Pentagon broadens counter-drone authorities in bid to shore up vulnerable U.S. bases

The Pentagon said it consolidated policies around protecting American military facilities from drone threats after unclear guidance that left base commanders scrambling on how to respond and years of increased unmanned aerial system sightings over key Defense Department assets. Drone incursions over American military bases jumped considerably over the last several years, alarming officials, and a Pentagon watchdog report released last week said the DOD’s confused policies meant some facilities in the U.S. couldn’t adequately protect themselves. Following the release of the Defense Department Inspector General report last Tuesday, which noted dire gaps in military counter-UAS policy that limited base responses to drone threats, the Pentagon said it had already adjusted its guidelines last month in an effort to give commanders “expanded authority and flexibility needed to dominate the airspace above their installations.” Countering drones in the U.S. is complex and has been a yearslong, thorny problem for the military, especially as the tech becomes ubiquitous for both hobbyists and adversaries. Stateside drone defense means navigating a delicate balance between protecting military installations while avoiding civilian harm or infrastructure damage. But the issue is only growing, top military officials have said, and the new guidance is the latest attempt by the Pentagon to manage it. The policies, which the release said was signed on Dec. 8 by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, expanded base commanders’ defensive area around facilities, explicitly identified any unauthorized drone surveillance over installations as a threat, allowed UAS sensor data sharing between other federal agencies and authorized top service leaders to designate facilities as “covered,” a special classification that allows for drone defense. With tax filing season officially gearing up, the Treasury Department’s watchdog is warning the IRS that its workforce reductions and delays to modernization projects have left the tax agency in a precarious position. In a memo sent Monday to the IRS commissioner, Diana M. Tengesdal, deputy inspector general for audit, wrote that the agency’s cuts have brought staffing back to October 2021 levels, prior to the Inflation Reduction Act funding infusion aimed at strengthening enforcement on wealthy individuals and corporations and modernizing antiquated IT systems. The loss of personnel has led to a backsliding on previous agency priorities, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration official noted, pointing specifically to a pandemic-created backlog of tax returns awaiting processing. The tax agency had made serious strides in addressing that backlog, TIGTA found in a September 2023 report, but Trump administration staff cuts combined with the recent government shutdown have led to inventory levels that are 129% higher than pre-pandemic figures. “Inventory that is not worked during the current processing year will be carried into the 2026 Filing Season and may affect the IRS’s ability to timely process tax returns during the filing season, especially with reduced staff,” Tengesdal wrote. “This could result in delays in taxpayers receiving refunds and could result in the IRS paying interest,” she continued. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.