White House preparing legislation to disrupt, destroy hostile drones: report

The White House is drafting legislation that would give federal law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the authority to potentially destroy drones within U.S. airspace that they deem a threat, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Officials are reportedly trying to expand the commercial use of drones by giving federal agencies the authority to interfere with the drones by using radio transmission or other communications. Agencies would also be allowed to take down drones they deem suspicious.

The proposal, which is expected to be released soon, would give the FBI, DHS and other agencies the right to target, take over or potentially destroy unidentified drones, according to the Journal.

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The Pentagon and the Energy Department already have that authority for unidentified drones that pass over their facilities.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reportedly sees the forthcoming White House proposal as a threat to the agency’s efforts to relax the rules placed on drone operators.

The FAA had previously tried to get approval for proposals that would create drone identification and that allow remote tracking of drones. However, the proposals failed because of a lack of agreement within the industry and because federal law enforcement agencies wanted authority for counteraction if it was to agree to the proposals.  

The FAA announced earlier this year that it has registered over 1 million drones, 70,000 of which were classified primarily for commercial use.