{"id":313516,"date":"2025-11-25T21:36:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T21:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/313516\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T21:36:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T21:36:10","slug":"lawmaker-spotlights-growing-calls-for-interagency-plan-to-counter-drone-threats-in-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/313516\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmaker spotlights growing calls for interagency plan to counter drone threats in US"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the U.S. military and federal agencies move to rapidly expand their arsenals and adoption of counter-drone capabilities under the second Trump administration, experts warn the government lacks a unified interagency strategy to collectively protect American communities from emerging drone threats.<\/p>\n

Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., wants to change that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a national security issue, and I\u2019m calling on the administration to give law enforcement the tools they need to keep our communities safe,\u201d Vasquez told DefenseScoop in an email Tuesday.<\/p>\n

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee who says he\u2019s witnessed impacts of cartel-involved drone activity in his home state during past trips to the U.S.-Mexico border, Vasquez sent a letter this week urging<\/a> Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford to jointly establish \u201cnew, clear, and effective federal guidance to address the rising threat that illicit drone usage poses to public safety and national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump issued a slew of policies<\/a> this summer directing the Pentagon and federal agencies to buy and deploy more American-made uncrewed aerial systems and counter-UAS platforms<\/a> in a way that simultaneously propels the nation\u2019s drone industry as they modernize contemporary operations.<\/p>\n

His mandates are being pursued at a time when drone threats<\/a> associated with surveillance, disruption, or attacks are increasing<\/a> \u2014 and the military is prioritizing work and investments<\/a> in defensive weapons, electronic warfare, and sensor protection to safeguard its facilities domestically and abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlong the border in my district, cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) use drones to carry out their illegal operations. This includes scouting the movement patterns of Border Patrol agents, gathering intelligence about weaknesses in border infrastructure, and physically moving illegal contraband over the border and into the United States,\u201d Vasquez wrote in the letter to agency leaders. \u201cCartels have even threatened to crash drones strapped with explosives into U.S. law enforcement personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by Trump in July, notably includes<\/a> a $500 million grant program for states and cities to purchase counter-drone assets and training \u2014 among other major funding \u2014 ahead of hosting<\/a> the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the 2028 Olympics, and America\u2019s 250th anniversary celebrations.<\/p>\n

State, local, tribal and territorial governments currently do not have official authorizations to fully employ certain enhanced counter-drone technologies<\/a>, unless formally deputized.<\/p>\n

Echoing recent requests from stakeholders<\/a> for a more coordinated plan, Vasquez called on Hegseth and the other department heads to \u201cimplement a comprehensive all-of-government approach that gives law enforcement agencies at all levels the authorities they need to protect communities and national security assets from these threats.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is also imperative that you prioritize developing and deploying effective counter-drone technology that will allow agencies to engage drones being utilized by bad actors,\u201d Vasquez wrote.<\/p>\n

The lawmaker said senior military officials in his district have also warned him directly about recent, serious drone incursions at White Sands Missile Range \u2014 and what he referred to as the Defense Department\u2019s \u201climited capacity to detect or counter them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That range is a U.S. military hub for advanced research, development and testing. Vasquez said defense officials there have repeatedly asked for clear guidance regarding when and how to engage drones that enter restricted airspace.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spent a lot of time on the border and seen firsthand how cartels are using drones to outpace our agents. I\u2019ve also met with leaders at [WSMR] who have flagged concerns about drone incursions at our U.S. military installations, putting sensitive military intelligence at risk,\u201d Vasquez told DefenseScoop. \u201cBorder Patrol and local police have raised the same alarms, and I am listening: we need federal action to counter criminal drone activity now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The congressman\u2019s letter also highlighted alerts from police officers in Albuquerque \u2014 located 200 miles from the southern border \u2014 who he said have warned him about alleged criminal drug traffickers flying drones for counter-surveillance efforts in their jurisdiction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond combating the cartels, local law enforcement continues to deal with drone incursions from unknown origins over the city. Local police departments are unable to properly identify who are flying these drones, and they do not have the resources and guidance needed from the federal government to effectively engage them,\u201d Vasquez wrote.<\/p>\n

He emphasized that these types of drone threats are a nationwide issue that is not limited to New Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge you to work with each other, with Congress, and with all other necessary agencies to find a swift, effective, and bipartisan solution to this problem,\u201d Vasquez wrote to Hegseth, Bondi, Noem and Bedford.<\/p>\n

When asked on Tuesday about concerns raised in the letter, a Pentagon official told DefenseScoop that \u201cas with all congressional correspondences, the department will respond directly to the authors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Brandi<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWritten by Brandi Vincent
\n\t\t\tBrandi Vincent is a Senior Reporter at DefenseScoop, where she reports on disruptive technologies and associated policies impacting Pentagon and military personnel. Prior to joining SNG, she produced a documentary and worked as a journalist at Nextgov, Snapchat and NBC Network. Brandi grew up in Louisiana and received a master\u2019s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland. She was named Best New Journalist at the 2024 Defence Media Awards.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the U.S. military and federal agencies move to rapidly expand their arsenals and adoption of counter-drone capabilities…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,161547,161548,46670,24836,23507,3,1572,161549,644,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-313516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-counter-drone","tag-counter-uas","tag-dhs","tag-doj","tag-faa","tag-news","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-rep-gabe-vasquez","tag-trump-administration","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}