The spread of drone technology is rapidly exceeding the government’s ability to ensure safe and legal use, and was warned at a hearing on Tuesday.
UAV system [UAS] By providing a cost-effective aerial perspective, it can help conduct crime scene investigations, search and rescue and surveillance missions, revolutionizing law enforcement actions.
But as the market for cheap and easy-to-operate drone growth, both intentional and negligent, UAS experts testified to Congress Tuesday at a hearing held by the House of Representatives Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Justice Committee.
“Public safety agencies’ ability to detect and mitigate unauthorized or threatened drones has become a national priority,” said Sgt. Robert Dooley, head of the UAV program for the Florida Highway Patrol. “Public safety agencies are now facing complex airspace risks.”
Criminal gangs are increasingly using drones to smuggle drugs, weapons and contraband into correctional facilities or the entire U.S.-Mexico border.
Public safety agencies must be able to detect, identify and mitigate UAS threats in real time. If not, they will operate blindly in shared airspace, which increases the risk to first responders and public sergeants. Dooley said.
Rep. Andy Biggs, Republican of Florida, said drones are increasingly posing danger at U.S. airports by interfering with normal operations.
The Federal Aviation Administration recorded invasions at 10,000 UAS airports from January 2025 to June 2025 – a 13% increase in the same period last year.
“This violates potential disasters that limit airspace and passenger safety,” said Mr Biggs, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Judicial Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Judicial Surveillance. “But our response architecture is decentralized. Most of our airports lack dedicated anti-UAS systems.”
Catherine Cahill, director of the Alaska Center for Integration of Non-Human Aircraft Systems, said in Fairbanks at the University of Alaska that she is often asked why law enforcement officers can’t simply shoot down drones that pop up in confined spaces like military bases.
Ms. Kessill told Capitol Hill that the answer was not direct. Federal law describes unmanned aircraft as aircraft, and all laws used for traditional aircraft apply to them.
“Shooting UAS is a federal crime with applicable jail time and fines,” she said. “Most law enforcement operators dealing with unauthorized UA do not have legal authority.”
Ms. Cahill said there were only a few federal agencies – the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the Pentagon.
Rep. Lucy McBath, the top Democrat in Georgia, the subcommittee, said drones could help first responders find survivors in disasters and could help ensure safety by allowing them to view potentially dangerous situations remotely.
“But in the wrong hands, drones can be used to invade privacy,” she warned. “They have been used to transport illegal drugs, weapons and cell phones to prisons.”
The FAA estimates that by the end of 2024, there will be more than 2.8 million drones in the United States, of which about 1.9 million are entertainment users. Today, drones have exceeded nearly 13 to 1 manned aircraft.
The total number of UAS will grow by more than 10% in five years, the FAA said.
Drones were once limited to governments or people with resources and training to operate manned aircraft. But Mr. Wallace testified, but that was not the case.
“Now, accessibility, affordability and automation have incorporated those capabilities into anyone with a few hundred dollars,” he said. “This creates disproportionate multiplier for bad actors.”
The destructive potential of consumer drones has attracted global attention in the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia.
In June 2025, Kyiv launched a spider web operation, smuggling a batch of small drones to Russia to carry out fast, accurate and devastating attacks on strategic military aircraft.
“These attacks are executions that are almost impunitive, highlighting the critical vulnerability gap brought about by the UAS threat,” Wallace told lawmakers. “The distant nature of this attack is no arrest or responsibility.”
Ms. Cahill is pushing Washington to provide more training for law enforcement agencies to operate on drone bad actors and provide police with clear guidelines on applicable laws, policies and procedures.
“This investment will not only help our law enforcement organizations at home, but also overseas when dealing with malicious UAS,” she said. “The United States should be the world leader in these technologies’ development and deployment. If we don’t move fast enough, criminals and our enemies will win the UAS war.”
