San Francisco 49ers head of security: NFL needs permission to shoot down threatening drones
LAS VEGAS NV April 13 2019 — The head of security at the San Francisco 49ers Levi Stadium said Thursday it is imperative for Congress to give the National Football League and other U.S. sports leagues venues the legal authority to shoot down drones, which the American government recently identified as the greatest national security threat.
“It’s a big issue as far as safety and security is concerned, it’s certainly an issue within the stadium sector,” Russ Butler, vice president of security operations at the northern California venue, said at the International Security Conference. “The legislative situation we have makes it incredibly challenging — at least from a mitigation standpoint — to do anything other than really track and monitor.”
Congress passed the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act last fall.
The law bans the use of products that would rely on telecommunication networks to force the drone to return to its operator.
Cathy Lanier, NFL vice president of security, testified before Congress ahead of its passage that the law would give federal, state, and local law enforcement the ability to take down a drone, but virtually all of the methods they could take that drone down with were still illegal.
“Several stadium security directors have told me that they are regularly approached by vendors selling drone countermeasure equipment. The vendors acknowledge, and the security directors readily know, that using such devices is illegal,” said Lanier. “The current state of the law, however, leaves security officials with an unenviable choice: Procure equipment whose use would be illegal, or remain unequipped to respond to a security threat that could endanger tens of thousands of people.”
Andy Morabe, director of product development or counter drone maker IXI Technology, previously told the Washington Examiner the telecommunications industry is standing in the way. He said they have lobbied Congress not to change current policy in a way that would affect their airwaves.
“In recent conversations, lawmakers of both parties have said that it’s because it’s a powerful lobbying group, the telecommunications industry, that it would take another terrible act of 9/11 with a drone to force Congress to make the changes right away,” said Morabe.
Butler was empathetic of the telecommunications industry’s concerns but said the NFL’s games “represent a microcosm of American culture” and are a target for “nefarious actors” who could use drones to carry out a terror attack, and solutions should not be delayed.
While drones are often thought of as techie toys, officials are increasingly worried about the threat they pose and are warning it’s only a matter of time until the devices are used to drop a bomb or fentanyl powder on people in a populated area. Drones are already used by transnational criminal syndicates and drug cartels. The technology is readily available to terrorist groups.
Morabe has said local law enforcement offices are constantly inquiring about his company’s machine even though it’s illegal for them to purchase and use.
At the ISC-West conference and expo, dozens of companies showed off counter-drone systems, including systems that can physically or electronically take down a third-party drone. Butler said those solutions are sitting on the sidelines, untapped.
“Our position really has to be to continue to lobby to position the whole drone threat picture right in front of lawmakers and hope to get them on board and make some adjustments and then make laws to address that,” Butler said.
