By Dronelife Features Editor Jim Magill
As the widespread use of UAVs proliferates across the country, along with the inherent dangers of the potential misuse of these aerial vehicles, federal lawmakers are struggling to craft legislation to get in front of the situation.
A Democratic congressman from New Mexico is proposing legislation that would compel the government to complete a study of all uses of unmanned aerial systems as well as counter-UAS systems by federal, state, local and tribal agencies. Representative Gabe Vasquez said the Secure Our Skies Drone Safety Act of 2025 would provide Congress with the important data needed to write future UAS and counter-UAS legislation.
The proposed legislation would build on earlier efforts, such as the Safer Skies Act, to involve state and local law enforcement agencies in the effort to counter the threats that drones flown by hostile actors. Passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2025, that legislation gives limited authority to some state, local, tribal and territorial law enforcement agencies to conduct counter UAS operations.
In an interview, Vasquez said he proposed the bipartisan Secure Our Skies Drone Safety Act in response to requests from law enforcement agencies from across New Mexico for clarity on their responsibilities for dealing with drones operated by international drug cartels or other criminal actors.
“Local law enforcement agencies don’t have the resources or the authority to effectively counter criminal drones entering their airspace,” Vasquez said. “So, the Secure Our Skies Drone Safe Act requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to submit a report to Congress on the use of drones and counter-drone systems currently in place by federal, state and local and tribal law enforcement agencies.”
The proposed legislation also requires the GAO to make recommendations as to what legal authorities or policies should be changed to improve law enforcement’s ability to counter criminal drone threats, he said. In addition, the report will examine the use of foreign-produced drones by state and local police agencies and examine “cost restrictions that prevent law enforcement agencies from expanding the use of UAS produced in the United States,” or in allied nations.
“This report’s also going to dictate what actions need to be taken to bolster the procurement of domestic and ally-produced drones and equipment. In addition to that, the report will also include the number of drones purchased by non-federal agencies from adversarial entities,” Vasquez said.
The bill is currently pending before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Vasquez said he hopes to be able to attach the Secure Our Skies Drone Safety Act to the bipartisan Surface Reauthorization Bill, considered as must-pass legislation.
“I’m going to keep working to advance this bill and get it across the finish line,” he said.
COUNTER Act Targets Cartel Drones
In addition to sponsoring the Secure Our Skies Drone Safety Act, Vasquez a member of the House Armed Services Committee, also secured passage of another piece of drone-related legislation, the COUNTER Act, which strengthens the ability of base commanders to defend installations against dangerous drone incursions.
“This more directly pertains to drones that are being used by cartels, criminal organizations or foreign adversaries,” he said. “This legislation came directly from concerns I heard at White Sands Missile Range.”
In recent months, military installations such as White Sands have reported dramatic upticks in the number of incursions from unidentified drones, potentially putting troops and law enforcement at risk and undermining U.S. national security.
“We’ve seen that these drone incursions over protected airspace in military bases have increased in my district here in southern New Mexico at a fairly exponential rate,” Vasquez said. The COUNTER Act is included in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, another piece of must pass legislation.
In essence, the bill expands the definition of a “covered facility” to include all military bases with a secure perimeter, which allows the base commander in places like White Sands Missile Range to be able to protect their facilities against the incursion of unidentified drones.
“So, they’ve got to knock down an unidentified civilian drone that’s in their airspace. This bill gives them the ability to do that or otherwise address the threat,” Vasquez said.
Lack of Coordination Causes Airspace Restrictions
Vasquez also addressed two recent drone-related airspace restrictions in West Texas, which he attributed to a breakdown in communications among federal agencies, including the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, and the FAA.
The first incident, which occurred in early February involved the sudden imposition of a temporary flight restriction near El Paso International Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration initially cited security concerns tied to a purported cartel drone.
Later in the same month, a second restriction was issued near Fort Hancock after the U.S. military used a laser-based counter-drone system against what was later reported to be a U.S. government drone operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Last month Vasquez grilled Assistant Secretary of Defense Joseph Humire over the DOD’s role in the two incidents. In that hearing, Humire promised to give Vasquez and Texas Representative Veronica Escobar a full briefing on the incidents, a briefing that to date has not taken place.
Vasquez said the two incidents apparently occurred when the DOD was conducting tests within a protected airspace on counter-drone technology that the FAA had not approved because it had not evaluated the technology and its potential impacts on commercial aviation.
“So, the best way to explain that is lack of communication. I was very disappointed to see that the department or the FAA put out information related to a case of shooting down a party balloon or a Mexican drone that we have no evidence of, and they have been provided zero proof of,” he said. “This was due to agency incompetence and miscommunication between the FAA and the Department of Homeland Security.”
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Jim Magill is a Houston-based writer with almost a quarter-century of experience covering technical and economic developments in the oil and gas industry. After retiring in December 2019 as a senior editor with S&P Global Platts, Jim began writing about emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robots and drones, and the ways in which they’re contributing to our society. In addition to DroneLife, Jim is a contributor to Forbes.com and his work has appeared in the Houston Chronicle, U.S. News & World Report, and Unmanned Systems, a publication of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.
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