The U.S. government said there should be better communication between agencies after the military reportedly shot down a Texas Customs and Border Protection drone with a laser on Thursday.
Some Democrats, including the ranking members of the House Homeland Security and Transportation committees, called the incident another example of “incompetence.”
This comes two weeks after CBP used a military-grade laser to shoot down what turned out to be a party balloon in Texas, causing a temporary closure of El Paso airspace.
The Department of Defense, CBP, and Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the incident in a joint statement Thursday. There were no commercial aircraft nearby.
“At President Trump’s direction, the Department of the Army, FAA, and Customs and Border Protection are working together in an unprecedented way to reduce the drone threat posed by Mexican cartels and foreign terrorist organizations at the U.S.-Mexico border,” the agencies said in a statement.
“This reported engagement occurred when the Department of the Army utilized the Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Authority to mitigate a seemingly threatening unmanned aircraft system operating within military airspace,” they said.
“These agencies remain committed to strengthening cooperation and communication to prevent such incidents in the future,” the two agencies said in a joint statement.
The statement did not specify that a CBP drone was involved in the collision.
The New York Times reported that “the Pentagon used a high-energy laser” to shoot down the drone, citing four people familiar with what happened and who were not authorized to discuss the incident publicly. Bloomberg also reported the same, citing people familiar with the matter.
Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, along with ranking Democratic members of the House Transportation Committee and ranking members of the Aviation Subcommittee, criticized the reported accident but was not briefed on it.
“Our heads are exploding after hearing reports that the Department of Defense used a high-risk counter-unmanned aircraft system to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone,” they said in a joint statement.
They also criticized the Trump administration for “side-stepping” bipartisan legislation aimed at training drone operators and improving communication between the Department of Defense, FAA and Homeland Security.
“Now we are seeing the consequences of that incompetence,” they said.
The earlier laser firing was carried out by CBP near Fort Bliss, about 80 miles to the northwest, and prompted the FAA to shut down air traffic at the El Paso airport and surrounding area. This time, the scale of the closure was small and commercial aviation was not affected.
The FAA announced early Thursday that it had expanded airspace closures around Fort Hancock.
El Paso’s shutdown two weeks ago lasted only a few hours, but it put the city of nearly 700,000 people near the Mexican border on high alert and led to numerous flight cancellations.
NBC News previously reported that the closure occurred after CBP officers used a military-provided anti-drone laser to shoot down what was later determined to be a party balloon, according to four people familiar with the matter.
CBP did this without coordinating with the FAA, which closed the airspace, four officials said.
Lawmakers later said it appeared to be another example of dysfunction within government, with various agencies unable to work together.
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said he plans to brief MPs on what happened later this week. At an unrelated news conference last Friday, he said the FAA made a mistake in closing El Paso’s airspace and did not believe communication issues caused the problem.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Ranking Member of the Senate Aviation Subcommittee, said Thursday’s situation was alarming and needed an independent investigation.
“The Trump administration’s incompetence continues to cause chaos in the skies,” she said.
According to Duckworth, Illinois, the Pentagon reportedly used a “high-energy laser” to shoot down the drone.
The investigation into last year’s mid-air collision between a passenger plane and an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C., which killed 67 people, has highlighted how the FAA and Pentagon have not always worked well together.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the FAA and Army are not sharing safety data with each other about the alarming number of near-misses around Reagan National Airport and are not addressing the risks.
