This past Monday morning, an off-duty government official crashed his drone on White House grounds. CNN reports that the Secret Service has confirmed the official had been drinking prior to the incident. After realizing that the crash-landed quadcopter drone was his, the culprit—an employee of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency—immediately contacted superiors in his own department as well as the Secret Service and has since been fully cooperative with investigators.
The drone seems to have evaded White House security measures, notes the New York Times. Regardless, the incident calls into question the steps that the Secret Service is taking to protect the President from security breaches.
The drone’s manufacturer, the Chinese-owned company DJI, seems to understand the security risk, however, and plans to roll out mandatory firmware updates for existing drones that will prohibit them from flying within 15.5 miles of downtown Washington, D.C., plus a host of other federally mandated No Fly Zones. But while this protocol update is certainly a step against “drinking and droning,” Gizmodo is quick to note that it “shouldn’t be very hard for somebody with knowledge to circumvent.” [CNN] [Photo: Flickr/Don McCullough]