The CEO of defense and technology contractor Leidos says the drone-detection systems his company builds for the Department of Homeland Security will play a central role in securing the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, following similar work at this year’s FIFA World Cup and past Super Bowls.
Tom Bell made the comments during a discussion with Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle focused on border security, public safety and sovereignty. Boyle asked Bell about Leidos’s role in protecting large public gatherings, including football games, the Super Bowl and the upcoming LA Olympics.
“We’re very proud of our service to the Department of Homeland Security in that regard, and beyond the Department of Homeland Security,” Bell said. “Our systems and our products, our solutions, have been parts of presidential parades. They’ve been parts of … heads of state visits and securing major events like Super Bowls for years.”
Bell also pointed to this past summer’s FIFA World Cup as an example of the company’s work.
“Heretofore, we had a major role in assisting the Department of Homeland Security in securing FIFA and the World Cup that we all enjoyed this past summer, and you know it was a huge success,” Bell said.
He added that the tournament faced real threats that were countered through a combination of technology and personnel. “I think Secretary Mullin will talk about it a little bit, but it wasn’t without its challenges and it wasn’t without its threats that were effectively defeated with both our software, our solutions, and of course the manpower and the prowess of the Department of Homeland Security,” he said.
Telling Birds From Drones
Bell described the technical challenge of monitoring airspace above crowded events, where surveillance systems must separate genuine threats from harmless wildlife.
“What do I mean by what we bring to the party? We have active and passive surveillance systems that can distinguish between a bird and a drone,” Bell said. “Very important, because there’s a lot of birds flying around all the events and they’re harmless, but a drone is something we need to detect and effect.”
Once a drone is identified, Bell said, the company relies mainly on what it calls “non-kinetic” countermeasures rather than methods that could pose a risk to people on the ground below.
“So we have the detection, and then we also have the effectors that take care of that,” Bell said. “Most of our money and our non-recurring development is in the area of non-kinetic effects.”
“I think this is very important, especially when you’re talking about urban spaces and suburban spaces,” he continued. “You can’t be shooting things with kinetic effects, and so our non-kinetic effects bring down drones ubiquitously. Again, distinguishing them from the birds.”
Looking Ahead
Bell said Leidos expects to keep expanding this work with federal agencies as concerns grow over drone activity near sensitive sites and large gatherings.
“So we’re very excited about the opportunity to continue to work with the Department of War, with the Department of Homeland Security, with other agencies that are very interested in homeland defense and base security in these non-kinetic effects,” he said.
With Los Angeles set to host the 2028 Summer Olympics, the city is expected to be a major test case for the kind of drone-detection and response systems Bell described.
