29 governors urge federal officials to expand counter-drone training under the Safer Skies Act

TLDR

• A bipartisan group of 29 US governors, led by North Carolina's Josh Stein and South Carolina's Henry McMaster, sent an October 6 letter asking federal officials to expand counter-drone training capacity.¹²
• The letter went to Attorney General Todd Blanche, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel.¹²
• The governors want more seats at the FBI's National Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Training Center, specialized training for corrections officers, and expanded training for National Guard personnel.¹²
• The request follows the Safer Skies Act, enacted in December 2025 as part of the fiscal 2026 NDAA, which expanded state and local authority to detect and respond to threatening drones.¹²

Governor Josh Stein and South Carolina Governor Henry Dargan McMaster led a bipartisan group of 29 governors in calling on federal law enforcement and defense officials to expand training opportunities for state, local, tribal and territorial law enforcement, corrections officials and National Guard personnel to counter rogue drones.¹² In an October 6 letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel, the governors wrote that "without sufficient training capacity, many jurisdictions will be unable to responsibly exercise the authorities Congress has provided."¹²

The letter identifies three priorities. First, the governors want more training opportunities through the FBI's National Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Training Center, citing limited availability that has created lengthy wait times, and suggest adding seats or regional programs to cut travel costs and delays.² Second, they call for specialized training for corrections officers to address drones used to smuggle contraband, weapons, drugs and communication devices into correctional facilities, covering legal authority, evidence collection and safe response procedures.¹² Third, they seek expanded training for National Guard personnel, who support major public events, emergency response, homeland security and critical infrastructure protection.¹²

The push follows the Safer Skies Act, which Congress enacted in December 2025 as part of the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, expanding the circumstances under which authorized state, local, tribal and territorial agencies can detect and respond to threatening drones.² The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security published an interim final rule in July 2026 setting separate training and certification requirements for detection and warning operations versus more intrusive mitigation measures, and agencies must meet those federal requirements before using the new authorities.² Stein previously led a group of 31 governors in September 2025 urging federal action on the drone threat to critical infrastructure, before the Safer Skies Act passed.¹

Why it matters: the Safer Skies Act gave state and local agencies real new legal authority to counter drones, but this letter from 29 governors, Republicans and Democrats together, says that authority is close to useless without enough federally approved training seats, putting pressure on the Justice Department, FBI and DHS to scale up certification capacity before the gap between legal authority and operational readiness becomes a political liability.