Democrats raise questions about Secret Service’s anti-drone work at DC airport
A pair of House Democrats are sounding the alarm about the U.S. Secret Service’s use of counter-drone technology, which recently triggered air traffic control system alerts at the Washington National Airport.
Democratic Reps. Rick Larsen of Washington and Bennie Thompson of Mississippi are demanding more information about the use of the technology and raising concerns about whether the Department of Homeland Security component is following proper procedures.
In a Monday letter sent to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the lawmakers pointed to alerts produced by the Traffic Collision Avoidance System last month. These alerts made erroneous recommendations to several commercial and Coast Guard aircraft, Larsen and Thompson say. And according to analysis conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration, the alerts were produced by Secret Service anti-drone technology at a nearby Defense Department location.
The confusion comes after the deadly crash between a commercial airline and an Army helicopter at DCA airport earlier this year, which resulted in dozens of deaths.
While DHS has launched an investigation, the Democratic congressmen say the counter-drone technology deployed by the DOD was operating outside existing notifications — and that the Secret Service did not share required notifications with the FAA.
“These erroneous alerts caused confusion among flight crews in one of the most complex airspaces in the country, introducing an unnecessary safety risk that potentially endangered hundreds of American lives,” wrote Larsen, ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Thompson, ranking member of the chamber’s Homeland Security Committee. “At such a tenuous time for U.S. aviation, this blatant disregard for long-standing safety protocols is entirely unacceptable.”
“The flying public cannot afford for these safety issues to continue and certainly should not be collateral damage due to your Departments’ inability to coordinate effectively,” they continued. “It is our expectation that your Departments work together to determine all contributing factors to these incidents and develop a plan to prevent similar incidents from happening again at DCA or any other U.S. airport.”
The lawmakers are demanding a briefing and written answers to a series of questions.
