On June 6, 2025, President Donald Trump signed two executive orders aimed at significantly reshaping the future of drone policy in the United States. One focuses on protecting national airspace from malicious drone threats, while the other seeks to supercharge the U.S. drone industry at home and abroad.

Together, these orders paint a clear picture of a dual strategy: tighten security while boosting innovation. Here’s a breakdown, without the legal jargon, of what these two executive orders mean and why they matter.

Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty: Cracking Down on Dangerous Drone Use

This executive order is all about defending U.S. airspace from threats posed by drones—especially when used by hostile actors.

The order warns that while drones can offer many benefits, bad actors have increasingly weaponized them, raising serious national security and public safety concerns. From hovering over stadiums and critical infrastructure to spying on sensitive government sites, drones have become a tool for potential harm.

The key actions in the executive order:

• New Task Force: A special interagency task force will review the United States’ current drone policies and tech capabilities and propose solutions to improve drone defense.
• Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Rulemaking: The FAA will write new rules to restrict drone flights over “fixed site facilities”— think power plants, military bases, or large venues.
• Better Geofencing Tools: FAA notices and airspace restrictions will be made available in a more open, digital-friendly format so drone systems can automatically avoid no-fly zones.
• Law Enforcement Mandate: The Attorney General must step up enforcement of laws against reckless or criminal drone use.
• Expanded Detection Powers: Agencies are directed to use all tools available to detect, track, and identify drones and their signals.
• Counter-Drone Coordination: The Attorney General and Homeland Security Secretary will explore embedding drone defense into Joint Terrorism Task Forces, especially around mass gathering events like sports games, concerts, or political rallies.

This is a crackdown on dangerous or unlawful drone activity. It could lead to more enforcement, stricter no-fly zones, and tighter coordination across federal and local agencies to stop drone threats before they escalate.

Unleashing Drone Dominance: Promoting U.S. Drone Innovation and Exports

The second order flips the script. While the first one cracks down, this one opens up new doors for U.S.-made drone technology to thrive.

President Trump argues that drones are not just flying gadgets, they’re a key part of the future economy. They can improve productivity, create high-skilled jobs, and modernize transportation and logistics. To stay competitive globally, the United States must scale production, expand exports, and support homegrown innovation.

The key actions in the executive order:

• Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Rules: The FAA will issue new regulations to allow drones to fly beyond the pilot’s line of sight, critical for delivery services, search and rescue, and more.
• AI-Powered Waiver Reviews: The government will start using artificial intelligence tools to speed up the approval of drone waiver applications, cutting red tape.
• Easing International Flight Restrictions: U.S.-based drone flights that begin and end domestically (or from U.S.-owned platforms) will no longer face manned aircraft-style rules under international law.
• National Integration Roadmap: A new plan will guide how drones are fully integrated into U.S. airspace—from small consumer drones to delivery fleets.
• Test Range Expansion: FAA test sites will be used more aggressively to develop and scale up next-gen drone tech.
• Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) Pilot Program: The government will launch a program to accelerate the rollout of eVTOL aircraft (think flying taxis).
• Supply Chain Protections: A “Covered Foreign Entity List” will identify risky suppliers, and new measures will be taken to protect the U.S. drone supply chain from foreign control or espionage.
• Export Boost: Export control rules will be revised to make it easier to sell U.S.-made drones abroad, as long as they’re not going to adversaries.
• Military Access to Drones: The Department of Defense will take steps to improve service members’ access to drones, possibly for training or battlefield use.

This order lays the groundwork for a full-scale push to grow the domestic drone economy, loosening rules, accelerating innovation, and taking aim at global drone markets.

Taken together, these two executive orders represent a new drone doctrine: protect U.S. skies and dominate the drone market.

• For drone operators and manufacturers, the message is mixed but clear: follow the rules, especially around security, and the government will support your growth.
• For regulators and law enforcement, the orders add urgency to modernizing systems, cracking down on threats, and speeding up approvals.
• For the drone industry, it could mean faster innovation, broader markets, and a bigger push to bring manufacturing back home.

Whether you’re flying drones, building them, regulating them, or just watching from the ground, 2025 may be a defining year for how the United States handles the skies.

This post was co-authored by Government Enforcement + White-Collar Defense partner David E. Carney.