OMB Sends UAS List of Associated Elements IFR to OMB

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received an interim final rule (IFR) from the OMB on “American Security Drone Act of 2023; Unmanned Aircraft System List of Associated Elements”. This rulemaking was not listed in the Spring 2025 Unified Agenda. It looks like this rulemaking is implementing the requirement of §1823(a) of the American Security Drone Act of 2023 {Section 1821 et seq, PL 118-31, 137 STAT. 691}.

This requirement in §1823 is placed upon the Federal Acquisition Security Council (FASC). The FASC was established by the Federal Acquisition Security Council Rule. The FASC is an executive branch interagency council chaired by a senior-level official from the Office of Management and Budget. This is the reason that the OMB is authoring this regulation.

The term ‘associated elements’ is used in §1823 to describe those parts of unmanned aircraft systems that are “related to the collection and transmission of sensitive information (consisting of communication links and the components that control the unmanned aircraft) that enable the operator to operate the aircraft in the National Airspace System.” The ‘list of associated elements’ will be used to limit federal agencies from acquiring such elements when they come from a ‘covered foreign entity’ {§1822(1)}.

I do not expect that I will be covering this rulemaking in any detail, but I do expect that I will announce its publication in the appropriate Short Takes post.