Defense Department \u201ctook action to disable the drones.\u201d The official added that the FAA and Pentagon determined there \u201cis no threat to commercial travel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Defense Department declined to comment and referred questions to CBP, which did not respond for comment by publication. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about CBP shooting down the object.<\/p>\n<p>This story is developing and will be updated if new information becomes available.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-card__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Drew-Lawrence-headshot.png\" alt=\"Drew F. Lawrence\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tWritten by Drew F. Lawrence<br \/>\n\t\t\tDrew F. Lawrence is a Reporter at DefenseScoop, where he covers defense technology, systems, policy and personnel. A graduate of the George Washington University\u2019s School of Media and Public Affairs, he has also been published in Military.com, CNN, The Washington Post, Task &amp; Purpose and The War Horse. In 2022, he was named among the top ten military veteran journalists, and has earned awards in podcasting and national defense reporting. Originally from Massachusetts, he is a proud New England sports fan and an Army veteran.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel \u2014 not American service members \u2014 shot down an object with a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[2668,7220,66056,4018,138,140,139,2399,66057,66058,66059,3310,1153,13160,66060],"class_list":["post-161022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-border-security","tag-dhs","tag-directed-energy","tag-drones","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-faa","tag-joint-task-force-southern-border","tag-laser","tag-lasers","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-trump-administration","tag-u-s-border-patrol","tag-u-s-customs-and-border-protection-cbp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}