Airport Alert: Drone Mitigation Authorities Included for State and Local Law Enforcement in Defense Authorization Bill

December 8, 2025

Last night, the House Armed Services Committee released a 3,000-plus-page National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) conference agreement, which is expected to be taken up by the House this week. Included in the NDAA agreement is the SAFER SKIES Act, which permits counter-drone detection and mitigation countermeasures by state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement and correctional agencies to secure the airspace and facilitate emergency response at key infrastructure, entertainment venues, stadiums, and correctional facilities.

The SAFER SKIES Act permits state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement and correctional agencies, after completing training and being certified by the Attorney General and in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security, to take “actions that are necessary to mitigate a credible threat that an unmanned aircraft system or unmanned aircraft poses to the safety or security of people, facilities, and assets, a venue or set of venues used for large-scale public gatherings or events, critical infrastructure, or correctional facilities.” Airports are not specifically included in this language, but airports have traditionally been included within the scope of “critical infrastructure” that state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement would be permitted to protect under this law. The technologies used by law enforcement and correctional agencies must be limited to systems or technologies that are included on a list of authorized technologies maintained jointly by several federal agencies, including DHS and the Department of Transportation.

One year after enactment of this Act, the Attorney General and Secretary of DHS must report to Congress on activities carried out by these agencies, to include a list of any aviation security of safety incidents that occurred due to state, local, tribal, territorial, and correctional officers deployment of counter-UAS technologies, and a determination on how to expand counter-UAS authorities to other critical infrastructure owners if these original agencies are unable to fully protect critical infrastructure from drone threats.

The legislation also includes a requirement to establish a reimbursement program plan for Federal agencies providing counter-UAS protection to events that are not organized or operated by the Federal government. However, the SAFER SKIES Act does not appear to require the development of such a reimbursement program.

Within 180 days of enactment, the Secretary of DHS and Attorney General, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Transportation, must publish regulations governing the counter-UAS authority provided to state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement and correctional agencies. The counter-UAS authority for state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement and correctional agencies will expire on December 31, 2031.

In addition, the current C-UAS authority for DHS is extended until September 30, 2031.

The White House pushed for this authority to be included in the final bill. Neither the original House nor the Senate versions of NDAA included this language. After passage in the House, the Senate is expected to consider this conference agreement next week.