Biden wants to give state and local police access to drone-tracking tech

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge

More law enforcement agencies should be able to access drones on Monday, according to President Biden's administration. In recent months, government use of counter-drone systems has become more controversial after a Ukrainian government official asked for the cut off of Russia's access to its AeroScope drone location system.

The White House wants Congress to authorize the authority to track drones given to them. The CIA and NASA have limited authorities according to the plan. The statement asks Congress to give more powers to state, local, territorial and Tribal law enforcement agencies, as well as critical infrastructure owners and operators.

The plan calls for a trial program of select state, local, and tribal agencies to work on drone mitigation as well as detection, and allow critical infrastructure owners and operators to purchase authorized.

At this point, these are recommendations made by the administration, not laws that are in the process of being passed. The White House's fact sheet says that Congress may have passed laws around drones without Biden's support. The Department of Homeland Security and Justice have indicated their support for the plan.

Increased oversight of drones has been moving towards the US government. The Federal Aviation Administration finalized new rules that will require any new drones to broadcast the operator's location and identification number to law enforcement. It will be mostly illegal to fly a drone without those capabilities one year after the rules go into effect.

It's understandable that some drone pilots are worried about the privacy implications of their local police department getting access to equipment that tracks not only drones, but also the people flying them.

Related

DJI drones, Ukraine, and Russia — what we know about AeroScope