WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Virginia) is among the lawmakers calling for better legislation in Congress after mysterious drone sightings in parts of the country including the Commonwealth.
She’s one of the House intelligence committee members briefed by security and intelligence officials on Tuesday about the sightings.
Prior to the meeting, she told WUSA, “From a legislating standpoint, there's much more we could be doing to set clear parameters of where drones can go.”
Spanberger, who is wrapping up her time in Congress to focus on her run for Virginia’s next governor, said with her national intelligence background, she wants better assessment on handling the worst-case scenario even though officials insist the drone sightings are not a safety threat.
“I think people should have an expectation that state and federal leadership are working with law enforcement entities at the state and federal level to understand certainly most recent of flurry of drone activity that we have seen,” Spanberger said.
Intelligence and security officials said the sightings have been a mix of commercial and law enforcement drones, ones used for hobbies, and airplanes.
The Pentagon deployed technology known as drone busters to some military bases to counter what’s also been called unmanned aerial systems.
Austin Phoenix, director of Mission Systems Division at the Virginia Tech National Security Institute, says the cases are why it’s important for lawmakers to invest in regulations and new tools to better identify and track good and bad actors.
According to him, drone technology is developing quickly.
“While I don't believe there's a lot to fear from these sightings, I think it highlights an area where we need to worry about the ability to track the UAS systems is not as advanced as we'd like it to be,” Phoenix told WUSA9. “The drone threat is growing rapidly, and we don't yet have a perfect set of technologies that's ready to respond.”
Most recently, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin shared concerns about the communication about the drone sightings.
“I remain deeply concerned that Virginia has consistently sought information from federal partners, and to date, the information shared with the Commonwealth has been insufficient,” Youngkin said.