Five US departments agreed on 9 November that the FAA checks counter-drone systems for safety before they are used at home. It may close airspace when it judges the risk too high. Transportation, War, Homeland Security, Energy and Justice signed the memorandum of understanding.
The White House Task Force to Restore American Airspace Sovereignty led the agreement, the departments said. President Trump created the task force by executive order in June 2025. The memorandum itself has not been published.
Under it, the departments will work with the FAA and the Federal Communications Commission when they develop systems that detect, track, stop or take control of drones. The FAA “will quickly review” each proposed system and send back any data showing unsafe conditions, with ways to reduce the risk. If that is not enough, it can impose its own measures, including closing airspace.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agreement sets “a consistent process” for counter-drone technology. Liam McKenna, a senior FAA official, told Reuters the agency can “turn around the process in 24 hours”. He said it has already approved more than 1,000 counter-drone coordinations with the Pentagon and Homeland Security.
The departments said the agreement builds on the FAA’s safety assessment of the Pentagon’s border laser. That assessment followed February, when Customs and Border Protection used a Pentagon laser near Fort Bliss without coordinating with the FAA, according to the Associated Press. The FAA shut the airspace over El Paso. In April it said such lasers, with proper controls, “do not pose undue risk to passenger aircraft”.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the border had shown that lasers can work “safely alongside civilian aviation”. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said his department joined to protect energy infrastructure.
The agencies presented the agreement at a Commercial Drone Alliance forum on federal grants for state and local agencies. Applications for FEMA’s $250 million counter-drone grant round are due on 16 November.
