The U.S. Is Defenseless Against a Drone Terror Attack --- The Hamas attack in Israel showed the power and danger of drones, but federal law makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies to respond to potential threats.

"As the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas showed, terrorists are learning to use drones in increasingly creative ways -- and that's bad news for the U.S. homeland. 

Hamas employed camera-equipped quadcopters, the kind flown by hobbyists, to scout and map Israeli defenses. 

Then it strapped light munitions onto such drones and used them to knock out sensors and automated machine guns along Israel's border with Gaza. 

These tactics paved the way for the killing and kidnapping spree by gunmen that left more than 1,200 people dead and 240 taken hostage.

Today, virtually anyone can buy their own air force for a few hundred dollars, using drones or parts bought online or in a hobby shop. Yet federal law bars most law enforcement agencies from effectively defending against such flying machines within U.S. borders, leaving Americans shockingly vulnerable to attack.

"Right now we don't have the legal authorities to properly defend our country, and we've known about it for years," said retired Maj. Gen. James Poss, formerly one of the Air Force's most senior intelligence officers. "It's almost like we're waiting for our next Pearl Harbor to happen, but our plan is to call a lawyer about what to do next instead of fighting back."

Technologies exist for tracking unmanned aircraft using electromagnetic or acoustic signals. And a variety of anti-drone weapons can knock targets out of the sky using explosives, lasers, high-energy microwaves or launchable nets. 

But without a special exemption or a federal court order, law enforcement agencies are generally prohibited from targeting drones. 

Even intercepting a drone's radio signal can violate the federal Wiretap Act. More aggressive tactics to "mitigate" drones, such as taking over their radio controls or shooting them down, are only permitted by federal agencies with special exemptions to defend military bases and sensitive sites, such as the White House and nuclear facilities.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) zealously protects the right of any aircraft to use public airspace, and a drone flying 2 inches off the ground qualifies. A federal interagency advisory warns that interfering with a suspicious drone may violate the Aircraft Sabotage Act, the Aircraft Piracy Act or other aviation laws. "All of the protections follow, no matter how big it is or how little it is," said Daniel Delgado, a 22-year FBI veteran who worked on defenses against drones and weapons of mass destruction. A drone "that the kids are buying online has the same protections as the latest Boeing 787," Delgado says.

Small, off-the-shelf drones are just one category of what experts refer to as unmanned aerial systems, or UAS. The U.S. military divides aircraft with no pilot on board into five categories, according to maximum takeoff weight, operating altitude and top speed. Groups 1 and 2 correspond to the FAA definition of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, which weigh between 0.55 and 55 pounds. These are the drones that most hobbyists fly and that commercial users like Amazon and Walmart are using experimentally to deliver everything from household goods to medicine to pizza.

More advanced types of UAS include the heavily armed MQ-9 Reaper, operated by military personnel via satellite. Large drones like the Reaper are easy for most militaries to spot on radar and knock out of the sky, but small drones are difficult to see and devilishly hard to shoot down. On radar they may look like birds, if they show up at all. But even if a drone can be detected, that doesn't reveal who is flying it, or their intent.

Last Tuesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee that since Oct. 7, a "veritable rogue's gallery of foreign terrorist organizations" have called for attacks against Americans and U.S. allies. No group appears likely to flood heavily armed fighters across the U.S. border, as Hamas did in Israel. But "there is no limitation to human invention," Delgado said. "Everybody thinks it's going to be cool to get your Oreos delivered by a drone, but has anybody ever thought about what else an unmanned system can do?"

His nightmare scenarios include terrorists rigging drones to fire guns or drop hand grenades at a crowded event like the Boston Marathon, or using crop-spraying drones to douse a football stadium with chemicals, causing a mass panic. "There are commercially sold flame-throwing drones," Delgado noted.

Mexican cartels are already using drones to smuggle drugs and weapons across the U.S. border and contraband into prisons, and Islamic State terrorists used jerry-built drones in Iraq as long ago as 2016. 

But today's hobby drones -- a market dominated by the Chinese company Shenzhen DJI Sciences and Technologies Ltd. -- are far more sophisticated and easier to operate. 

The conflict in Ukraine has been called the "first drone conflict," with both sides using thousands of unmanned aircraft. Drone enthusiasts have flocked to Ukraine to build small kamikaze drones that can fly grenades or mortar rounds into Russian troops and tanks. 

With First Person View (FPV) technology, an onboard mini-camera lets the operator fly the drone as if along for the ride.

The Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department can provide counter-UAS security with temporary exemptions from federal restrictions for events whose organizers apply. But while thousands of exemptions are requested each year, only a few dozen are granted.

 Similarly, regulations bar flying small drones above 400 feet or into "controlled airspace," such as near airports, but the FAA lacks the resources to do more than count the hundreds of violations that take place every month. 

Airline pilots frequently report dangerously close calls with hobby drones, whose operators are rarely identified.

FBI Director Wray has warned before of terrorists plotting to use drones as improvised explosive devices. Yet the agency currently has just a tiny staff assigned to the problem of unmanned aerial systems. "I actually do lose sleep over the fact that the FBI only has three agents doing counter-UAS to protect the entire United States," said retired general Poss. Those who find that fear melodramatic should ask themselves whether they ever expected al Qaeda to fly hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

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Richard Whittle is the author of "Predator: The Secret Origins of the Drone Revolution."" [1]

 A child launches a drone in a meadow. Old pensioners destroy it with explosives in the name of safety. For a good salary. A fabulous life for old dreamers.

1. REVIEW --- The U.S. Is Defenseless Against a Drone Terror Attack --- The Hamas attack in Israel showed the power and danger of drones, but federal law makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies to respond to potential threats. Whittle, Richard.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 09 Dec 2023: C.3.