JASON CHAFFETZ: America needs a drone defense plan before disaster strikes

In the USA there are roughly 220,000 commercial aircraft.  By 2027, the FAA estimates there will be more than 2.7 million drones.

As firefighting aircraft raced to drop retardant on a raging wildfire in Utah’s Provo Canyon last summer, some flights were grounded by a new threat. Private drones, presumably trying to capture dramatic footage of the fire, forced critical support to stand down while flames advanced. This incident was no anomaly. There were hundreds of drone sightings over wildfires in 2025.

Such civilian disruptions are only the beginning. Drone warfare and prevalence has come to American soil. Cheap, loosely regulated drones have the capability to disrupt military bases, surveil the homes of Cabinet secretaries and your backyard, threaten aircraft, and even attack the president of the United States. These threats are not hypothetical. It is real, it is now, and it urgently must be addressed.

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As recently as March 2026, multiple waves of drones were detected over Barksdale Air Force Base – home of the B-52 bomber and other nuclear assets.  These drones had jamming resistance technology and long-range control links. Similar probes have hit other sensitive sites.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the FAA deserve credit for taking a critical step forward this past week. They introduced a proposed new rule to protect critical infrastructure sites, including energy facilities, water treatment plants, and more.  

Despite this promising development, Congress seems to demonstrate little urgency to address the problem. Democrats have kept the Department of Homeland Security defunded for months at a time – a strategy they seem committed to repeat.

We need a unified national response that includes clearer rules, stronger funding and civil-military integration. We don’t have the luxury of moving at the speed of government where drones are concerned.

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Who is responsible for coordinating this defense? The Feds? The states? Who writes the rules? 

If a drone is a threat, who are you supposed to call? 911? The Highway Patrol? The FAA? Is there an agency in charge? A 1-800 number? Is it the county sheriff? The rules need to be clear, coordinated, and understood. For some of us, we’d like to use a shotgun, but that is most likely not safe nor legal.

We need clear airspace rules. Who is in charge of the airspace at what height?

But we also need strong enforcement. Good guys will play by the rules. But what is the enforcement mechanism for the bad guys? Who is guarding against foreign actors heavily invested in this inexpensive technology? What is our strategy? Are we investing in the right technology? What are we going to do if critical infrastructure such as a nuclear power plant or a dam was hit by a drone swarm?

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Our airspace is going to be more heavily trafficked than ever before with legitimate drone shipments, air taxis, and emergency responders using drones to immediately respond to vehicle accidents, wildfires, and dangerous situations.

There does not seem to be sufficient coordination between civil and military authorities on this issue to keep up with the pace. There are more registered drones in this country than there are aircraft. How do you defend yourself when there are more drones than planes?

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This Fourth of July, all across the country, there will be air shows featuring hundreds if not thousands of drones in formation lighting up our skies. But I worry not everyone will use this technology simply for fun.  

Let’s not wait until there’s an event with casualties before we address this critical security threat. This issue needs definition and leadership – not just from the administration, but from Congress. The imperative is way past due.  

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