By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. officials told a Senate committee on Tuesday that there have been more than 3,000 drone events near American airports since 2021 including 11 aircraft this year that reported taking evasive action to avoid collisions.
Those drone incidents have caused significant fly delays at times near major airports, said Steven Willoughby, a counter drone official with the Homeland Security Department, who told the Senate Judiciary Committee that in two instances drones
collided with aircraft conducting critical response operations during emergencies in California and Texas this year.
Officials also raised concerns about the intentional use of drones for attacks, and also at major sporting events.
Willoughby noted that since 2018, the Secret Service has tracked hundreds of drones violating temporary flight restrictions that protect the president and others.
He added that in the last six months of 2024, over 27,000 drones were detected within 500 meters of the U.S. southern border.
Senators and administrative officials said Congress needs to change laws to toughen penalties for drone use and to give federal agencies new expanded authority to address malicious drones.
Justice Department officials said at the hearing drones raise serious threats to mass gatherings but said the FBI can cover only a fraction. "FBI’s covered events represent only 0.05% of the over 240,000 special events" over recent years where counter-drone protection could have been authorized.
(Reporting by David Shepardson)
