The federal government, in conjunction with state and local governments, is desperately trying to catch up to the threat posed by drones, but needs to close the gap for U.S. defenses before it’s too late.
The sheer scope and scale of what’s needed is hard to quantify. Any public event, airport, airplane, military installation, or critical infrastructure could be targeted by a drone or drone swarms, and the U.S. needs to be prepared to not only stop the perceived threat, but do so in a way that avoids collateral damage.
“The biggest dilemma is just how broad the threat exists. And then how do you layer in solutions that can take into account how much just territory is required to be defended,” Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told the Washington Examiner. “What keeps me up at night is just the sheer magnitude of the problem that is required.”
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Drones can be launched from nearly anywhere and are readily available commercially, which also demonstrates a part of the complex dynamics.
“I think a lot of threats are overblown, and the way the news cycle has worked for the last couple of decades, I think has incentivized people to, perhaps artificially, get nervous about things that maybe the actual reality of that threat might not have matched the hysteria,” he continued. “I think in this case, if I were them, I would put energy and effort into encouraging my local leaders, my state leaders, my federal leaders, my military, to actually actively go after this problem before the consequences of it become known.”
Earlier this month, the Federal Aviation Administration imposed a 10-day flight restriction over El Paso International Airport and near the border, catching local and federal officials by surprise, only to reverse the decision hours later. While officials initially said a drone incursion by a Mexican cartel prompted the airspace closure, newer reporting indicates Customs and Border Protection officers fired an anti-drone laser, which was loaned to them from the Army, though it may have been targeting party balloons and not a cartel drone.
“The threat has grown significantly in the last five to 10 years with regards to the use of drones. And we saw that play out in Ukraine, with Russia, it played out in Russia, and it could play out right here. Drones are actively growing in use with cartels inside of Mexico. They’ve weaponized them. They haven’t used one as a weapon here in our homeland. But it certainly could be done,” former Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command Commander Gen. Glen VanHerck told the Washington Examiner.
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Drone attacks that target densely populated areas or big events also pose unique challenges for defense due to the concern about collateral damage, including potentially from falling debris if the drone is successfully intercepted kinetically.
“This concept of these layered defenses, so you’re not going to be able to have an exquisite solution everywhere,” Driscoll said. “You might have something different at the high school football game than you have in an NFL game that you have at a military parade that you have at the White House. And just thinking through what is the process and the menu with which we will choose from to layer in that protection and how do you empower local cops to be the same level of counter drone expert that delta, or a range of regiment might be.”
Last year, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stood up Joint Interagency Task Force 401, led by Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, to lead the whole-of-government’s effort for how to figure out the future of America’s counter-drone technology.
While VanHerck is “very optimistic” about JIATF-401, he warned the country needs to “fundamentally change” its strategy for homeland drone defense or face the possibility of a catastrophic attack.
VanHerck expressed concern that the U.S. will “continue to run behind and lag the development of technology and potential threats and the innovative adversaries and the innovated users of technology will find a way to circumvent and expose gaps and seams in our policy making, in our decision making, unless we fundamentally change.”
Driscoll used the example of a shipping container with a retractable top being outfitted to carry and launch drones on command. In a similar concept, Ukrainian troops in 2025 had Russian truck drivers transport trucks deeper into Russian territory without knowledge that there were drones within them. Ukrainian operators were able to remotely activate the drones that destroyed several Russian fighter aircraft.
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Operation Spider Web, as the Ukrainians called the mission, demonstrated how cheap drones can take out much larger, more sophisticated and expensive equipment and how difficult defending an attack launched from within the country of the target poses unique challenges.
“If you think about the idea that you can containerize these so basically, this idea that a container shipping box anywhere in the world can open its lid, that’s not a particularly difficult concept. They exist. And then if you think about once that lid is open, that drone can act. It can get up in the air again through cell networks, so basically covered with coverage nearly globally,” Driscoll said. “Our defenses, just as a human species, are not set up to defend against that.”
