PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Feb 20, 2025
Disabling Enemy Flight Entry and Neutralizing Suspect Equipment Act or the DEFENSE Act
This bill allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the Department of Justice (DOJ) to deputize state or local law enforcement officers to take certain drone countermeasures to protect stadiums and other public gatherings.
Specifically, DHS or DOJ may provide state or local law enforcement officers with the authority to identify, monitor, and track drones; warn drone operators; disrupt or take control of drones; or use reasonable force to disable, damage, and seize or destroy drones deemed to pose a threat.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
This authority applies for the purposes of protecting an event, stadium, or venue; certain large public gatherings (e.g., gatherings that are primarily outdoors with an estimated attendance of at least 100,000 people); or other public gatherings protected by specific temporary flight restrictions imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Prior to being deputized, a state or local law enforcement officer must complete training in the use of the drone countermeasure authority.
DHS or DOJ, in coordination with the Department of Transportation and the FAA, must exercise oversight over the use of this authority by deputized state or local law enforcement officers.
Finally, the bill limits the equipment authorized for detecting, identifying, monitoring, or tracking drones to systems or technologies that are included on a list of authorized equipment maintained by DHS, in coordination with DOJ, the FAA, the Federal Communications Commission, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
People & committees
Sen. Cotton, Tom [R-AR] · R–AR
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: May 13, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.663 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.663 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.663 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.663 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.