Security officials plead for new laws to seize, shoot down drones

Attack drones pose a serious and growing threat to the U.S. and the federal government is not prepared to handle it, Homeland Security and FBI officials told Congress on Wednesday, pleading for new laws that would allow the government to seize or even shoot them down.

Out of 4 million drones run the market, only 1 million have been registered with federal authorities, leaving a massive gap in the government’s ability to be aware of who’s flying what.

Drones are already being used to smuggle hard drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border and to track Border Patrol operations so drug- and human-smugglers can know when to make runs. And drones were used to disrupt an FBI Hostage Rescue Team operation.

But authorities fear even more disruptions are possible.

Drones could be used to take control of wireless networks, even inserting their own malware into devices connected to the network, two Homeland Security officials testified to the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Complicating matters is the government’s lack of authority to do much about it. While the Defense Department has limited authority to patrol its facilities in the U.S., the rest of the government — and the rest of the country — cannot do much to deter drones.

“We are so far behind the curve,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. “We should thank our lucky stars we haven’t seen a real tragic incident coming from this.”

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has proposed legislation that would begin to tackle the situation by granting the Justice and Homeland Security departments some authority to detect and interdict drones when they threaten special designated events, such as the Super Bowl.

Mr. Johnson said he’s looking for quick action, with plans to try to attach the measure to the annual defense policy bill.

But both the administration witnesses and lawmakers at Wednesday’s hearing said it’s an early attempt, and they’ll have to come back to get more powers as drones, and the threats, evolve.

One government lawyer said attempts to detect drones by scanning the radio spectrum could violate communications law. And trying to jam the signals to bring a drone down could break an anti-sabotage law for aircraft.

The rules are so strict that the government can’t even test technology except in a controlled “sterile” environment, the lawyer said.

While current law does require drone operators to register most aircraft, relatively few are actually following that law. And officials rarely take action.

Mr. Johnson said that in a closed-door briefing earlier this week, hidden from the public to keep some of the specific threats secret, they were told there were thousands of incidents of improper use of drones each year.

The FAA has conducted just 73 enforcement investigations.