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U.S. authorities have expanded counter-drone operations that can disrupt airspace and rely on technical methods to seize or disable unmanned aircraft. In one reported incident, airspace over El Paso was temporarily closed after the Pentagon authorized Customs and Border Protection to use an anti-drone laser, underscoring how drone threats are increasingly affecting civilian aviation and border-area operations.
At the same time, civil-liberties advocates warned that some counter-UAS programs depend on exploiting weak drone security or undisclosed vulnerabilities to take control of aircraft. The concerns follow reporting that the FBI has taken over drones near the Inglewood stadium during World Cup security operations and that vendors such as D-Fend Solutions market RF-based "cyber takeover" tools, raising fears that retaining such flaws for government use could leave consumer drones and control protocols broadly exposed to malicious actors.
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The ACLU article says reporting has described the FBI taking over drones near the Inglewood stadium as part of World Cup-related security operations. No explicit date for that operation is given in the content.
AP News reported that El Paso airspace was closed after the Pentagon allowed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to use an anti-drone laser system in the area. The reference does not provide an explicit event date beyond the publication context, so the event date cannot be anchored from the content alone.
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U.S. military leaders said small unmanned aircraft are increasingly threatening both domestic installations and overseas operations, prompting a broader push to improve counter-drone defenses. Gen. Gregory Guillot told lawmakers that **350 drone detections** were reported over the past year across **100 U.S. military installations**, with the primary concern being surveillance of sensitive capabilities by known and unknown actors. He said existing authorities under `Title 10, Section 130i` are too narrow because only about half of installations are covered and commanders often cannot act against drones flying just outside base perimeters. NORTHCOM and NORAD have since established a dedicated counter-drone operations branch, and the Pentagon designated NORTHCOM as the lead coordinator for counter-small UAS efforts in the continental United States and Alaska. At the same time, the Pentagon is continuing to send counter-UAS systems to the Middle East through **Joint Interagency Task Force 401** as regional tensions and an unstable ceasefire sustain demand for air defense. JIATF-401 said it committed more than **$600 million** in counter-drone defenses for Operation Epic Fury and domestic missions, including about **$350 million** in roughly 30 days for CENTCOM. Officials and outside experts said the threat now spans Iran-backed drone activity, lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war, unauthorized flights over bases such as **Barksdale Air Force Base**, southern border operations, and security planning for major events including the **2026 FIFA World Cup**. The Defense Department is also testing commercially available systems through Falcon Peak exercises to detect, track, identify, and defeat low-emission and no-emission drones.
Jun 29, 2026
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice issued an interim final rule expanding counter-`UAS` authority to qualified state and local law enforcement agencies, allowing them to use drone-detection technology and, for specially trained personnel, to mitigate or disable drones deemed public safety threats. The rule took effect retroactively from July 1, 2026, requires annual accreditation through an FBI-operated federal portal, officer certification for detection activities, operational coordination and reporting, and a two-week mitigation training course at the FBI’s National Counter-UAS Training Center at Redstone Arsenal for personnel authorized to take drones down. Officials cited rising risks to critical infrastructure and more than 600 drone incidents in restricted airspace during the ongoing World Cup as justification for the change, while public comments remain open through September 4. The expanded framework builds on federal counter-drone powers first established in 2018 and broadened again through a 2025 defense funding measure, extending practical enforcement reach beyond federal agencies. Civil liberties advocates warn that the same authorities can enable broad seizure of drones under civil forfeiture rules, with owners potentially losing aircraft even when they are caught by complex temporary flight restrictions or overlapping FAA authorization systems such as `LAANC`. The debate has sharpened around whether the new regime appropriately addresses security threats or gives law enforcement excessive discretion to confiscate or neutralize drones used by ordinary operators near major events and other sensitive locations.
Jul 16, 2026
U.S. officials said Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (`JIATF-401`) is building a national counter-drone surveillance and response network after repeated unauthorized drone incursions exposed significant gaps in domestic detection and defense. The task force, established by the Department of Defense as a joint interagency effort, brings together federal partners including the FBI, DHS, FAA, and law enforcement to improve low-altitude air-domain awareness and coordinate responses to potentially hostile unmanned aircraft over military installations, civilian areas, and major public events. Officials described the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States as a major operational test of that effort, with authorities detecting more than 1,600 unauthorized drones, seizing more than 700 systems, opening about 120 federal cases, and arresting 12 people. The government is also shifting toward broader state and local participation under a DHS-DOJ interim final rule that took effect July 1, with roughly 500 officers already trained, as agencies prepare for future high-profile events including the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and seek scalable, lower-cost nationwide counter-`UAS` capabilities.
Aug 25, 2026