WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - During a testimony before a House panel, a top U.S. Defense official told lawmakers that the military is in a better place now than it was in 2023 regarding dealing with the threat posed by unmanned systems to domestic military installations.
In December 2023, a series of unmanned aerial systems of unknown origin were seen over and around Joint Base Langley-Eustis in southern Virginia. At the time, the Defense Department had little ability to detect, track, characterize, disrupt or defeat those unmanned aerial systems.
While speaking before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's military and foreign affairs subcommittee in Washington earlier this week, Mark Roosevelt Ditlevson, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs, said, 'To some extent, those challenges from JBLE still exist,' Ditlevson said. 'However, we have worked since then to improve and refine our processes and coordination efforts, and we have seen improvements in subsequent responses. I'm confident that we are in a stronger position to defend DOD installations today than we were in December of 2023.'
Ditlevson said that internal process reviews within DOD, a generation of better domain awareness, and the clarification of authorities' commanders are all areas where the department will continue to improve its ability to respond to unwanted unmanned aerial systems.
One example is a streamlined process for obtaining inter agency coordination before counter-UAS action is taken, consistent with U.S. Code Section 130i. That effort is being formalized now, and Ditlevson said the first updated guidance will be released in the coming weeks.
Section 130i describes the protection of certain facilities and assets from unmanned aircraft. Ditlevson said the department would like Congress's help in updating that section.
'We would also like to facilitate data sharing because right now, data sharing from the DOD side is limited only in the pursuit of a legal case against a particular individual or group. We're not able to share data with our inter-agency partners to improve our tactics, techniques or procedures,' Ditlevson told lawmakers.
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