Drones are reshaping security risks at large public gatherings, new report warns

A report published last week by the Center for Internet Security, a New York nonprofit that raised concerns about how rapidly evolving drone technology is outpacing the systems state and local governments rely on to secure large public gatherings, like the FIFA World Cup matches to be hosted by cities across North America in June.

The report shows that drones are introducing a new category of risk that traditional security measures aren’t designed to address. It points out that unlike threats on the ground, aerial drones can bypass barriers like fences and checkpoints, creating challenges for agencies tasked with protecting events, such as concerts, festivals or sporting events, and even correctional facilities.

John Cohen, executive director of CIS’s strategic programs office, said state and local leaders are face security challenges both in terms of technology and public safety policy.

“The challenge is twofold,” Cohen said in an interview. “The use of drones and the use of drones that are augmented with emerging and advanced technologies, like aI navigation systems and and and other capabilities that allow them to allow threat actors to use drones for lethal attacks for disruptive attacks to smuggle contraband, to even engage in cyber attack operations is one.”

Though drones have become both more affordable and more capable in recent years — with longer flight times, remote piloting via live video and the ability to carry payloads — Cohen said detecting them still remains difficult.

Resources and expertise required

The CIS report notes that tools commonly used by people looking for drones, like radar, radio frequency sensors and camera systems, often struggle in dense environments and can generate false positives, leaving agencies to stitch together multiple technologies to build a clearer operational picture. Cohen said there’s a growing need for integrated systems that can combine sensor data, support real-time monitoring and enable information sharing across jurisdictions.

To better connect their public safety agencies ahead of the FIFA World Cup this summer, the police department in Kansas City, Missouri, which is scheduled to host six matches at Arrowhead Stadium, has put a new command post bus at the center of its security strategy. The bus, equipped with seven fixed cameras, one motorized camera and two tethered drones, will function as a centralized communications hub to coordinate intelligence, monitor activity and direct resources in the field.

But, Cohen warned, many state and local governments are still working with fragmented systems and limited resources, complicating efforts to deploy a cohesive counter-drone strategy.

“There certainly are technologies and capabilities that could be used to disrupt the navigation, to detect who’s operating the drone, to to render the drone incapable of carrying out threat related activity, but those take resources to acquire and take expertise to use,” Cohen explained.

In February, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that the state would receive $17.2 million in federal funding to combat illegal or unsafe drone flights, as part of security preparations for the World Cup. MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, is scheduled to host eight of the international event’s 104 matches.

In addition to large gatherings, Cohen noted, correctional facilities are also seeing an uptick in drone-related threat activity: “Drones can be used to gather pre-operational surveillance on a target for some type of mass casualty attack. They are being used to smuggle contraband, whether it’s be illegal drugs or other contraband, into secure facilities.”

Between 2015 and 2019, the Justice Department recorded 130 incidents of drones delivering or attempting to deliver contraband at federal prisons. The Federal Bureau of Prisons in 2018 established a reporting policy on smuggling by drones, and saw the number of documented incidents nearly double in the following years.

To combat drone-enabled smuggling, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections last year launched a 45-day pilot program at Red Rock Correctional Center in Lawton, which houses roughly 2,300 inmates, to test whether drones, armed with artificial intelligence, can detect and decrease illicit activity through continuous aerial surveillance.

Decentralized and disconnected

Another challenge to addressing the security threat drones present to large events, the CIS report notes, is the absence of an official “domain awareness” policy at the federal level outlining which law enforcement agency has the authority and responsibility to mitigate threats posed by specific drones.

“There’s still decentralized, and I would argue, disconnected approach regarding who has the authority to take actions against drones that are deemed to be a threat,” Cohen said.

Only four federal agencies — the Departments of Defense, Justice, Energy, and Homeland Security— currently have full legal authority to detect, track, and counter unauthorized drones. State, local, and private entities, such as airport operators, are prohibited from using jamming or disabling tools to counteract drones, and must work with federal partners to intercede. Cohen said that policy leaves gaps in how state and local law enforcement agencies can respond to drones that potentially violate federal laws in their jurisdictions.

The National Fraternal Order of Police, one of the nation’s largest police unions, last year urged Congress to authorize state and local law enforcement with more power to stop criminal drone activity. Eric Burlison, a Republican representative from Missouri, in February introduced a bill that would allow state and local law enforcement agencies to deploy counter-drone systems to protect high-risk facilities and major public events, after a three-year pilot program.

“It’s going to be critically important that part of the security planning around these high visibility events includes the ability not just to detect but rapidly communicate with relevant stakeholders, operational stakeholders, so that countermeasures can be put in place rapidly and effectively,” Cohen said.

CIS’s report recommends a layered approach, Cohen said, that pairs detection tools with stronger interagency coordination and clearer governance. Without that approach, he said, state and local officials risk gaps in visibility and response, particularly at large-scale events involving multiple agencies.

“What we need is a ubiquitous national level capability that allows state and local jurisdictions who may be hosting high visibility events, whether it be the World Cup, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, a holiday festival, even things that are more more routine, such as religious services or an open air festivals, to have a comprehensive and coordinated national effort to deal with the threat posed by drones,” Cohen said.