Washington – The type of small drone that crashed on the White House grounds on Monday is available at a chain like RadioShack Corp and illustrates the need for more regulation over such new technologies, U.S. President Barack Obama told CNN.
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In an interview broadcast on Tuesday, Obama said he had asked the Federal Aviation Administration to examine how the United States is managing the influx of flying devices “because the drone that landed in the White House you buy in RadioShack.”
The device known as a “quad copter” crashed at the White House early on Monday without endangering anyone. Obama is traveling overseas with his wife, Michelle.
Asked by CNN if he was confident that another drone that was armed could not land at his residence in the future, Obama demurred.
“This is a broader problem,” he said. “I’ll leave the Secret Service to talk about this particular event.”
Obama said companies such as Amazon.com Inc were looking at using drones to deliver packages. The devices can I am also help farmers manage crops and conservationists take stock of wildlife, he said.
He said government agencies were looking at putting a system in place to make sure such drones were not dangerous and not violating people’s privacy.
“We don’t yet have the legal structures and the architecture both globally and within individual countries to manage them the way that we need to,” Obama said.
“Part of my job over the past several years and over the next couple of years that I’m still in office is seeing if we can start providing some sort of framework that ensures that we get the good and minimize the bad.”
White House and Secret Service officials have said the drone was used for recreational purposes and did not appear dangerous, and that the person who flew it had come forward.
I see these drones flying on weekends over the mall a few blocks from the White House and capitol. Any type of ground to air missile or projectile launched from the White House grounds or rooftop that would shoot down such intruding drones would likely take out portions of the nearby high rise office buildings on either side of the WH and debris could cause injury to tourists in Lafayette park or south of the WH near the Washington monument.
Better solution: require installation of some type of electronic “kill switch” keyed to a frequency that would disable the craft as soon as it crossed into restricted airspace.
Available at Radio Shack? Unfortunately, probably not for long.