DEFEND Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6846 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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.''.
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