The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued an interim final rule codifying how state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement and correctional agencies can use counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) authorities under the SAFER SKIES Act.
The rule, published in the Federal Register on July 6, took effect July 1 and sets a Sept. 4 deadline for public comments.
The rule covers training and certification, authorized C-UAS technologies, spectrum coordination, airspace approval, real-time air traffic control notification, mitigation reporting, privacy protections, and compliance requirements.
The SAFER SKIES Act authorizes state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies to detect and mitigate credible threats from unmanned aircraft systems under specified conditions.
The rule says the initial list of authorized technologies is expected to include radio frequency detection with command-and-control signal interception, radio frequency disruption, and radio frequency protocol manipulation, including command injection and cyber takeover.
DOJ and DHS said systems with one or more authorized technologies will be authorized for operational use in phases, drawing first from systems with existing federal operational deployment and interagency coordination history.
“Safety is preserved because every operator of a system requiring the Act’s authority or relief from criminal liability completes the required curriculum and assessment before operating,” the rule says.
The rule also establishes a compliance audit program and addresses the civil penalties and civil enforcement of the SAFER SKIES Act. The compliance audit program gives an agency the means to demonstrate, and the departments the means to verify, compliance with requirements in the law before a violation occurs.