The Secret Service just announced plans to learn how to catch rogue drones by conducting “a series of exercises involving unmanned aircraft systems, in the coming days and weeks.” The agency’s worries about its ability to prevent drone attacks were likely amplified after a drunk government employee crashed a small unmanned aircraft on the White House lawn in January.
The memo explaining their drone project continues, “Because these exercises will be conducted within the normally flight restricted areas in the Washington D.C. area, they have been carefully planned and will be tightly controlled. In preparation for these exercises the Secret Service has coordinated with all appropriate federal, state and local agencies.”
Although many reporters have been keen to learn more about the Secret Service’s plan to fly drones in restricted zones around the nation’s capital — like whether the exercises would involve recreational drones or military drones, or what, exactly, the exercises would entail — no additional information has been provided besides the short statement quoted above.
D.C. residents are advised to take advantage of the situation and pretend they are starring in a reenactment of Independence Day if they happen to see a drone in upcoming weeks.
