Review – S 663 Introduced – cUAS Deputies

Back in February Sen Cotton (R,AR) introduced S 663, the Disabling Enemy Flight Entry and Neutralizing Suspect Equipment (DEFENSE) Act. The bill would amend 6 USC 124n to specifically expand the limited counter UAS authority to certain stadium security events. No new funding would be authorized.

Moving Forward

Neither Cotton, nor his sole cosponsor {Rep Rosen (D,NV)} are member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there is probably not enough influence to see this bill considered in Committee. The Committee is having a hard enough time to reauthorize §124n which has been surviving on spending bill extensions (the latest in §3102 of PL 119-4 until September 30^th, 2025)since the section authority expired on October 5^th, 2022, so I doubt that this extension of the scope of the authority would be taken up as a stand alone measure.

 

For more information on the provisions of this bill, including a commentary of the confusing list requirements of subsection (m)(4), see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-663-introduced - subscription required.