U.S. Rep. Dale Strong (R-Monrovia) is calling for the use of AI and drones to deal with the drug problem at the southern border.

During a Tuesday House Homeland Security Committee hearing about using unmanned aircraft systems for DHS, Strong discussed the use of drones and AI to target drug cartels who bring fentanyl over the border.

“In the previous administration, for every drone flown by border patrol, the Mexican cartel flew 17,” Strong explained, “many times entering us airspace to land and offload pounds of fentanyl in an attempt to kill a generation of Americans.”

The congressman said that much of the technology that could be used to stop drones at the border is being developed in Huntsville.

“What is most interesting in Huntsville, Alabama, we have the proven technology to neutralize that drone threat. We can intercept and do forensics, we can block their flight, or we can drop and destroy them. Our time is now.”

Jerry Hendrix, who is the Director of UAS Programs at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, testified in front of the committee and answered questions by Strong and other members of Congress about this issue of drones.

Hendrix said there needs to be some regulatory reforms dealing with use of drones for national security.

“If you look at the county UAS side, for example, we deal with, and I mentioned these in the testimony, the different types of regulations that need to be adjusted to allow us to do a full set of testing in the county UAS area, whether it also be detection or mitigation,” Hendrix said.

President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order designating the drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee