President Obama Tuesday called for new regulations on the domestic use of drones, a day after an unmanned quad copter landed on the grounds of the White House.
“We don’t really have any kind of regulatory structure at all for it,” Obama said in an interview with CNN, noting that “the drone that landed in the White House, you buy in Radio Shack.”
The White House incident has raised broader concerns about whether an armed device could get past the gates at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
The Federal Aviation Administration has issued guidelines for the use of such drones, but critics say they are overly broad and don’t address national security concerns.
Obama echoed that sentiment on Tuesday, saying officials need to develop a framework that “ensures that we get the good and minimize the bad” implications for domestic drones.
“You know that there are companies like Amazon that are talking about using small drones to deliver packages,” he told CNN. “There are incredibly useful functions that these drones can play in terms of farmers who are managing crops and conservationists who want to take stock of wildlife.”
A man told the U.S. Secret Service Monday that he accidentally steered the drone onto the White House property. He said he was using the drone for recreational purposes.
