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CBS News: Cartel Drone Activity Drops 75%, With UNO NCITE Driving the Research Behind It All

A CBS News article highlighted how NCITE’s research contributed to U.S. military and law enforcement officials’ understanding the threat posed by cartel drones.

  • published: 2026/09/15
  • contact: Jazlynn Sanders - Office of Strategic Marketing and Communications
  • email: unonews@unomaha.edu
A drone mid-flight.

Drone pilot Jesse Reid pilots a drone over a cornfield near Walnut, Iowa on Thursday, August 15, 2024. Reid, a University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) alumni who graduated from the UNO Aviation Institute, owns and operates a company that sprays crops with herbicides, fungicides, or insecticides as needed. Photo: Ryan Soderlin, UNO Office of Strategic Marketing and Communications

➡️ What’s new: Research by UNO’s National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center (NCITE) tracking cartel drone operations is focused on providing security officials insights to understand how cartels integrate drones into their violent activities, and how to best respond to drone activity at the U.S.-Mexico border.

  • A CBS News article highlighted how officials formulated an effective response, including the decision to deploy a high-energy laser system to destroy suspicious drones.
  • The article states that "since the beginning of the year, the military has stopped 300 drones officials say are linked to cartels, including 11 the laser took down over a span of 10 days."

💡 Why it matters: Drones at the border are used by cartels to monitor U.S. service members and law enforcement movements, which helps them identify spots to avoid. NCITE’s research helps show the larger threat posed by cartel drone use, including armed-drone incidents and fatalities.

🔍 The Big Picture: The use of high-energy lasers by the U.S military has helped reduce suspicious drone activity at the southern border by about 75%. The combination of NCITE’s research and laser technology gives the military a new and effective way to stop dangerous drones.

Read the full article on CBS News

About the University of Nebraska at Omaha

The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is Nebraska’s premier metropolitan university, committed to innovating for the public good, advancing social mobility, powering workforce development, and serving as a hub for community engagement. Nearly 15,000 Mavericks choose UNO for its hands-on education experiences, nationally ranked online and graduate programs, military-connected student support, and innovative approaches to supporting lifelong learning. UNO holds the Carnegie Research Activity “R2” designation, securing more than $40 million annually in external research funding and counts its faculty among the world’s most cited scholars. Sixteen Omaha Athletics programs compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Summit League and National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC). 

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