When a drone was spotted over the Ohio State-Maryland college football game on Saturday, authorities immediately called off the nationally televised game and pulled the players from the field.
The interruption was brief. The drone took off, and police tracked down the pilot and arrested him. The pilot said he lost control of his newly purchased aircraft as it meandered over Ohio Stadium in Columbus. He faces multiple criminal charges, but police said they found no evidence of malicious intent.
Still, the incident was the latest in a series of drone incursions over stadiums, and was closely watched by executives from the NFL and other major sports leagues, as well as members of Congress. They say they fear this highlights serious security vulnerabilities, compounded by the lack of federal law, that could lead to catastrophic loss of life.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said, “[Drones]can be used in nefarious ways to grenade, inflicting significant damage and in some cases killing individuals. “We are concerned about those who drop them,” he said. and government relations.
Stadiums and other outdoor venues are often protected by multiple layers of security on the ground, but are largely vulnerable to attacks and accidents from the air, security officials told NBC News. Despite the war between Russia and Ukraine proving how easy it is to weaponize off-the-shelf small drones, U.S. law gives authority to intercept and shoot down rogue aircraft to the FBI and Homeland Security. It is only given to the Ministry of Security, officials said. Agencies don’t have the resources to cover most major sporting events. It has sent counter-drone teams to the Super Bowl and World Series, but not to regular games.
NFL security chief Cathy Lanier told NBC News that since 2018, when the FBI and DHS were given drone mitigation authority, they have received 121,000 requests to send teams to stadiums and other venues. said. “They were able to approve 77,” she said.
And even that limited “removal” power is tenuous and is scheduled to expire on Nov. 17, when the current Congressional spending bill expires. Peters and other lawmakers, with support from a coalition of sports leagues including the NFL, NCAA, MLB and NASCAR, are pushing for legislation that would give state and local law enforcement the power to crack down on rogue drones. .
FBI Director Christopher Wray supported the concept, saying in 2022 that the FBI investigated multiple cases of attempts to weaponize small drones.
Lanier said federal law already prohibits drones from flying over major sporting events. But often there is no way to prevent it.
“They are invading restricted airspace and violating the law,” she said. “All we want is the ability to control the drone and move it out of airspace.”
Lanier said there were about 2,500 drone incursions over NFL stadiums last season, up from 1,300 the year before. Last year, a game between the Seattle Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons was halted for 10 minutes after a drone flew over Lumen Field in Seattle. In 2018, a man modified a drone to drop flyers during NFL games in Santa Clara and Oakland, California.
“It could have been anything,” she said. “To me, it feels like a big hole in the fence.”
Experts said drones over stadiums could cause mayhem even if they were not equipped with explosives. If the audience believed it was a threat, they would panic and rush for the exits, potentially resulting in loss of life.
“There are 70,000 people in these stadiums and arenas,” Lanier said. “When you introduce panic into that scenario, it becomes even more difficult to deal with. And there are people who could potentially get hurt. So we don’t want anyone to introduce anything that will cause panic in the stadium. is.”
In 2017, a drone crashed within inches of spectators during an MLB game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres at Petco Park in San Diego.
Lanier, who served as D.C.’s police chief from 2007 to 2016, spoke in an interview at FedEx Field, the Washington Commanders stadium in Landover, Maryland, hours before the game. Anyone attempting to access the stadium had to pass through a police vehicle checkpoint and pass through a metal detector on the way into the building. However, such safety measures did not protect the airspace.
“I think the biggest crisis since I’ve been here was the Super Bowl in Atlanta (in 2019),” she said.
An FBI team spotted the drone just before six Air Force F-16s conducted an overflight before the game. There was no time to take it down.
“Fortunately, the FBI team was able to communicate that to the high-altitude team, who increased altitude to ensure there was no possibility of a collision.”
It’s not just the stadium. DHS told Congress in July 2022 that there have been approximately 2,000 drone sightings near U.S. airports since 2021, “including nearly daily incursions at major airports.”
And Peters said Mexican drug cartels are increasingly using drones to move illegal drugs across the border.
“Even if there’s a wall, it won’t stop drug-laden drones from flying,” he said.
“We have to stop kicking the can from now on,” Lanier said. “The problem is that policy hasn’t caught up with technology.”