by John Solomon
Iranian proxies like Hamas and the Houthis have shown terror groups increasingly relying on inexpensive but potentially deadly commercial drones to wreak havoc.
With Iranian terror proxies like Hamas and the Houthis demonstrating they can use drone technology to kill civilians, President Donald Trump’s counterterrorism team is quietly fortifying America’s skies against future warfare from both state and non-state actors capable of using inexpensive flying machines to lethal effect.
Sebastian "Seb" Gorka, the Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, said he has been presiding over a task force designed to create a counter-drone strategy to protect the homeland based on an executive order Trump signed earlier in his second presidency. That includes an "America-first" approach to contracting, officials said.
"Idiots and evildoers"
“Every month, we are bringing together all of the government to make sure that we own the skies,” Gorka told Just the News. “The phrase I use is that idiots and evildoers will not be allowed to fly drones in U.S. airspace, threatening Americans.”
“We will have an arsenal of democracy and American companies will be building the flying machines, the counter drone equipment here in America to protect the American skies,” he said.
The lethality of inexpensive, abundant drones was first demonstrated in the Russia-Ukraine war. But U.S. officials reached fever pitch in concern after Hamas used drones to disable Israeli observation and air defense posts in its Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack that killed approximately 1,200 people.
Shortly thereafter, another Iranian proxy, the Houthis in Yemen, began adapting its attacks away from missiles to cheap drones, further heightening U.S. officials' concerns.
“While these attacks resulted in limited casualties, they were still effective in imposing economic costs—especially given the imbalance between the relatively low cost of drones and rockets and the high expense of counter-UAS technologies and air defense systems,” the U.S. military’s Combating Terrorism Center at West Point noted in a recent report.
“This shift marks a pivot toward stand-off terror warfare: cheaper, remote, and high-volume, yet strategically ineffective in achieving decisive outcomes,” it added.
You can read that full report here.
Trump signed a series of executive orders shortly after returning to the White House, not only prompted by Iran and its terror proxies but also because of a spate of unexplained drone sightings in New Jersey near his Bedminster golf resort. With the FIFA World Cup Games in 2026 and the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, speed of action was a necessity,” officials said.
“It’s no accident, the very first meeting of the National Security Council after the inauguration of the president for the second time, was on the issue of drones, after that fiasco in Bedminster, where we had drones flying around under the Biden administration and nobody knew what they were,” Gorka told the Just the News. No Noise television show.
One focus is on contracting for counter-drone technologies, he added. “We're not going to buy Chinese drones anymore. We're going to make them here,” Gorka explained.
As an aside, it won't be an easy task, given the anti-American sentiment that Socialist-leaning blue cities have expressed. The city-owned Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. (BNY) declined to renew the lease of New York-based drone manufacturer Easy Aerial after activists targeted the company over its reported supply of drone systems to Israel. The decision was made in January and formally finalized by the Yard’s board last week.
Counter-drone capabilities being developed
One of the most visible new assets for the new strategy is the FBI’s National Counter-UAS Training Center (NCUTC), which was established last year to serve as the primary hub for training and certifying federal law enforcement in detecting and mitigating drone threats. The FBI and the Department of War have been collaborating on that initiative.
The FBI “has put significant time and resources into developing our counter-drone capabilities and growing coordination with law enforcement on counter UAS (unmanned aircraft system) tech across the country,” Director Kash Patel said recently. “Unmanned aircraft are increasingly exploited by criminals, terrorists, and hostile foreign actors — making the counter UAS program a critical area for the FBI to modernize and adapt to stay ahead of the threat.”
"Our training center builds disciplined, safety-focused, coordinated counter-drone capability and supports preparedness for major national and international events like the FIFA World Cup 2026 and the 2028 Summer Olympics hosted in the U.S. This is an investment that will pay huge dividends for America’s national security in the years to come,” he added.
Pentagon capable of knocking down hostile drones
The new capabilities have been visible already. Last week, the Department of War announced that drones flown by Mexican drug cartels had crossed over into U.S. airspace, leading to the shutdown of flights around El Paso, Texas. The airspace was reopened after the Pentagon disabled the drones, reportedly using new laser technology.
“Mexican cartel drones breached US airspace,” a Trump administration official told Just the News on Wednesday. “The Department of War took action to disable the drones. The FAA and DOW have determined there is no threat to commercial travel.”
John Solomon
Source: https://justthenews.com/government/security/combating-terror-sky-trumps-team-bolstering-security-neutralize-drone-attacks
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