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Executive Order: Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty (Donald Trump, 2025)

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Executive Order: Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty is an executive order that President Donald Trump (R) issued on June 6, 2025, during his second term in office.[1]

Executive orders are directives the president writes to officials within the executive branch requiring them to take or stop some action related to policy or management. They are numbered, published in the Federal Register, cite the authority by which the president is making the order, and the Office of Management and Budget issues budgetary impact analyses for each order.[2][3] Click here to read more about executive orders issued during Trump's second term.

Text of the order

The section below displays the text of the order. Click here to view the order as published on the White House website.

“

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:


Section 1. Purpose. Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), otherwise known as drones, offer the potential to enhance public safety as well as cement America’s leadership in global innovation. But criminals, terrorists, and hostile foreign actors have intensified their weaponization of these technologies, creating new and serious threats to our homeland. Drug cartels use UAS to smuggle fentanyl across our borders, deliver contraband into prisons, surveil law enforcement, and otherwise endanger the public. Mass gatherings are vulnerable to disruptions and threats by unauthorized UAS flights. Critical infrastructure, including military bases, is subject to frequent — and often unidentified — UAS incursions. Immediate action is needed to ensure American sovereignty over its skies and that its airspace remains safe and secure.


Sec. 2. Definitions. For the purposes of this order:


(a) the term “unmanned aircraft systems” or “UAS” has the meaning given in 49 U.S.C. 44801;


(b) the term “critical infrastructure” has the meaning given in 42 U.S.C. 5195c(e), and includes systems and assets in all of the designated critical infrastructure sectors identified in National Security Memorandum 22 of April 30, 2024 (Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience) (NSM-22); and


(c) the term Sector Risk Management Agency or “SRMA” has the same meaning given in 6 U.S.C. 650 and as further described in NSM-22.


Sec. 3. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to ensure control over our national airspace and to protect the public, critical infrastructure, mass gathering events, and military and sensitive government installations and operations from threats posed by the careless or unlawful use of UAS.


Sec. 4. Task Force to Restore American Airspace Sovereignty. To assist in ensuring control over our national airspace, there is hereby established the Federal Task Force to Restore American Airspace Sovereignty (Task Force). The Task Force shall be chaired by the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA) or a designee, and include principals, or their designees, from appropriate executive departments and agencies as identified by the APNSA. The Task Force shall review relevant operational, technical, and regulatory frameworks and develop and propose solutions to UAS threats, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, and shall make recommendations on the implementation of all actions identified in this order.


Sec. 5. Airspace Regulations to Protect the Public. The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) shall:


(a) with respect to the rulemaking required by section 2209(f) of the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016, as amended:


(i) promptly submit a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Task Force establishing the statutorily required process for restricting drone flights over fixed site facilities, and interpreting, to the extent appropriate, critical infrastructure consistent with the definition of that term in this order; and


(ii) promulgate a final rule as soon as practicable after publication of the NPRM;


(b) make national security and homeland security assessments under section 2209 in coordination with Sector Risk Management Agencies (SRMAs), the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the Attorney General, as appropriate, and whenever military installations or operations are implicated, with the Secretary of Defense; and


(c) within 180 days of the date of this order, make freely available online Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) and Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) in an open format easily accepted for drone geofencing and Aircraft Navigation and Guidance system purposes. This online availability should supplement, but not replace, existing NOTAMs and TFR promulgation methods.


Sec. 6. Enhancing Airspace Sovereignty. (a) the Attorney General, in coordination with the Administrator of the FAA, shall take appropriate steps to ensure full enforcement of applicable civil and criminal laws when drone operators endanger the public, violate established airspace restrictions, or operate a drone in furtherance of an element of another crime;


(b) on a recurring basis, the Attorney General shall submit to the President, through the APNSA, legislative proposals that would revise criminal penalties for violations of restricted airspace; and


(c) within 30 days of the date of this order, and to the extent allowed by law, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall ensure that their respective departments’ grant programs permit otherwise eligible State, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) agencies to receive grants to purchase UAS or equipment or services for the detection, tracking, or identification of drones and drone signals, consistent with the legal authorities of those SLTTs.


Sec. 7. Detection, Tracking, and Identification of Drones and Drone Signals. (a) To the extent permitted by law and consistent with the Fourth Amendment, executive departments and agencies shall use all available existing authorities to employ equipment to detect, track, and identify drones and drone signals.


(b) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission shall revise the August 2020 “Advisory on the Application of Federal Laws to the Acquisition and Use of Technology to Detect and Mitigate Unmanned Aircraft Systems” to reflect relevant developments in Federal law and regulations addressing drones.


(c) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Administrator of the FAA shall provide, to the extent permitted by law, including the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), automated real-time access to personal identifying information associated with UAS remote identification signals to appropriate executive departments and agencies and SLTT agencies for the purposes of enforcing applicable Federal or State law, with appropriate national security and privacy safeguards.


(d) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Administrator of the FAA, in coordination with the heads of other SRMAs as appropriate, shall publish guidance to aid private critical infrastructure owners or operators in employing technologies to detect, track, and identify drones and drone signals.


Sec. 8. Enhancing General Protections. Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Transportation, shall submit a recommendation to the President, through the APNSA, using risk-based assessment as defined in 6 U.S.C. 124n(k)(8), on whether the northern and southern land borders; large airports; Federal facilities; critical infrastructure; and military installations, facilities, and assets should be designated as covered facilities or assets under 6 U.S.C. 124n and 10 U.S.C. 130i and whether any changes to law would be necessary relating to such designation.


Sec. 9. Building Counter-UAS Capacity. (a) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall explore integrating counter-UAS operational responses as part of Joint Terrorism Task Forces for the purpose of protecting mass gathering events.


(b) The Attorney General, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense; the Secretary of Transportation, acting through the Administrator of the FAA; the Secretary of Homeland Security; the Director of OMB; and the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, shall promptly take all appropriate steps to implement the recommendations of the March 2022 Feasibility Report to Congress with regard to the creation of the National Training Center for Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Center), and, upon establishment of the Center, focus initial training provided by the Center on development of Federal and SLTT capabilities to secure major upcoming national and international sporting events held in the United States, such as the FIFA World Cup 2026 and the 2028 Summer Olympics.


Sec. 10. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:


(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or


(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.


(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.


(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.


(d) The costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the Department of Transportation.[4]

”

Executive orders in the second term of the Trump administration

September 2025

August 2025


July 2025

June 2025

May 2025

April 2025

March 2025

February 2025

January 2025


Historical context

See also: Donald Trump's executive orders and actions, 2025

Overview, 1789-2025

The following chart shows the number of executive orders and average executive orders per year issued by each president of the United States from 1789 to 2025.

Average number of executive orders issued each year by president, 1921-2025

The following chart visualizes the average number of executive orders issued each year between 1921 and 2025, as noted in the table in the section above. The number of executive orders issued declined during this time period with Presidents Barack Obama (D) and George W. Bush issuing the fewest on average at 35 and 36 each year, respectively.

Executive orders issued over time, 2001-2025

The chart below displays the number of executive orders issued over time by Biden, Trump, Obama, and Bush.


See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ White House, "Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty," June 6, 2025
  2. ↑ Cooper, Phillip. (2014). By Order of the President: The Use and Abuse of Executive Direct Action. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. (pgs. 21-22)
  3. ↑ USA Today, "Presidential memoranda vs. executive orders. What's the difference?" January 24, 2017
  4. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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