In the past 10 days, multiple unidentified drones have overflown the D.C.-area military installation housing U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and senior Pentagon leaders, according to a Washington Post report.
Citing a “senior administration official” and three others reportedly briefed on the situation, the Post reported that the sightings have led to heightened security measures as the White House weighed whether to relocate Hegseth and Rubio. The cabinet secretaries were reported to be living on Fort McNair, just a few miles from the White House and Capitol Building, in October.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Army Joint Task Force-National Capital Region (JTF-NCR) and Army Military District of Washington (MDW)—which is headquartered at Fort McNair—told FLYING the base is working with federal partners and local law enforcement to “monitor and investigate” the reports. The spokesperson said it is “aware” of drone sightings in surrounding areas.
“Our top priority is the safety of our service members and civilian personnel that work and live on the base,” the spokesperson said. “Currently there is no credible threat to Fort McNair, but we will continue to monitor the situation and adjust force protection measures as needed.”
The MDW is responsible for defending the National Capital Region. Also located at Fort McNair is the Pentagon’s National Defense University, a pipeline that trains future national security leaders.
Per the senior administration official who spoke to the Post, the military is more closely scrutinizing uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) threats due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which has seen Iran strike U.S. military bases in the region in response to American and Israeli strikes.
Multiple domestic military bases have raised their threat levels in recent weeks, and some have initiated temporary lockdowns.
MacDill Air Force Base in Florida—the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, Special Operations Command, and other major units—shut down Tuesday due to reports of a “suspicious package.” On Wednesday, MacDill officials raised the base’s force protection level to the second highest of five levels. That evening, an unspecified safety concern prompted a brief shelter in place.
Hundreds of Drones
The reported incident at Fort McNair is not the first time unidentified drones have been sighted over a U.S. military base—and it likely won’t be the last.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Northern Command in October told digital news site Breaking Defense it recorded 230 drone incursions over military installations between September 2023 and 2024. The following year, that figure was 420.
Officials have generally downplayed the UAS threat, attributing many of the incidents to hobbyists inadvertently flying too close to bases. In one case last year, federal authorities sentenced a Chinese national to four months in prison for piloting a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base (KVBG) in California during a military satellite launch. Officials said they arrested the drone pilot while he was trying to board a flight to China and uncovered “aerial photographs on his devices, including images of locations in the United States and China.”
Drones have been sighted over other highly sensitive installations such as Langley Air Force Base (KLFI) in Virginia, which houses U.S. Air Force F-22s. In 2024, officials reported unidentified drones over the U.S. Air Force’s Plant 42 in California—home to Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works and other tenants, including Boeing and Northrop Grumman, and a hub for the military’s most classified and advanced aerospace projects.
Regulations safeguarding civilian air travel have effectively muzzled the military’s authority to mitigate UAS threats over bases. Signal jamming can interfere with civilian radars.
However, guidance signed by Hegseth in December now treats surveillance of military facilities as an explicit threat and permits the use of risk assessments to designate facilities as “covered,” authorizing counter-UAS (C-UAS) measures.
The guidance is also intended to improve coordination with the Transportation Department (DOT), which must be alerted to C-UAS activities. In February, DOT and FAA officials were reportedly not alerted to anti-drone laser testing the Pentagon conducted in Texas, leading to multiple sudden airspace closures.
“The guidance makes clear that unauthorized drone flights are a surveillance threat even before they breach an installation perimeter,” said Brigadier General Matt Ross, director of the Pentagon’s Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401), in December.
The government is also ramping up counter-drone efforts through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which late last year launched a $500 million C-UAS Grant Program. Half of the money will go to states hosting 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer matches and America’s 250th anniversary celebration. The rest will go to all states and territories in fiscal year 2027.
More recently, Anduril in March earned an $87 million C-UAS task order as its first under an Army contract vehicle worth up to $20 billion over 10 years.
Other private companies developing C-UAS solutions—which range from cyber attacks to shooting the drone down or capturing it with a net—include Northrop Grumman, Aerovironment, Fortem, DroneShield, and American Robotics.
