Pentagon Mulls Deploying Anti-Drone Lasers Near Hegseth, Rubio Homes in DC: Report

(AP photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The Pentagon is considering deploying “powerful” anti-drone tech to the Washington, D.C., base that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth call home, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Officials are considering sending the laser system to Fort Lesley J. McNair, where several drones of unknown origin were spotted earlier this month, the paper reported, citing four people briefed on the matter.

The Times notes, however, that deploying the lasers to the high-traffic airspace over D.C. may complicate the proposal.

The piece comes weeks after the drone sightings that prompted officials to consider moving Rubio and Hegseth for their own safety. The Trump cabinet secretaries were ultimately not moved, the Washington Post reported.

Fort McNair, which is located less than four miles away from the White House, was not the only scene of alarming drone sightings this month.

On March 9, Service members at the Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, were given a shelter-in-place order on March 9 after an unmanned aircraft was spotted in the sky. The order was lifted later in the day, but drone sightings persisted for the rest of the week.

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