A plane takes off from El Paso International Airport in El Paso, Texas, in 2014. All flights in and out of the airport were grounded for several hours on Feb. 11, 2026. The Trump administration initially reported that drones from Mexican drug cartels had penetrated the airspace around the airport, but sources later said the military was testing high-energy lasers designed to protect against drones and officials weren’t sure if it would impact flights. (Shutterstock/Jeff Schultes)

Collaborating and Integrating to Defend the Homeland Against Drones

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Recent events in El Paso, Texas, show that we need better coordination among agencies to defend the US against the rising threat of small unmanned aircraft systems.

For the first time in our nation’s history, the United States faces an emerging persistent air threat within our nation’s airspace and homeland. The threat is outpacing current policy, authorities, capabilities, and organizational structures. Today, small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are operating with near impunity as tools of espionage, criminal activity, even state‑sponsored probing. Small UAS are readily available, inexpensive, adaptable, and here today, inside our borders and within our nation’s airspace.

Responding to this threat requires a collaborative and integrated whole of nation approach, and this is why the work Joint Interagency Task Force-401 has done, and continues to do, is so critical. Over the past year, the task force has enabled significant progress by unifying federal efforts to detect, assess, and counter UAS threats. JIATF‑401 is bringing together multiple layers within the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, the intelligence community, and law enforcement, to build a collaborative and integrated approach that addresses the threat, while fielding and accelerating counter UAS........

© The National Interest