H.R. 6846

119 HR 6846 IH: Detecting and Evaluating Foreign Exploitation of Novel Drones Act
 U.S. House of Representatives
 2025-12-18
 text/xml
 EN
 Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
 I  119th CONGRESS
  1st Session  H. R. 6846  IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES   December 18, 2025   Mr. Crane  (for himself,  Mr. Garbarino ,  Mr. McCaul ,  Mr. Strong , and  Mr. Ogles ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the  Committee on Homeland Security    A BILL
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct annual assessments on terrorism threats to the United States relating to the malicious use of unmanned aircraft systems by covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, and for other purposes.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   Detecting and Evaluating Foreign Exploitation of Novel Drones Act   or the   DEFEND Act  .
2.
Annual assessment on terrorism threats to the United States arising from the global proliferation and malicious use of unmanned aircraft systems
(a)
In general
Title III of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 ( 6 U.S.C. 231 et seq. ) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
324.
Annual assessment on terrorism threats to the United States relating to the use of unmanned aircraft systems by covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations
(a)
In general
Not later than 270 days after the date of the enactment of this section and annually thereafter for six years, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees an assessment of terrorism threats to the United States relating to the global proliferation and malicious use of covered unmanned aircraft systems by covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, and the resulting implications such activities present for the homeland security of the United States, including implications for domestic preparedness for the malicious use of unmanned aircraft systems and the collective response to related terrorism threats.
(b)
Matters included
Each assessment of terrorism threats under subsection (a) shall include the following:
(1)
An analysis of the methods, trends, tactics, and technologies, as of the date of such assessment, by which covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, seek to use covered unmanned aircraft systems to surveil, disrupt, damage, or destroy critical infrastructure of the United States or a foreign country, target civilian populations, conduct kinetic strikes or terrorism attacks, or otherwise undermine public safety or regional stability.
(2)
An evaluation of the risks that such methods, trends, tactics, and technologies may be replicated, adapted, or learned from by other covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, or by lone actors or domestic violent extremists, to carry out similar terrorist attacks within the homeland, including efforts to compromise border security or port security, exploit vulnerabilities in the homeland’s transportation systems, soft targets, mass gathering events, or other high-risk venues, or to cause mass casualties or disruption through the use of covered unmanned aircraft systems.
(3)
An assessment of how covered unmanned aircraft systems are employed for intelligence, surveillance, or reconnaissance purposes by covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, including the collection, transmission, or exploitation of imagery or geospatial data, and how such data could be leveraged to facilitate espionage, cross-border operations, or attacks against critical infrastructure of the United States.
(4)
An analysis of how covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, acquire, manufacture, smuggle, or divert covered unmanned aircraft systems into conflict zones, including via ground convoys, commercial shipping containers, rail shipments, small vessels, fixed- or rotary-wing aircraft, over-the-road freight transport that may conceal or co-transport other illicit or seemingly innocuous goods, or any other illicit trafficking networks, and the applicability of such methods to potential entry into the homeland through seaports, airports, or land border crossings.
(5)
An analysis of emerging technologies integrated into covered unmanned aircraft systems that enhance their operational effectiveness, resilience, and lethality, when used by covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, including the use of artificial intelligence, autonomous navigation and targeting systems, advanced surveillance sensors, precision-guided payloads, encrypted communications links, physical tethering mechanisms (such as fiber optic cables that enable uninterrupted command and control in contested environments), cybersecurity-resilient architectures designed to prevent intrusion or remote exploitation, or any other adaptations intended to defeat or bypass electronic warfare countermeasures through resistance to jamming, spoofing, or signal degradation.
(6)
An evaluation of the use of low-cost, high-volume swarms of covered unmanned aircraft systems deployed by covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, in any region of active conflict as determined by the Secretary, in consultation with the heads of other relevant Federal departments or agencies the Secretary determines appropriate, and the extent to which similar swarm tactics could overwhelm law enforcement within the homeland or overwhelm homeland defense systems, including the potential to exhaust counter-UAS systems and associated resources or create mass panic.
(7)
An assessment of the use of covered unmanned aircraft systems by covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, in any region of active conflict as determined by the Secretary, in consultation with the heads of other relevant Federal departments or agencies the Secretary determines appropriate, to deliver chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear payloads or simulants, including efforts to repurpose agricultural or industrial spraying unmanned aircraft systems for nonconventional attacks, and whether such scenarios are adequately modeled or prepared for in homeland security planning.
(8)
A review of how covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, in any region of active conflict as determined by the Secretary, in consultation with the heads of other relevant Federal departments or agencies the Secretary determines appropriate, have experimented with water-launched unmanned aircraft systems and unmanned aircraft systems deployed from shipping containers or disguised vehicles, and the implications such tactics may pose for port security, land border security, or the security of critical infrastructure of the United States or a foreign country in proximity to seaports within the homeland.
(9)
An assessment of lessons learned from ongoing and recent global conflicts regarding the utilization, defense, and defeat of covered unmanned aircraft systems, and from the experiences of allied and partner countries in countering unmanned aircraft system-enabled attacks conducted by covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, including an evaluation of the effectiveness of mobile counter-UAS system platforms, passive detection and tracking technologies, airspace management and deconfliction tools, and regulatory mechanisms (such as drone zoning laws), the applicability of such lessons to Federal, State, and local homeland security operations, and the manner in which the Department has incorporated, or plans to incorporate, such lessons into its homeland security planning, counter-UAS systems strategy, and interagency coordination activities.
(10)
An assessment of the adoption, adaptation, and potential operational use of unmanned aircraft systems by transnational criminal organizations, cartels, or other illicit groups in the Western Hemisphere that are supplied by or emulating covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, including cross-border weaponization trends, narcotics trafficking, and surveillance of law enforcement operations.
(11)
A review of the Department’s research and development efforts to counter emerging threats posed by covered unmanned aircraft systems used by covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, and how such efforts contribute to domestic preparedness for and collective response to terrorism.
(12)
A description of how the Secretary has incorporated input, technology, and best practices from private sector entities, including such entities the counter-UAS systems or detection technologies of which are currently deployed in regions of active conflict as determined by the Secretary, in consultation with the heads of other relevant Federal departments or agencies the Secretary determines appropriate, involving covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, in order to strengthen domestic preparedness and accelerate adoption of effective counter-UAS system capabilities.
(13)
Any other matter relating to covered unmanned aircraft systems the Secretary determines appropriate.
(c)
Training and capacity building
To enhance domestic preparedness against terrorism threats assessed in accordance with subsection (a), the Secretary, in consultation with the heads of relevant components and offices of the Department, as determined by the Secretary, shall develop recommendations, training modules, and exercises for Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement to recognize, report, and respond to malicious use of unmanned aircraft systems by covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, incorporating lessons learned from current and recent global conflicts.
(d)
Consultation
The Secretary shall develop each assessment of terrorism threats under subsection (a) in consultation with representatives of the following:
(1)
Components and offices of the Department.
(2)
The Department of Defense.
(3)
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
(4)
Any other representatives of Federal departments or agencies the Secretary determines appropriate.
(e)
Collaboration
In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary shall seek to collaborate with representatives of private sector entities, each of whom shall be, in the determination of the Secretary, a highly accomplished leader in the field of counter-UAS systems with demonstrated experience in developing, deploying, or advising on covered unmanned aircraft systems used in regions in which covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations, operate, in order to leverage private-sector expertise and resources for research, analysis, and evaluation of emerging threats relating to unmanned aircraft systems.
(f)
Briefing required
Not later than seven days after the submission of each assessment of terrorism threats under subsection (a), the Secretary shall provide to the appropriate congressional committees a classified briefing on the findings, conclusions, and recommendations contained in such assessment.
(g)
Form
Each assessment of terrorism threats under subsection (a) shall be submitted in classified form. The Secretary shall also prepare an unclassified annex to each such assessment, which shall be made publicly available on the website of the Department.
(h)
Definitions
In this section:
(1)
Appropriate congressional committees
The term  appropriate congressional committees  means—
(A)
the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives; and
(B)
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
(2)
Counter-UAS system
The term  counter-UAS system  has the meaning given such term in section 44801 of title 49, United States Code.
(3)
Covered foreign adversary
The term  covered foreign adversary  means—
(A)
any foreign government, military, intelligence service, or other authority of a covered foreign country acting independently; or
(B)
any organization, group, or person acting on behalf of, with the support, direction, control, or influence of, or trained or supplied by, such a foreign government, military, intelligence service, or other authority, including any proxy, militia, paramilitary organization, intelligence or security service, or other state-sponsored actor that receives material support, training, technical assistance, or operational coordination from a covered foreign country and engages in activities that threaten the national security of the United States or its allies.
(4)
Covered foreign country
The term  covered foreign country  means a country that—
(A)
the intelligence community (as such term is defined in section 3(4) of the National Security Act of 1947 ( 50 U.S.C. 3003(4) )) has identified as a foreign adversary in its most recent Annual Threat Assessment; or
(B)
the Secretary, in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence, has identified as a foreign adversary that is not included in such Annual Threat Assessment.
(5)
Covered unmanned aircraft system
The term  covered unmanned aircraft system  means any unmanned aircraft system that—
(A)
is manufactured in a covered foreign country or by an entity domiciled in a covered foreign country;
(B)
uses flight controllers, radios, data transmission devices, cameras, or gimbals manufactured in a covered foreign country or by an entity domiciled in a covered foreign country;
(C)
uses a ground control system or operating software developed in a covered foreign country or by an entity domiciled in a covered foreign country; or
(D)
uses network connectivity or data storage located in a covered foreign country or administered by an entity domiciled in a covered foreign country.
(6)
Homeland Security Enterprise
The term  Homeland Security Enterprise  has the meaning given such term in section 2200.
(7)
Terrorist organization
The term  terrorist organization  means—
(A)
any entity designated as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1189 ); or
(B)
any entity engaged in terrorism, as such term is defined in section 2(18).
(8)
Unmanned aircraft system
The term  unmanned aircraft system  has the meaning given such term in section 44801 of title 49, United States Code, except that the requirement relating to safe and efficient operation in the national airspace system shall not apply for purposes of this section.
 .
(b)
Clerical amendment
The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 323 the following new item:
Sec. 324. Annual assessment on terrorism threats to the United States relating to the use of unmanned aircraft systems by covered foreign adversaries, including terrorist organizations.
  .