Ted Cruz Cites Pearl Harbor & 9/11 To Issue National Security Warning About Drones

Forbes Breaking News

At today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke to experts about the threat posed by drones.

Transcript

00:01As senators, our job is to anticipate, not react to, but anticipate emerging threats.

00:09Nobody expected flimsy Japanese fighters to sink America's battleships at Pearl Harbor.

00:16Nobody expected 19 hijackers with box cutters to turn passenger jets into missiles on 9-11.

00:26And today, I fear we're making the same mistake with drones.

00:31Nobody's expecting them to cause catastrophic damage.

00:35But sadly, it's only a matter of time.

00:39The drone was once a novelty.

00:42Now it is a weapon, a scout, a smuggler, a spy, a delivery system for terror.

00:56Drones pose an immediate and growing threat to our national security.

01:00They can attack civilians, smuggle deadly contraband, assassinate leaders, collide with planes, and

01:11destroy buildings.

01:14War has always foreshadowed the next generation of violence.

01:21And we see it with drones.

01:23What starts on the battlefield never stays there.

01:29It comes home.

01:32This is the face of modern warfare.

01:37Not a tank, not a missile, but a soldier holding a drone.

01:45In Ukraine, a soldier with a $400 drone can destroy a $4 million tank or a $100 million fighter jet.

02:00One drone operator can do more damage than an entire infantry squad.

02:06In Ukraine, drones have become the dominant tool of war, flooding the skies, destroying expensive

02:18war equipment, targeting civilians, and overwhelming defenses.

02:26We see the same in the Middle East.

02:31You're looking at the Iron Dome intercepting rockets over Israel in 2021.

02:40But here's the lesson.

02:42Defense is never perfect.

02:44Even the most advanced missile shield in the world can be overwhelmed.

02:50That was 2021.

02:53On October 7th, 2023, Hamas blinded Israel's radar systems with swarms of drones, clearing

03:02the way for one of the most brutal terror attacks in a generation.

03:08And just months later, on April 13th, 2024, Iran launched over 300 drones and missiles in

03:16a coordinated kamikaze-style assault, the first of its kind.

03:23This isn't science fiction.

03:26This is the world that our enemies are building and bringing to our doorstep here at home.

03:34In 2018, two explosive drones nearly assassinated Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during

03:43a live speech.

03:47In 2024, Thomas Crooks flew a drone over a Trump rally site for 11 minutes, scouting the

03:54grounds before his attempted assassination of President Trump.

04:01That same year, drones hovered over Naval Air Station Fort Worth for more than two hours,

04:09unintercepted.

04:12At our southern border, cartels now operate drone fleets, smuggling fentanyl, coordinating

04:18illegal crossings, and jamming U.S. surveillance.

04:23They've formed specialized drone units.

04:27They've dropped bombs.

04:29They've deployed jammers.

04:33Drones right now are outpacing our law enforcement at every turn.

04:39In our prisons, drones drop weapons, phones, and fentanyl, arming inmates and fueling the

04:50deadliest drug epidemic in American history.

04:56And here's the most damning part.

04:59Cartels right now have more drone capability than American law enforcement.

05:06Let me repeat that.

05:09Cartels today have more drone capability than American law enforcement.

05:17Mr. Hardy, you work at the intersection of law and policy regarding drones at the DOJ.

05:24Is it true that only a handful of federal agents under narrow legal authority can intercept or

05:31disable a drone?

05:32Thank you, Senator.

05:35That is generally true under the 2018 Act that gives DHS and DOJ authority to conduct detection

05:44and mitigation operations.

05:46That law limits those protection missions to protecting particular facilities and particularly

05:52specified missions under very detailed requirements.

05:56And it only applies to DHS and DOJ.

05:59It does not give authority for state and locals.

06:02So to flush that out, is it also true that state and local police, the men and women on

06:09the front lines every day, are legally barred from taking actions even when a drone is hovering

06:16over a school, a stadium, or another significant location?

06:20It could depend on the particular facts in an extreme situation.

06:25But generally, they are not authorized under the law to use the types of detection technology

06:31that could implicate laws like the Wiretap Act.

06:33And there is also prohibitions potentially under the Aircraft Sabotage Act and other laws that

06:38apply to them.

06:39Each case would have to be looked at on as particular facts, but there is a lack of clarity in the

06:44law that inhibits their operations and investment in that kind of technology and their cooperation

06:50with FBI and DHS to engage in the training and to develop the types of approaches to this

06:57problem that expanding their authority would allow.

07:00Well, let me be clear, the current state of the law limiting the ability of law enforcement

07:05to act proactively to protect people's lives and safety from drone attacks is utterly insane

07:12and unacceptable.

07:13And we need to address that and correct it.

07:16The current state of the law means that a Texas sheriff today has fewer tools to stop

07:21a hostile drone than the cartel lieutenant does launching it from across the river.

07:28It means a police officer can watch a drone deliver fentanyl, but has limited authority

07:36to stop it.

07:38If Congress fails to act, the consequences will not be theoretical.

07:43They will be measured in lives lost, drugs delivered, and attacks perpetuated against our

07:48nation.

07:51As the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over aviation, and as a

07:56long-time member of this committee, the Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over criminal

08:01law, I have seen this threat from both sides.

08:06Mr. Willoughby, as Deputy Director of the Counter-UAS program at DHS, you are at the cutting edge

08:13of drone mitigation planning.

08:15What are the current legal and jurisdictional challenges between agencies, as well as between

08:20federal and local law enforcement, regarding mitigating drone threats?

08:25Thank you, Senator, for the question.

08:28I think, to your first point about between federal agencies, there currently lacks any

08:33sort of mutual support provision for DHS to help DOJ, or DOD, and vice versa.

08:39Even when we are co-located in high-risk areas, think about the southern border or dense metropolitan

08:45areas.

08:46If Mr. Torfi were to say, Steve, I need your help mitigating this drone, I would have to

08:51say, sorry, I can't help you under the current framework of the law.

08:55Now there are exceptions to that, but what we are looking for is some sort of explicit

09:00mutual support provision that would allow DHS, DOJ, DOD, and other entities that may be

09:04brought into the fold to be able to help each other, recognizing that there's limited capacity,

09:09and it requires a specialized and trained person to be able to operate this equipment.

09:13So what specific steps should Congress take to keep up with and prevent the threats posed

09:20by drones?

09:21And I want each of you to address that.

09:24Just starting from an authoritative perspective, we need more cooks in the kitchen, which is

09:30not a phrase I use lightly.

09:32We need more entities out there with trained personnel, with the capabilities, with the countermeasures

09:37to be able to detect and then mitigate drones if they pose risk to their jurisdictions.

09:43We at the federal level, we can't be everywhere all the time.

09:46I mean, just using the border as an example, it's 2,000 miles of linear border, and we have

09:51to work closely with our state and local partners for a range of law enforcement activity, and

09:55drone response should be no exception.

09:58Think about the Department of Public Safety down in Texas.

10:00We work hand-in-hand with them from a border security perspective, but we can't work with

10:04them from a drone interdiction perspective, right?

10:07And that needs to be rectified.

10:09And empowering those state and locals to do that would be top of mind for us.

10:14Thank you for the question, Senator.

10:16We've touched on some of these points.

10:17I think you touched on another, which is that there is really no framework.

10:22And I fear that there's a slipping away from the law enforcement community and a confusion

10:28in the private sector about what is legal and who can do what under what circumstances.

10:32And you've seen hints of that today.

10:34And so the passage of legislation to make this very clear is absolutely essential.

10:40And that will depend on the setting of a security framework and, critically, the training

10:44and certification of these law enforcement officers.

10:48Thanks to the seed that was planted through the executive order, the Restoring American

10:51Airspace Sovereignty Executive Order, June 6th, it directed the FBI to establish the National

10:56Training Center.

10:57And so that seed has been planted and we're going to run our first counter UAS course in

11:03October for select state and local law enforcement with a priority on the FIFA World Cup jurisdictions.

11:10Now, this is just detection because we cannot train them on anything having to do with

11:14the statute because they're not allowed to implement those authorities.

11:17But the FBI has taken that step and we are ready to go.

11:22Senator, as my colleagues have said, we need legal clarity at a bare minimum, a reauthorization

11:30of the 2018 law, but also an expansion of those authorities to state and local so we can work together

11:36in training and creating the kind of system in the community of interest where we can improve

11:40and expand these technologies.

11:42The other issue that we support this committee examining is ensuring that we have a comprehensive

11:50approach in the criminal code for drone offenses.

11:54As the Chairman of Commerce, which has jurisdiction over the FAA and aviation issues, I recognize

11:59the risk that poorly operationalized counter UAS efforts could pose to civilian aircraft, especially

12:06near airports.

12:08How do you believe that we can harmonize the need to mitigate the drone threat while keeping

12:12commercial aviation safe?

12:14Mr. Willoughby?

12:17It's a partnership with the FAA and it has been since 2018 when we got these original authorities

12:22and it has maintained over the course of the last seven years.

12:25Every deployment is coordinated with the FAA.

12:28Every piece of technology at every location.

12:30We share with them, we coordinate with them, and we do our best to minimize and mitigate

12:34any impacts to the national airspace system while we're using this equipment.

12:37And we recognize that there's often competition between our need to conduct these security operations

12:43and to maintain that safety apparatus on the FAA side.

12:47And it's been a work in progress over time to the point where we have such a great relationship

12:51right now where we have individual points of contact that we can reach out to at a moment's

12:55notice to get any sort of last-minute operation approved and to deconflict any issue that

13:00they may be having operational.

13:01Well, thank you, gentlemen.

13:03This has been very helpful.

13:04It is the solemn duty of Congress not merely to react to evil once it strikes, but to anticipate

13:10it.

13:11To see the world not as we wish it to be, but as our enemies are planning it.

13:16And to stay one step ahead of the darkest hearts on Earth.

13:21Drones will be used by our enemies.

13:27If Congress fails to act on the threat of drones, the consequences will not be theoretical.

13:33They will be measured in lives lost, drugs delivered, and horrific attacks perpetuated

13:42against our nation.

13:44If Congress doesn't act to stop this threat, who will?

13:50This concludes our hearing.

13:52I want to thank each witness for taking the time to share your personal experience, your

13:55expertise, and your perspectives with us.

13:58Written questions can be submitted for the record for one week from today, and I'll ask

14:02the witnesses to answer and return the questions to the committee within two weeks of receiving

14:05the questions.

14:07And with that, this hearing is adjourned.

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