This week: Agencies issue guidance on UAS detection and mitigation technology; White House calls for 30% boost to AI and quantum information science funding; California approves final CCPA regulations; DOE and DOD announce First Five Consortium to leverage AI in disaster response.
Agencies Issue Guidance on UAS Detection and Mitigation Technology
This week, the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released interagency advisory guidance on use of unmanned aircraft system (UAS) detection and mitigation technology. The document is intended to advise both non-federal public and private entities and provides an overview of relevant US criminal code enforced by DOJ, as well as laws and regulations enforced by the FAA, DHS, and FCC pertaining to aviation safety, airport security, and spectrum.
In recent years, Congress granted limited UAS countermeasures authorities to the Departments of Defense (DOD) and Energy (DOE), and later to DOJ and DHS, in annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) legislation. These entities do not have authority to approve state and local or private use of UAS detection or mitigation capabilities, or to conduct legal reviews of commercially available products.
Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, who previously served as Deputy Secretary of Transportation, said the guidance is a response to an increase in the availability of UAS countermeasures technologies, which “may be presented for sale without a full discussion of important legal requirements.”
Read more in McGuireWoods Consulting’s Emerging Technologies Washington Update.