During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) spoke about the need to reform drone regulations amid the growing threat of drone attacks.
00:02Thank you, Madam Chairman, and thank you all for being here.
00:07And I think to each of us, when you look at DJI, their numbers are of tremendous concern for us.
00:16That's why some of us have had provisions that remove the ability of our military to use DJI drones,
00:26and also for local law enforcement, from them using DJI drones.
00:32Any of these drones that are manufactured by adversaries or in these adversarial situations are a safety risk to us
00:45because of the transmission of that data, and then who holds that data and where they hold that data.
00:54So as we continue to push back on utilization of foreign manufactured drones,
01:04it gives openings for the domestic industry to increase their presence.
01:11And we hope, Mr. Wilson, in addition to what you were saying,
01:17we hope that this helps to motivate domestic manufacturing of these drones.
01:23We do know there are some supply chain issues around that.
01:27And as we look at tariffs and trade, we are seeking to address some of those issues.
01:33I represent Tennessee.
01:36We have a lot of outdoor events in Tennessee.
01:40We've got Titans football that people enjoy.
01:45We've got the Bonnaroo Music Festival and so many festivals around our state.
01:51I've recently done the Fish Fry and the Strawberry Fest and a couple of others in our beautiful state.
02:02But one of the things people are concerned about is when they do hear that drone flying overhead
02:09because they don't know who put it there and why they put it there
02:14and if this is an infringement on their privacy
02:18or if they are being spied upon.
02:25And the first person they turn to is going to be local law enforcement.
02:32And I agree with some of you and disagree with Professor Donoghue.
02:38I think it's an imperative that we give local and state law enforcement the ability
02:46to participate in this policing and the mitigation efforts that need to take place.
02:55I would like, and Sergeant Dooley, let me come to you on this.
03:01Let's break this down and look at what kind of partner the FBI and the FAA have been
03:11for state and local law enforcement as you look at these mitigation efforts.
03:17What kind of partner are they when it comes to these counter-UAS efforts?
03:26And where could that relationship be strengthened?
03:31Number one, the relationship, the stakeholder relationship we have with both of those entities is pretty strong.
03:37The FAA is super supportive.
03:38Unfortunately, they can't grant those permissions to do those things.
03:42Even some of the data that some of our federal partners at times collect,
03:46they're worried about like how it was collected, et cetera.
03:50But it can be strengthened by, again, just starting the process of establishing one of those federal entities
03:55as the lead to help guide people forward.
04:00And then from there, I think it will just blossom and organically grow into something much stronger
04:04where there is regulation.
04:05Now we have a pathway forward.
04:07Now people can start learning how to do this.
04:09And, again, I'm a strong believer that you shouldn't just understand the technology itself.
04:13You should have a firm grasp on everything that goes into it, including FAA rules and regulations, et cetera,
04:18so that when you have one of those events in Tennessee, you know,
04:23if someone had a legal right to be there, fair and equitable access to that airspace, they're up,
04:28they have the proper permissions or whatever the case is,
04:30and they're just documenting or taking photos or whatever it is,
04:33it doesn't mean that we shouldn't know that that's something benign versus something that's bad.
04:39So basically a preclearance to be in that space.
04:44Yes.
04:44Okay, thank you for that.
04:45I want to move on to something.
04:47Mr. Dixon had talked about this earlier.
04:50And Sergeant Dooley, I'll stay with you.
04:52We've had two instances in Tennessee where a criminal attempted to use an armed drone to murder someone.
05:02And in one case, there was somebody that was planning an attack on the Knoxville FBI field office.
05:10And in another, a man attempted to attack an electronic substation with homemade drones.
05:16So we know that this takes place.
05:20And Mr. Dixon talked about it with law enforcement and prisons and jails.
05:26So it just leads me to believe that there has got to be some reforms on how we look at the regulations around the drones.
05:40And I know I am over time.
05:43Madam Chairman, if I may take a moment.
05:46And Sergeant Dooley, let me have you talk a bit how we do these reforms before there is a successful attack that is carried out from –
06:01how would we go about those reforms so we're in front of any type of attack that takes place?
06:08Again, we have three handsome public safety professionals.
06:13We have our senators here, decision makers, and we have some legal experts.
06:17I mean, there's a pathway forward.
06:19It can be quick.
06:20It can be done correctly.
06:22But again, I'm a firm believer that we have to establish someone who's the lead.
06:27And then from there, I think that we can move forward to get it done pretty quickly.
06:31And then, of course, all of our states represented here, Florida and Texas, we would obviously step up to whatever level we would need to to make it happen in a timely fashion.
06:41Secretary Dixon, anything to add on that?
06:44I agree.
06:45The frustrating thing is the technology exists.
06:48That's not our problem.
06:49It's the authority we need.
06:50So that's good news and bad news.
06:51The technology is there to do everything we need to do.
06:53I would distinguish ourselves a little independently in the corrections industry because we are a fixed site and we have a different population.
07:00So I don't think there's any reason we can't work together to move ahead on the authorities we need to combat this immediately.
07:08So the federal, state, and local partnership, we need to work through that.
07:14Yes, the partnership is great.
07:15We need the congressional, we need language authority from a federal level to allow us to utilize the tools.
