Overview
- The new guide from the Pentagon’s Joint Interagency Task Force 401 provides a common playbook for commanders and local law enforcement to protect critical sites from small unmanned aircraft systems.
- It centers on a Harden, Obscure, Perimeter framework that shapes the physical environment to frustrate reconnaissance and payload attacks without relying on costly technology.
- Recommended measures include structural shielding, overhead netting or cables, retractable roofs or lightweight mesh, temporary walls, visual clutter, extended perimeters, patrols at standoff distance, and temporary checkpoints.
- The guidance extends protection priorities beyond military bases to public venues, transit hubs, prisons, courthouses, and infrastructure such as power stations, communications systems, reservoirs, and water treatment facilities, and it was issued in support of the White House FIFA Task Force.
- JIATF 401 director Brig. Gen. Matt Ross emphasized attribution with local law enforcement and noted that low-collateral kinetic effectors may be needed, and the release follows Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s move to expand service authority to designate covered assets and assess risk.