I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5366 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for certain authorized 
actions regarding interdiction of unmanned aircraft, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 21, 2018 
Mrs. HARTZLER (for herself, Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, and Ms. 
HANABUSA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Transpor-
tation and Infrastructure, and Homeland Security, for a period to be sub-
sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of 
such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for certain 
authorized actions regarding interdiction of unmanned 
aircraft, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safeguarding Amer-
ica’s Skies Act of 2018’’. 
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SEC. 2. AUTHORIZED ACTIONS REGARDING INTERDICTION 
OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of part I of title 18, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end of 
the following: 
‘‘SEC. 28. AUTHORIZED ACTIONS REGARDING INTERDIC-
TION OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFT. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro-
vision of this title, except as described in paragraph (1), 
the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney 
General may, for their respective departments, authorize 
officers, employees, and contractors of the department as-
signed with duties that include safety, security, or protec-
tion of personnel, facilities, or assets of the department, 
to take such actions described in subsection (b) that are 
necessary to mitigate the threat (as defined by the Sec-
retary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General, 
in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation) that 
an unauthorized UAV poses to the safety or security of 
a covered facility or asset. In taking such actions, the 
agency shall— 
‘‘(1) avoid any infringement of the privacy and 
civil rights of the people of the United States and 
the freedom of the press consistent with the First 
and Fourth Amendments, including with regard to 
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the testing of any equipment and the interception or 
acquisition of communications; 
‘‘(2) limit the geographic reach and the dura-
tion of such actions to only those areas and time-
frames that are reasonably necessary to address a 
reasonable threat; and 
‘‘(3) use reasonable care not to interfere with 
non-targeted manned or unmanned aircraft, commu-
nications, equipment, facilities, or services. 
‘‘(b) ACTIONS AUTHORIZED.— 
‘‘(1) ACTIONS
DESCRIBED.—The actions de-
scribed in this subsection are as follows: 
‘‘(A) Detect, identify, monitor, and track, 
without prior consent, a UAV, including by 
means of interception of or other access to wire, 
oral, electronic, or radio communications or sig-
nals transmitted to or by the UAV, to evaluate 
whether the UAV poses a reasonable threat to 
the safety or security of a covered facility or 
asset. 
‘‘(B) Warn the operator of the UAV, in-
cluding by passive or active, and direct or indi-
rect physical, electronic, radio, and electro-
magnetic means. 
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‘‘(C) Redirect, alter control, disable, dis-
rupt, seize, or confiscate, without prior consent, 
a UAV that poses a reasonable threat as deter-
mined under subsection (a), including by inter-
cepting, substituting, or disrupting wire, oral, 
electronic, or radio communications or signals 
transmitted to or by UAV. 
‘‘(D) Use reasonable force to disable, dis-
rupt, damage, or destroy a small unmanned air-
craft, unmanned aircraft system, unmanned air-
craft, or unmanned aircraft’s attached system, 
payload, or cargo that poses a reasonable threat 
to the safety or security of a covered facility or 
asset. 
‘‘(E) Conduct research, testing, training 
on, or evaluation of any equipment, including 
any electronic equipment, to determine its capa-
bility and utility to enable. 
‘‘(2) REGULATIONS AND GUIDANCE.—The Sec-
retary of Homeland Security and the Attorney Gen-
eral, in coordination with the Secretary of Transpor-
tation, may make rules and shall issue guidance in 
their respective areas to carry out this section. 
‘‘(3) AVOIDANCE OF DUPLICATION.—The Sec-
retary of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, 
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and the Secretary of Transportation shall coordinate 
and avoid duplication in the development of guid-
ance under this paragraph or otherwise imple-
menting this section. 
‘‘(4) MINIMIZATION
OF
HARMFUL
INTER-
FERENCE.—The Secretary of Homeland Security, 
the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Trans-
portation shall also coordinate with the Federal 
Communications Commission and the National Tele-
communications and Information Administration to 
ensure that all actions taken and guidance and rules 
made under this subsection minimize harmful inter-
ference to licensed and unlicensed communications, 
devices, and services authorized by the Federal Com-
munications Commission. 
‘‘(5) FINAL RULE REGARDING REMOTE IDENTI-
FICATION AND TRACKING OF UAVS.—Not later than 
one year after the effective date of this section the 
Secretary of Transportation shall issue a final rule 
requiring remote identification and tracking of 
UAVs, including UAVs for recreational use, to en-
sure that cooperative aircraft are identified. 
‘‘(c) FORFEITURE.—Any UAV described in sub-
section (a) that is seized by the Federal agency is subject 
to forfeiture to the United States. 
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‘‘(d) EXEMPTION FROM DISCLOSURE.—Information 
pertaining to the technology, procedures, and protocols 
used to carry out this section, including any regulations 
or guidance issued to carry out this section, shall be ex-
empt from disclosure under section 552(b)(3) of title 5 
and exempt from disclosure under State and local law re-
quiring the disclosure of information. 
‘‘(e) PRIVACY PROTECTION.—All actions taken and 
guidance and rules made under subsection (b)(2) shall en-
sure that— 
‘‘(1) the interception or acquisition of or access 
to communications to or from UAV under this sec-
tion is conducted in a manner consistent with the 
Fourth Amendment to the Constitution and applica-
ble provisions of Federal law; 
‘‘(2) communications are intercepted, acquired, 
or accessed only to the extent necessary to mitigate 
the reasonable threat that an unmanned aircraft 
system or unmanned aircraft poses to the safety or 
security of a covered facility or asset; 
‘‘(3) records of such communications are main-
tained only for as long as necessary and in no event 
for more than 180 days unless the Secretary of 
Homeland Security or the Attorney General reason-
ably determine that maintenance of such records— 
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‘‘(A) is necessary to support one or more 
safety or security functions of the Department 
of Homeland Security or the Department of 
Justice, respectively; or 
‘‘(B) is required for a longer period to sup-
port a law enforcement agency or by any other 
applicable law or regulation; and 
‘‘(4) such communications are not disclosed 
outside the Department of Homeland Security or the 
Department of Justice unless the disclosure, subject 
to paragraph (a)(1) above— 
‘‘(A) would fulfill a safety or security func-
tion of the Department of Homeland Security 
or the Department of Justice; 
‘‘(B) would support the Department of De-
fense, a civilian law enforcement agency, or the 
enforcement activities of a regulatory agency of 
the Federal Government in connection with a 
criminal or civil investigation of, or any regu-
latory action with regard to, an action described 
in subsection (b)(1); or 
‘‘(C) is otherwise required by law or regu-
lation. 
‘‘(f) SCOPE OF AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this section 
shall be construed to provide the Secretary of Homeland 
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Security or the Attorney General additional authorities be-
yond those described in (b)(1) without authorization by 
law. 
‘‘(g) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Attorney General 
and Secretary of Homeland Security, shall each submit 
to Congress, not later than one year after enactment, and 
each year thereafter, a report that shall include, at min-
imum— 
‘‘(1) a description of actions taken, guidance 
provided, and rules made pursuant to this section, 
including a summary of public comments submitted 
in relation to such guidance or rules; 
‘‘(2) a description of each Department’s efforts 
to address privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties 
issues implicated by the actions permitted by this 
section and other Federal and State government 
policies affecting UAVs; 
‘‘(3) the number of UAVs that have been sub-
ject to each of the actions taken under subsection 
(b)(2), broken out by action; 
‘‘(4) actions taken by each Department to in-
form the public of covered facilities and assets au-
thorized by this section; 
‘‘(5) implementation costs; or 
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‘‘(6) a description of any revisions to this sec-
tion that may be desirable. 
‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘cooperative aircraft’ means air-
craft that have an electronic means of identification 
aboard in operation. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘covered facility or asset’ means 
any facility or asset that— 
‘‘(A) is identified by the Secretary of 
Homeland Security or the Attorney General; 
‘‘(B) is located in the United States (in-
cluding the territories and possessions of the 
United States): and 
‘‘(C) relates to— 
‘‘(i) the buildings and grounds leased, 
owned, or operated by or for the Federal 
Government, including Federal Facility 
protection operations; 
‘‘(ii) authorized protective operations, 
including but not limited to the protection 
of Federal jurists, court officers, witnesses, 
and other persons; 
‘‘(iii) penal, detention, correctional, 
and judicial operations; 
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‘‘(iv) 
National 
Security 
Special 
Events, Special Event Assessment Ratings 
Events, or other mass gatherings or events 
that are reasonably assessed by the De-
partment of Justice to be a potential tar-
get for terrorism or other criminal activity; 
‘‘(v) active Federal law enforcement 
investigations; 
‘‘(vi) operations that counter ter-
rorism, narcotics, and transnational crimi-
nal organizations; 
‘‘(vii) securing authorized vessels, 
whether moored or underway; 
‘‘(viii) protection operations pursuant 
to section 3056; 
‘‘(ix) critical infrastructure; 
‘‘(x) Emergency Response Operations; 
‘‘(xi) National Disaster Areas if it is 
determined by the Secretary of Homeland 
Security that unauthorized access to the 
airspace would restrict recovery efforts; 
‘‘(xii) Natural or Hazardous Disaster 
Areas if it is determined by the Secretary 
of Homeland Security that unauthorized 
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access to the airspace would restrict recov-
ery efforts; and 
‘‘(xiii) other areas identified by the 
President. 
‘‘(3) The term ‘UAV’ means a small unmanned 
aircraft, unmanned aircraft system, unmanned air-
craft, or unmanned aircraft’s attached system, pay-
load, or cargo. 
‘‘(4) The terms ‘unmanned aircraft’, ‘small un-
manned aircraft’, and ‘unmanned aircraft system’ 
have the meanings given those terms in section 331 
of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 
(Public Law 112–95; 49 U.S.C. 40101 note). 
‘‘(5) The terms ‘intercept’ and ‘wire, oral, elec-
tronic, or radio communications’ have the meaning 
given those terms in section 2510. 
‘‘(6) The term ‘critical infrastructure’ has the 
meaning given that term in section 2339D except 
that the Attorney General may, in his or her deter-
mination, amend the definition for purposes of this 
section in the issuance of any guidance or rules 
made under subsection (b)(2).’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for such chapter is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘28. Authorized actions regarding interdiction of unmanned aircraft.’’. 
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(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Title 18, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) in section 32, by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(d) Nothing in this section shall apply to any action 
lawfully taken under section 28.’’; 
(2) in section 1030, by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(k) Nothing in this section shall apply to any action 
lawfully taken under section 28.’’; 
(3) in section 1362 by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘Nothing in this section shall apply to any action 
lawfully taken under section 28.’’; 
(4) in section 1367, by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(c) Nothing in this section shall apply to any action 
lawfully taken under section 28.’’; 
(5) in chapter 119— 
(A) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘§ 2523. Exception for interdiction of unmanned air-
craft 
‘‘Nothing in this chapter shall apply in the case of 
any action lawfully taken under section 28.’’; and 
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(B) in the table of sections for such chap-
ter, by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘2523. Exception for interdiction of unmanned aircraft.’’; 
and 
(6) in chapter 206— 
(A) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘§ 3128. Exception for interdiction of unmanned air-
craft 
‘‘Nothing in this chapter shall apply in the case of 
any action lawfully taken under section 28.’’; and 
(B) in the table of sections for such chap-
ter, by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘3128. Exception for interdiction of unmanned aircraft.’’. 
Æ 
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