WASHINGTON—Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Dec. 18 blocked a bill proposed by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) authorizing state and local law enforcement to track unidentified drones recently sighted in New Jersey, New York, and other states on the East Coast.
The bill would have expanded the authority of the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Justice (DOJ) and authorized the creation of a state and federal database containing information gathered from “security-related incidents” involving drone surveillance.
“The federal government needs help from local officials detecting these drones. But right now, the locals have neither the authority nor the resources to act. Our bill will fix that,” Schumer said ahead of the bill’s introduction.
Paul objected to the quick advancement of the bill, citing concerns over government surveillance and overreach.
“This body must not rush to grant sweeping surveillance powers without proper consideration and debate by the committees of jurisdiction, which is what I pledge to do beginning in January when we will be in charge of the committees,” he said.
Paul said the legislation would expand federal powers to “intercept communications and disrupt drone activities,” allowing agencies to surveil the cellphone data of large swaths of the population while sweeping for drones.
Comparing the legislation to the Patriot Act, he said it was an instance where “fear and manufactured urgency are used as a pretext to expand government power in the name of freedom.”
Previous drone-tracking legislation is set to expire on Dec. 20; it was wrapped into the 2018 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) funding.
The House has introduced legislation, the Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act, which will renew and expand the previous program and extend it until 2028.
The new House bill mandates, among other changes, the creation of a counter-drone program within the DHS.
In a hearing on security threats posed by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) said the drones may “pose a significant threat to U.S. critical infrastructure, including power grids, oil refineries, airports, water treatment plants, and transportation systems.”
Pfluger, who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, also noted the 20,000 reported incidents of Mexican drug cartels using drones as part of their operations near the southern border.
More recently, in the northeast, drone sightings began in mid-November and, at first, were localized to a few counties in New Jersey.
Witnesses say the drones are the size of an SUV and utilize highly sophisticated technology. They have been observed in groups as large as 50 and were seen tailing a ship operated by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Schumer, on Dec. 15, asked the government to use recently declassified drone detection technology to determine the origin and nature of the flying machines.
That same day, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, in a post on social media platform X, urged Congress to enact legislation allowing states to track the drones.
Hochul said the federal government was sending state-of-the-art drone-detecting technology to New York. This move was prompted by the shutdown of Stewart International Airport due to a drone sighting.
“I am grateful for the support, but we need more,” Hochul said.
Schumer said several government agencies, including the FBI, DHS, and FAA, support the latest legislation.
Those same agencies released a joint statement on Dec. 16, saying the FBI had received more than 5,000 reports of drone sightings.
However, the agencies said the sightings had mundane explanations: “a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones.”
Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said during a press conference on Dec. 11 that the agency had no evidence the drones were “coming from a foreign entity or adversary.”
She also refuted a statement by Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.), who said he’d received intel that the drones were being launched from an Iranian “mothership” cruising off the East Coast.
