Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty
This Executive Order establishes a whole-of-government effort to strengthen U.S. control over national airspace against unlawful or dangerous drone (UAS) activity. It creates a federal Task Force, directs the FAA to expedite rulemaking to restrict flights over fixed-site facilities, pushes federal agencies to expand detection, tracking, and identification of drones and drone signals, and calls for stronger enforcement, training, and coordination with state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) authorities and private infrastructure owners. The order is presented as a national-security and public-safety measure aimed at threats such as smuggling, surveillance by criminal actors, disruptions at mass gatherings, and incursions near military and critical infrastructure. If implemented, the order would accelerate regulatory action (including a required notice of proposed rulemaking and a final FAA rule), increase operational capabilities for detecting and responding to drones, open federal grant funding for counter-UAS equipment at state and local levels, propose tougher criminal penalties, and create or support training and coordination mechanisms (including a National Training Center for Counter-UAS). The order is limited by existing law and available funding, and it calls for privacy and legal safeguards where personal information access is involved.
Key Points
- 1Establishes the Federal Task Force to Restore American Airspace Sovereignty, chaired by the President’s National Security Advisor, to coordinate cross‑agency solutions and implement this order.
- 2Directs the FAA to promptly issue a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) and then a final rule under 49 U.S.C. §2209(f) to create a statutory process for restricting drone flights over fixed-site facilities and to interpret “critical infrastructure” for that purpose; requires FAA to publish NOTAMs and Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) in an open format usable for drone geofencing within 180 days.
- 3Requires the Attorney General and DHS to enforce applicable laws, propose legislative changes to criminal penalties for restricted-airspace violations on an ongoing basis, and permit SLTT grant recipients to buy detection/tracking/identification equipment where lawful.
- 4Directs agencies to use existing legal authorities (consistent with the Fourth Amendment) to detect, track, and identify drones and signals; updates a 2020 federal advisory on detection/mitigation technology; and orders FAA to provide, where legally permitted, automated real-time access to identifying information from Remote ID signals to appropriate agencies with privacy and security safeguards within 60 days.
- 5Orders development of guidance to help private critical-infrastructure owners/operators use detection technologies; asks for a recommendation on designating certain facilities (borders, large airports, federal facilities, critical infrastructure, military sites) as “covered” under relevant statutes; integrates counter-UAS into Joint Terrorism Task Forces and directs implementation of a National Training Center for Counter-UAS with initial training focused on major upcoming events (e.g., FIFA World Cup 2026, 2028 Olympics).