Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has signed a memorandum ordering the Pentagon to treat bureaucratic delays in fielding counter-drone technology as an operational risk, aiming to clear procedural bottlenecks that have slowed deployment of systems meant to protect U.S. military bases, critical infrastructure and other domestic assets from unmanned aircraft threats, DefenseScoop reported on October 2.
The five-page directive, dated September 28 and titled “Project Agincourt: Pathway to the Autonomous Warfare Command,” was publicly released the following Friday. “The Department will take down barriers so our warfighters can take down drones,” Hegseth wrote in the memo.
What the Directive Changes
The memo targets specific administrative chokepoints that have historically slowed counter-drone hardware and software adoption, including radio spectrum and frequency authorization delays and lengthy safety review processes. Review and approval authorities are now required to treat any delay in processing counter-drone requests as an operational risk rather than routine paperwork.
Hegseth directed the Pentagon’s chief information officer to review, within 30 days, how DoD components submit counter-UAS spectrum requests to interdepartmental spectrum authorities and to recommend ways to speed approval — work that will feed into the Defense Innovation Unit’s “Project Spectrum Strike” effort. Separately, the department’s chief digital and AI officer was told to coordinate with the CIO, the Office of General Counsel, the Defense Information Systems Agency, U.S. Cyber Command, and the military services to build a single, department-wide approval process that cuts authority-to-operate timelines for tested, validated counter-drone systems from months down to days or weeks.
JIATF-401 as the Enforcement Backbone
The directive functions as an enforcement mechanism for Joint Interagency Task Force 401, the Pentagon’s lead counter-drone coordination body, which Hegseth designated as the department’s “synchronization point” for counter-UAS employment across the military services, combatant commands and interagency partners. Under the memo, JIATF-401 becomes the repository for technical data, common hazard assessments, approved mitigation measures and threat intelligence used in all counter-UAS weapon safety reviews.
Army Lt. Col. Adam Scher, a JIATF-401 spokesperson, told DefenseScoop that the task force “is taking aggressive action to streamline bureaucratic approvals and remove barriers that delay lawful, safe, and effective counter-drone operations,” adding that “JIATF-401 will not accept a slow-moving bureaucracy when faced with a fast-moving threat.”
Why It Matters
The directive arrives amid mounting drone incursions over U.S. installations and escalating cartel-linked drone activity along the southern border, pressures that have already driven JIATF-401’s Falcon Peak test series — including its most recent iteration at Yuma Proving Ground — and a pending move toward urban-environment counter-drone demonstrations. By explicitly reframing spectrum and authorization delays as risk rather than process, the memo signals that acquisition speed, not just new hardware, is now a formal Pentagon priority for close-in drone defense.
- Memo: “Project Agincourt,” signed September 28, 2026, released October 2
- Key fixes: Spectrum/frequency authorization review (30-day CIO review); single department-wide ATO process targeting days-to-weeks timelines
- Lead body: Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401), designated as the department’s synchronization point
Source: DefenseScoop, “Hegseth issues new directive to hasten U.S. military’s counter-drone pursuits,” October 2, 2026. Confidence: DIRECT.
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