Criminal acts yes, no clue on the terror side. And there are 100+ illegal drone flights reported every month and have been steadily increasing over the last several years as the number of UAS increases.
Do you know if any of the criminal acts have been attacks on people or otherwise violent?
The cartels and other similar groups use them a lot at the north and south borders in support of drug smuggling, human trafficking, interdictions with CBP, and so on.
Some of that sounds bad, though most of what is mentioned there is related to our war on drug users. I am always on the fence about how to view that. Who is really the morally worse person? The person ferrying the drugs or the person threatening to use violence to stop them?
Well, IMO, anyone who knowingly brings in poisons like Fentanyl into the country loses any right to self-preservation. The addictive power of such compounds is mind-blowing and unfortunately, I’ve seen that power personally. So, no we probably wouldn’t agree on the moral side as these people are only opportunists against a fellow human and have no value in society.
Actually I largely agree on the last bit.
I believe the data and references you seek will be coming forthwith as the new drone surveillance laws start to move forward. It was even a topic of discussion at the recent confirmation hearing for the next Sec DHS. In the meantime ICAO has a few work papers on it and the NPRMs for the new laws will have background as well. As I understand it, the main threat issue is 99% of all reported illegal drone flights are done by unknown persons.
