FAA Insider Opens Up About Drone Incursions Over Military Bases
A former top official at the FAA, Pentagon and White House discusses how adversaries are using drones to spy on our sensitive installations.
Howard Altman
Aug 15, 2025 4:42 PM EDT
A former top government insider opens up about the role of foreign adversaries in U.S. base drone incursions.
Last November, drones of an unknown origin appeared over Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, which The War Zone was first to report. In the following weeks, waves of drones were reported all over the state, and there were incursions over military bases in the U.S. and overseas. The sightings closed airspace, forced increased security patrols and spurred Congressional queries. These all followed another incident that we were the first to report, the December 2023 extremely troubling drone incursions over Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.
Despite all the evidence that we have brought up over the years that points to foreign actors using drones to collect intelligence about U.S. military capabilities, installations, and tactics, the U.S. military has in the past denied any organized or unorganized foreign nexus. While that view is changing, one government insider we spoke with has little doubt that our adversaries are spying on us with drones.
Brett Feddersen was a high-ranking official at the Federal Aviation Administration, the White House’s National Security Council, the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Defense Intelligence Agency. He now serves as vice president of strategy and governmental affairs for D-Fend Solutions, which supplies counter-drone equipment to the U.S. military, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice and other clients. The systems rely on a variety of sensors for detection and hijacking command signals to bring them down. He is also chairman of the Security Industry Association‘s Counter-UAS Working Group.
https://www.twz.com/air/foreign-nexus-in-military-base-drone-incursions-detailed-by-government-insider
