Amid growing reports of night-time drone flights in New Jersey, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appeared on ABC’s Sunday program “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on Dec. 15, to appeal for greater authority for government agencies to take actions against drones.
“We need from Congress additional authorities to address the drone situation,” he said. “Our authorities currently are limited, and they are set to expire. We need them extended and expanded.”
The drone flights that have generated so much publicity locally and nationally have arrived just in time to encourage support for expanded government authority.
Congressman Seth Magaziner, co-sponsor of a bill to do just that, issued last week a statement to the Committee on Homeland Security, saying that “The time has come for Congress to expand the authority of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to better utilize monitoring, tracking and signal jamming technologies to protect critical areas, including our borders, large public events, prisons and sensitive government facilities, while also ensuring the civil liberties of drone operators.”
