Lt. Gen. Joseph Jarrard said Northern Command lacks the sensors and interceptors needed to defeat an attack launched inside America.
America’s homeland-defense command admits it cannot stop a drone swarm launched from inside the United States.
Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Jarrard, deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command and vice commander of the U.S. element of NORAD, gave the stark assessment during an Aug. 13 defense symposium in Huntsville, Alabama.
Asked whether he could defend against such an attack, Jarrard answered: “No.”
“We don’t have the sensors, and depending on where that swarm is going to attack, it depends on whether we have any sensors at all, and also on whether we’ve got any effectors to go after that problem,” Jarrard said, according to The War Zone.
Jarrard said the command remains “ill-equipped” to counter the threat.
SOFX reported the warning came after Ukraine used 117 drones, allegedly smuggled into Russia and launched from trucks, to strike airfields in June 2025.
The Pentagon has assigned Northern Command to synchronize domestic counter-drone operations. Yet the command fields only one deployable counter-drone kit, which must be requested and flown to the target area.
That system cannot stop an attack that begins and ends before it arrives.
The United States spends vast sums on overseas military commitments. Its own commanders now concede that a cheap, locally launched swarm could still outrun America’s homeland defenses.
