Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, commander of the United States Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee in April 2025. Guillot, pictured above testifying before Congress in 2024, has requested the authority to disable unmanned aerial systems within 5 miles of the Mexico-U.S. border. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
THE WATCH STAFF
The commander of the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) told a Congressional committee in April 2025 that he has requested permission to shoot down drones near the Mexico-U.S. border to counter the increasing use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) by criminal gangs. Gen. Gregory M. Guillot addressed the House Armed Services Committee to update federal lawmakers on his commands’ challenges and capabilities in a 3½-hour April 1 hearing, appearing jointly with U.S. Southern Command Commander Adm. Alvin Holsey and top U.S. Department of Defense officials. Guillot’s testimony touched on a variety of issues, including two topics newly critical to the command based in Colorado Springs, Colorado: UAS incursions and security along the 3,145-kilometer border with Mexico.
Guillot said targeting Mexican cartel UAS use required “a change to the rule of force” to “allow us to shoot down or bring down drones that are surveilling over our deployed and mobile troops … not just that are in self-defense, but anything that’s surveilling and planning the next attack on us within five miles of the border,” he said, according to The War Zone, a military affairs news website. Under current law, U.S. troops deployed to the Mexican border can’t destroy UAS.
Guillot, who answered several queries from committee members about UAS activity, said he is also seeking greater power to protect U.S. military installations from surveillance or more malicious behavior. “We’re working with the services and with the [Defense] Department to increase not only the capability but also to expand the authorities,” Guillot said during the hearing, according to The War Zone. “We have to knock out not only aircraft or UAS that are a direct threat but also that are surveilling over the installation. I’d like to even see it expanded beyond the installation to ensure they can’t see anything sensitive on our bases.”
Guillot testified that he wants increased authority under a subsection of a federal law known as 130(i). This legal mechanism allows for countermeasures to protect “certain facilities and assets from unmanned aircraft,” including using kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities. To date, the U.S. military has prioritized electronic warfare and cyber warfare defense over kinetic and directed energy weapons like lasers, high-powered microwave weapons, along with more traditional interceptors and weapon systems, The War Zone reported.
Guillot pointed to the drastic decrease in illegal activity as evidence of a successful deployment of USNORTHCOM troops to the region and effective collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security. The cartels, which the U.S. recently designated as foreign terrorist organizations, have not been defeated, he said, but they have been under pressure from increased surveillance capability provided by USNORTHCOM. The cartels aren’t “fully disrupted, but they have been weakened,” Guillot said at the hearing. Guillot said he would like more integration and intelligence sharing between the military and federal, state and local law enforcement nationally to further weaken the cartels.
The U.S. military’s presence on the border will likely continue for a couple of years, Guillot said. “We need to make sure it is lasting,” he said, according to USNI News, a military affairs news website. Guillot testified that active duty troops at the border number about 6,500. That number climbs to 10,000 once personnel on ships and aircraft are included. The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers USS Spruance, USS Gravely and guided missile cruiser USS Normandy have been patrolling the border region as well under USNORTHCOM command, according to a USNORTHCOM news release.