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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6846 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6846
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Detecting and Evaluating Foreign
Exploitation of Novel Drones Act'' or the ``DEFEND Act''.
SEC. 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:
``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.
``(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.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security.
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