H.R. 7525: Rep. Burlison’s Counter Drone Bill Pushes to Give Local Police Permanent C-UAS Powers

Representative Eric Burlison (R-MO) has introduced H.R. 7525, the Counter Drone State and Local Defender Act, a bill that would permanently authorize state, local, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies to operate counter-UAS (C-UAS) systems against unauthorized drone operations. The bill was received in Congress on February 12, 2026, and currently has no cosponsors.

• The Bill: H.R. 7525 would let the FAA authorize local law enforcement to detect, track, seize, and disrupt drones — without the operator’s consent — using FAA-approved equipment.
• The Path: The bill establishes a pilot program first, with permanent authorization following once that program concludes.
• The Hook: Special provisions cover the 2026 FIFA World Cup specifically, building on Burlison’s earlier push for Kansas City police to gain C-UAS powers for the tournament.
• The Source: Full bill details via Quiver Quantitative.

H.R. 7525 Builds a Two-Stage Path to Permanent Local C-UAS Authority

H.R. 7525 creates a structured two-stage framework: a federally overseen pilot program first, then permanent authorization for approved agencies once the pilot concludes. Only FAA-approved counter-UAS systems may be used, and all participating law enforcement officers must complete mandatory training before deployment. Agencies found out of compliance must report their activities and any complaints to federal oversight bodies.

The bill grants the FAA Administrator authority to let local agencies detect or mitigate drone threats, test new C-UAS technologies, and take actions including tracking, seizing, and disrupting drones without the operator’s prior consent. The pilot program caps the number of participating agencies within a set timeframe — a limit the bill frames as a quality-control measure. The bill does not specify whether participation is restricted to World Cup host jurisdictions or open to any qualifying agency nationwide, which is worth watching as the text moves through committee.

Federal grants are available to help agencies acquire the necessary equipment. That funding mechanism mirrors what we’ve already seen through FEMA’s C-UAS Grant Program, which sent $14.24 million to Missouri and hundreds of millions more to other World Cup host states late last year. Missouri got its money before this bill even existed. The bill would give agencies a formal, permanent legal framework to use that equipment.

The World Cup Provisions Are Targeted — But the Permanent Authorization Is Not

Section 4 of the bill carves out special authority for law enforcement around 2026 FIFA World Cup venues. Kansas City, which hosts matches from June 16 to July 11 at Arrowhead Stadium, is the clearest beneficiary. We covered Burlison’s initial push on this in February — at the time, the bill was framed almost entirely around the World Cup window. H.R. 7525 is broader.

The permanent authorization provision is what separates this bill from the event-specific workarounds we’ve seen before. The Safer Skies Act, which passed the House 312-112 and was signed into law as part of the FY2026 NDAA, gave local police counter-drone powers at sporting events. A January 2026 bill proposed studying counter-drone authority for wildfire operations. Burlison’s bill goes further by proposing that the authority doesn’t expire when the tournament ends or the fire is out.

Privacy Protections and Oversight Are in the Bill — On Paper

H.R. 7525 includes privacy language requiring that data collected during counter-drone operations comply with existing privacy laws, and that any communications intercepted during drone mitigation align with constitutional protections. Agencies must report activities and complaints to federal oversight bodies.

These provisions are standard inclusions in C-UAS legislation at this point. Whether they hold in practice is a different question. The DHS permanent counter-drone office created in January 2026 also cited privacy safeguards prominently, but the actual enforcement mechanisms remain thin. Worth watching as the bill moves forward.

Where This Bill Sits in the Broader C-UAS Push

Congress has been layering counter-drone authority steadily for the past year. The FY2026 NDAA expanded local police drone powers significantly. FEMA distributed $250 million to World Cup host states with training requirements attached. JIATF 401’s counter-UAS marketplace went live in February, giving agencies a streamlined path to procure approved systems.

H.R. 7525 fits into that architecture by providing the legal authorization layer that lets agencies actually use what they’ve purchased. Right now, most active mitigation authority sits with federal entities. That creates a response gap — local officers on the ground can watch a rogue drone approach a crowd and legally do very little about it. This bill is designed to close that gap permanently, not just for the next major event.

Burlison represents Missouri’s 7th Congressional District. The policy direction the bill points toward has bipartisan backing, but without cosponsors the path through committee is steep.

DroneXL’s Take

I’ve been tracking counter-drone legislation for years, and the pattern here is consistent: each new bill expands on the last one. The Safer Skies Act was “just for stadiums.” The wildfire study bill was “just preparatory work.” H.R. 7525 is “just after a pilot program.” The permanent authorization provision is the tell. Burlison isn’t writing a temporary fix — he’s writing the template for standing local C-UAS authority nationwide.

That’s not automatically bad. The federal response bottleneck is real. I’ve talked to Part 107 pilots who’ve watched incidents at events where federal assets simply weren’t on-site fast enough to matter. Local officers with proper training and approved equipment is a reasonable answer to that problem.

But the privacy provisions are thin. The reporting and oversight requirements need teeth, not just language. Without meaningful enforcement mechanisms, “complies with existing privacy laws” is a sentence that does almost nothing.

My prediction: this bill doesn’t pass as written, but its permanent authorization framework gets folded into the FY2027 NDAA before the end of 2026. Congress has shown it prefers bundling C-UAS authority into the annual defense bill rather than standalone vehicles — the FY2026 NDAA is the clearest example. Expect Burlison’s core provisions to resurface in that context by Q4 2026, with more cosponsors and a harder privacy section attached to make it politically viable.

For recreational pilots and commercial operators: the direction of travel is clear. Local law enforcement is gaining C-UAS capabilities fast. Respect TFRs, check NOTAMs before every flight near any major venue, and don’t assume that the absence of federal agents on-site means nobody can act on your aircraft. That assumption is becoming wrong, and getting more wrong every month.

Editorial Note: AI tools were used to assist with research and archive retrieval for this article. All reporting, analysis, and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo.