DEFENSE Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The DEFENSE Act amends the Homeland Security Act to let the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General deputize State or local law enforcement officers to exercise existing counter-unmanned-aircraft-system authority. The deputized authority may be used only to protect sites with certain flight restrictions, eligible large public gatherings, or other public gatherings protected by a temporary flight restriction at the FAA Administrator's discretion.
DHS or DOJ may deputize only officers who complete training specified by the Secretary or Attorney General in coordination with the Secretary of Transportation and the FAA Administrator. DHS or DOJ must also coordinate with Transportation and FAA to oversee use of the authority. Equipment for unmanned aircraft detection, identification, monitoring, or tracking must be limited to systems or technologies on an authorized-equipment list maintained by DHS in coordination with DOJ, FAA, FCC, and NTIA.
Who Benefits and How
State and local law enforcement agencies benefit from access to deputized federal counter-drone authority for stadiums, restricted sites, and large public gatherings. Event attendees, venue operators, and public-safety planners benefit from added tools to detect, identify, monitor, or track unmanned aircraft near protected events. Counter-drone equipment vendors benefit if their systems are placed on the federal authorized-equipment list. DHS and DOJ benefit from a framework for using trained local officers rather than relying only on federal personnel.
Who Bears the Burden and How
DHS and DOJ must train, deputize, and oversee participating State and local officers and coordinate with Transportation and FAA. FAA, FCC, and NTIA must participate in equipment-list coordination and airspace or communications oversight. Deputized officers must complete training and use the authority only for eligible restricted sites or public gatherings. Drone operators near protected events face greater detection and enforcement risk.
Key Provisions
- Authorizes DHS or DOJ to deputize trained State or local officers to use counter-drone authority for restricted sites and public gatherings.
- Limits the deputized authority to specified flight-restricted sites, eligible large public gatherings, and FAA-discretionary temporary flight restrictions.
- Requires training before deputization and federal oversight of deputized officers' use of the authority.
- Requires DHS to maintain an authorized counter-drone equipment list in coordination with DOJ, FAA, FCC, and NTIA.
- Limits detection, identification, monitoring, and tracking equipment to systems or technologies on that authorized list.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Allows DHS or DOJ to deputize trained State or local law enforcement officers to use limited counter-drone authority to protect restricted sites and large public gatherings, with federal oversight and equipment-list limits.
Key Policy Areas
Homeland Security, Public Safety, Aviation, Law Enforcement
Primary Purpose
Allows DHS or DOJ to deputize trained State or local law enforcement officers to use limited counter-drone authority to protect restricted sites and large public gatherings, with federal oversight and equipment-list limits.
Policy Domains
Counter-drone deputization for public gatherings
Identified Gains
- State law enforcement agencies
- Local law enforcement agencies
- Large public gathering attendees
- Venue security operators
- Counter-drone equipment vendors
Identified Costs
- DHS counter-drone oversight staff
- DOJ counter-drone oversight staff
- FAA airspace staff
- FCC equipment coordination staff
- Drone operators near protected events
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Steube (for himself, Ms. Titus, Mr. Yakym, Mr. Correa, …
Referred to the Subcommittee on Aviation.
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition …
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
DHS counter-drone oversight staff, FAA airspace staff, State law enforcement agencies
Positive-direction: State law enforcement agencies
Negative-direction: DHS counter-drone oversight staff, FAA airspace staff
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "faa"
- → Federal Aviation Administration Administrator
- "officer"
- → State or local law enforcement officer
- "secretary"
- → Secretary of Homeland Security
- "attorney_general"
- → Attorney General
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Unmanned aircraft system detection, identification, monitoring, or tracking systems or technologies included on a DHS-maintained list coordinated with DOJ, FAA, FCC, and NTIA.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology