Concerns about security are being raised after a Florida postal worker
landed a gyrocopter near the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday in an attempt to make a statement about campaign finance reform.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham questioned why the vehicle, which flew through restricted airspace, wasn't shot down, and implied that the incident was a matter of national security.
"He should have been subject to being shot out of the sky. I don't know why he wasn't," Graham said on Hugh Hewitt's radio show,
according to Mediaite.
"Our nation is under siege. Radical Islam is a threat to our homeland. There are probably radical Islamic cells in our backyard already, and if somebody is willing to approach vital government infrastructure, they should do so at their own peril."
Doug Hughes was arrested by police Wednesday, but it has since emerged that he had been previously interviewed by the Secret Service in 2013 about the plan after the agency received a tip that he wanted to land his vehicle at the Capitol or the White House,
according to CNN.
Hughes also told the Tampa Bay Times that the Secret Service asked him questions about his plan, and he told the newspaper that he was honest in his replies.
"Yes, he did own a gyrocopter. Yes, he kept it in a hangar at the small airport in Wauchula. Yes, he had talked of doing something big to bring attention to the issue of campaign finance reform. No, he was not planning to crash into any buildings or monuments in Washington, D.C.,"
the Times reported.
The breach during tourist season was the second air security scare this year in the U.S. capital.
In January, an intelligence agency employee lost control of a hobby drone and crashed it on the White House lawn, prompting a Secret Service investigation.
President Barack Obama was briefed about Wednesday's incident, the White House said.
Air defense command NORAD told AFP that it only became aware of the incident after the gyrocopter landed.
NORAD spokesman Maj. Jamie Humphries said an investigation is underway to determine if the helicopter was detected by radar and why officials were not aware of the aircraft while it was in the air.
In addition to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Secret Service and a handful of other U.S. agencies are investigating the landing.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Thursday that Hughes "literally flew in under the radar," The Associated Press reported. His first reaction on hearing of the incident was to ask, "What's a gyrocopter?"
Johnson said it's too soon to say whether Wednesday's incident should prompt changes in security procedures. "I want to know all the facts before I reach an assessment of what can and should be done about gyrocopters in the future," he said.
The tiny, open-air aircraft landed without injuries to anyone, but the incident raises questions about how someone could be allowed to fly all the way from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, right up to the Capitol.
"We are a democracy. We don't have fences around our airspace, so we've got to find the right balance between living in a free and open society and security and the protection of federal buildings," Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill. "And so we want to stay one step ahead of every incident like this, but then again, you don't want to overreact, either."
Johnson defended existing protocols for dealing with the restricted airspace over Washington, D.C., federal buildings and monuments.
"We've got a well-coordinated federal response to dealing with issues of those who penetrate the restricted airspace without permission," he said.
Despite some arguing that the incident prompts heightened security concerns, others have downplayed the threat.
"How much damage could this aircraft have inflicted had it been intended for nefarious purposes? Well, if it had been crashed into a building, I feel confident that the building would have been triumphant," said CNN's
aviation analyst Les Abend in a column.
"Not that a review of airspace security measures isn't in order, but I wouldn't be concerned that this event will become the next threat epidemic. As an airline pilot, I can say I am relatively confident that our nation's capital is secure from gyrocopter attacks orchestrated by misguided lunatics."
Hughes is due in federal court Thursday afternoon, where formal charges are expected to be made against the 61-year-old,
Fox News reported.
Material from The Associated Press and AFP were used this report.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.