The Department of Defense announced on Oct. 16, with the Transportation and Homeland Security departments, a temporary flight restriction barring unauthorized drones from the surface to 400 feet within one nautical mile north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said troops “will shoot down any cartel drone that threatens U.S. sovereignty,” including with directed-energy weapons. The FAA’s domestic notice keeps the restriction in place for one year, through Oct. 19, 2027, and sends authorization requests to Customs and Border Protection.
Related Just Security coverage: Mark Nevitt, The New “National Defense Area” at the Southern Border: What You Need to Know (April 29, 2025); Murder by Drone: The Legal and Moral Stakes of the Caribbean Strikes
You can read the documents here and here, and they are provided in full below:
Department of Defense Announcement
Federal Aviation Administration Domestic Notice
