It’s an interesting time for the drone industry with Donald Trump being inaugurated as President, with drones top on his mind upon taking office. It’s the least of what Trump’s presidency could mean for the drone industry but is also indicative of how much could soon change as a result. During his confirmation hearing to become the new Secretary of Transportation, former Congressman Sean Duffy specifically called out his support for BVLOS rulemaking. That’s on the heels of Michael Kratsios being nominated to serve as Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Assistant to the President for Science and Technology. During the first Trump administration, Kratsios served as U.S. Chief Technology Officer (CTO), providing him with perspective and experience that could play a pivotal role in guiding the new administration's approach. 

The stakes couldn’t be higher, as our U.S. global leadership in drone technology is at stake with rulemakings delayed, and very limited progress toward enabling scaled commercial drone operations over the last few years. 

With the winds of change in D.C. comes opportunity for the drone industry. The Commercial Drone Alliance (CDA) appears to be positioning itself well to take advantage of these changes, announcing that Liz Forro has been appointed as the organization’s new Policy Director to lead strategic advocacy and policy development. Forro’s name is a familiar one in the space, as she has spent more than ten years at the FAA in numerous roles and was recently detailed to the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee as an aviation subject matter expert. All of which is in addition to her support and participation at various industry events, where she’s made critical connections between the FAA, industry and legislators.  

To get a better sense of what these developments mean for the present and future of the entire industry, we caught up with Forro and Lisa Ellman, Executive Director of the Commercial Drone Alliance. 

Jeremiah Karpowicz: What were some of your most significant lessons learned when it comes to building bridges between FAA leadership and stakeholders in the commercial drone industry? How will you be able to utilize that experience in this new role?

Liz Forro: The most critical bridge we have to build and maintain is around communication. Both the industry and the agency have some opportunities to grow here, and so I'm really looking forward to helping to bridge that gap with our membership. 

On the industry side, we know that the FAA’s language is about safety. The safety case is their primary concern, the business case comes second to them. Building trust with the FAA starts with speaking their language, which means bringing the safety case forward and as the starting place for any conversation. 

From the FAA side of things, this is still a nascent technology for them to regulate and oversee. They’re always looking to both better understand what the technology itself can do and also how to regulate it safely, but they take a risk-based approach. There's a knowledge gap that we as an industry can help close, but that means being able to provide the right type of education that’s independent of advancing any sort of commercial interests. We can help them understand how the technology works and how to set performance-based requirements for using it safely. 

How do you see legislators playing a role in or defining that framework? What does it mean to you to enable a more collaborative environment between each?

Liz Forro: Congress plays a crucial role in helping to oversee the FAA. It’s their job to ensure that the agency acts on the direction that’s been outlined by elected representatives to reflect the expectations of the general public. As an industry, we want to be strategic about how we engage those representatives and what we advocate for. We saw very successful industry engagement around the FAA Reauthorization. UAS associations worked together with a unified voice, and there was good progress to show for it in the final legislation. 

Moving forward, one thing our industry should keep in mind is that the legislative process can be a long one. There may be a single-entry point into it, but as legislation progresses, there are a whole bunch of steps, which means going through a whole bunch of people. That’s why having education as a baseline throughout the process, and not just at the starting point, is critical. It’s why companies that are making legislative requests need to understand that they have to go beyond the first pitch. If you don’t understand the wider context of the conversation, things can fall flat. 

Congressional oversight, including hearings on topics of interest, will be critical to ensuring a spotlight on FAA’s implementation of FAA Reauthorization – including many important provisions for our members.  CDA will continue to actively support and participate in those processes on behalf of the industry.

How are you looking define those conversations in terms of priorities and how to best move things forward? 

Liz Forro: The CDA sees innovation and security as two major legislative priorities, but they’re really two sides of the same coin because you can't have one without the other. It's critical that we bridge the gaps between, for example, FAA authorizing committees and Homeland Security and Defense Committees. Those policy specifics need to come from a common understanding of the technology and its potential that is driven by the legislature.

Drones have enormous potential to improve lives across every constituency in this country, so it's also incumbent upon the elected officials to get smart on the technology. That’s part of the reason I’m so excited about this role, because we can help them better understand the safety, economic and health benefits that drones can provide. We’re in a critical moment when it comes to the national narrative on drones and the CDA is well positioned to be an essential voice in that conversation.

Lisa, beyond her experience, what are you most excited to see Liz bring to this role and to the CDA?

Lisa Ellman: Hiring Liz was an amazing development for the CDA. I’ve seen the passion she has for the industry firsthand during her time in government, and it’s clear just how much she cares about this industry. She also understands the stakes associated with getting the policy right. She came to the CDA because knows that we as an organization share her passion for the industry and for the cause. She was a champion for that cause and to this industry inside government, and she's going to be a champion in a different way in this new role at the CDA. 

The incoming administration has goals associated with removing red tape and streamlining bureaucracy that doesn't involve safety, all of which lines up with our advocacy efforts. There's going to be a lot of opportunities for this industry over the next year, and there's nobody better than Liz to be leading the policy efforts of CDA and for the broader industry to move everything forward.

Given what's been happening in Los Angeles and places like New Jersey and Florida, the stakes associated with the responsible use of drone technology have never been more evident. What's more important to you: better awareness of the benefits that this technology can provide or ensuring that unauthorized drones cannot do things like interfere with firefighting aircraft in these types of emergency situations?

Lisa Ellman: Obviously, safety is paramount. With some of the incidents that you mentioned, we look forward to learning what investigations say about the facts of those situations, but this industry wants to be able to do things like provide better support in emergency situations and create viable entertainment alternatives. Legitimate drone operators are communicating with and engaging with their communities.

That goes back to a focus on education that Liz mentioned. For example, it’s essential that more people know how to utilize remote identification capabilities that are readily available. In the wake of the New Jersey headlines, we saw a lot of grainy cell phone videos when the reality is that thanks to Remote ID, those same people could have downloaded an app to find out whether or not what they were seeing was a drone. We support public education around the use of Remote ID technology to ensure that we all have as much information as possible. 

Transparency is key in all of these situations and on all sides, which is why we promote transparency in the airspace through Part 108 as well as appropriate counter drone protections when the technology is being misused. We need to be able to act accordingly when drone operators are not following the rules.

In closing, what's one thing each of you want the commercial drone industry to know about what it can look out for from each of you and from the CDA in 2025?

Liz Forro: I'm a rule of three person. This is not a ranked order, but to me, there are three really big things that we have to tackle this year. 

First off, and what shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, is that we need long term regulatory stability for this industry. We have to help the FAA get the BVLOS rule out the door. That's critical for the long-term viability of this industry. 

Second is that we have to think about short term regulatory stability. Big rules like the BVLOS rule take time. There are things we can do to help speed it up, but at the end of the day, it's a time-consuming process, and it's not going to go as fast as any of us want. That’s why we need to help the industry scale now and prepare for the rule while it's being developed. There's a lot that we can do working with the FAA in terms of improving predictability and scalability before the rule comes out. 

And then finally, social acceptance is critical for this industry to thrive. Those recent incidents you mentioned are not helping the cause. That’s why we need to work collectively to educate the public on the benefits of the technology so that we can really enable the industry to reach its potential. We need more people to see and experience those benefits firsthand. You’ve heard the phrase, “show, don’t tell.” We need to do a lot more showing.   

Lisa Ellman: I’d echo all of that and emphasize the short-term opportunities, because there’s a lot that can be done right now to improve and enable scale here in the United States. For example, there’s the FAA Reauthorization Section 927  waiver process that essentially allows the FAA to streamline things when a drone company asks for approval to fly something that would normally require an exemption, and that can be utilized today. There’s low hanging fruit that the FAA could implement that would affect and enable companies to succeed right now. 

In the long term, Part 108 is an enabling regulation that will allow this industry to scale and to succeed. It's enhancing transparency in the airspace through electronic conspicuity and providing certainty to an industry that wants to be regulated. This is critical for us as a nation if we want to restore American global leadership in commercial drones.