Representative Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) led a recent House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the continued advance of drone technology and how it could be weaponized against the United States, saying he fears a terror attack on the scale of September 11th, 2001, could be carried out by drones.
"Drone technology has just gotten worse, and I mean more and more advanced, and I think the threat is expanding," said Rep. Gimenez, asking what authority exists for intercepting and disabling drones flying in American airspace over sensitive infrastructure such as airports.
One of the hearing witnesses, Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International CEO Michael Robbins, stated that authority is currently minimal, noting that Congress has restricted authority to an Assistant Secretary of Defense, Justice, or Homeland Security, and that there is presently no standing authority on the matter.
Rep. Gimenez then illustrated how if the Miami International Airport were struck by a drone attack, it would cause "irreparable damage" to the economy on top of the casualties, adding that he considers the possibility a matter of "when" rather than "if," similar to hurricanes.
"What kind of legislation do we need in order to break through the barriers and actually give our state, local, and federal agencies the power that they need and the authorities that they need in order to protect the American public?" The Florida Congressman then asked.
Another hearing witness, DroneUP LLC founder Tom Walker, replied that reactionary or retaliatory measures are less important than the fact that "we cannot automatically make the assumption that just because a drone is operating within three or five miles of an airport that it is necessarily hostile."
"So we need to start with understanding what is the airspace right now," Walker continued, adding, "We have no integrated airspace management solution right now that tells us who is operating, what platform they are operating, and what are their intents."
Gimenez expressed partial disagreement, saying, "I think we have to do all of the above at the same time. You have to find out what is out there, and if it becomes hostile, we need to take action."
