Initiative to Operationalize the Berlin Memorandum 

The United States and the United Kingdom announced the Initiative to Operationalize the Berlin Memorandum during the Twentieth GCTF Coordinating Committee Meeting September 2022. This Initiative builds on the Berlin Memorandum on Good Practices for Countering Terrorist Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems, which was developed through the Initiative to Counter Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Threats (2018-2019), co-led by Germany and the United States.

Approach

To complement and build upon previous GCTF counter-UAS (C-UAS) efforts and help raise awareness of and promote the practical use of the Berlin Memorandum on Good Practices for Countering Terrorist Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (2019), a new GCTF C-UAS Initiative incorporates a series of online webinars planned for 2023. If travel and health conditions permit, an in-person event may be planned. The GCTF Initiative will bring together national and local governments, international and civil society organizations, academic institutions, and private sector partners for a series of webinars to:

• Recognize the value and important applications for UAS technology and consider appropriate regulatory frameworks – including on export controls.
• Promote a concerted, whole-of-government effort to expand risk assessment and mitigation practices, increase outreach and education, and publicly condemning terrorist attacks utilizing UAS.
• Encourage cooperation among national security and law enforcement entities, civil aviation authorities, air navigation service providers, private sector aviation and other stakeholders to continue information exchange and analyses pertaining to UAS threats and trends.
• Call on the international community to make additional efforts to counter the use of UAS by terrorists, including a trend analysis and programmatic needs and gaps assessments in the detection of and protection against terrorist use of UAS.