JIATF-401 is a Department of War (DoW)–led joint interagency task force created to coordinate and deliver counter–small unmanned aircraft system (C‑sUAS) capabilities to defend U.S. forces, installations and critical infrastructure. It is jointly manned and brings together representatives from DoW services and dozens of federal partners; public reporting and DoD articles say the effort includes more than 50 federal agencies and interagency partners such as the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, Department of Transportation/FAA and other federal law‑enforcement and homeland‑security organizations.
“Installation commanders” are the senior commanders in charge of individual military installations (bases or posts). They are the local commanding officers responsible for installation security, force protection, and coordination with local civil authorities and law enforcement.
Passive measures are non‑kinetic, non‑electronic physical protections—hardening and denial techniques—that reduce vulnerability without actively detecting or defeating drones. Examples include physical barriers, restricted‑access perimeters, hardened shelters, netting or covers for vulnerable assets, standoff distances, signage and improved site layout or shielding to limit damage if a drone or payload strikes.
The guidance targets defense‑critical infrastructure associated with military installations and related assets—U.S. bases, installation facilities and nearby defense‑critical sites. Public summaries describe the document as aimed at installation commanders and local authorities to protect military facilities, assets and other critical infrastructure; the release does not list an exhaustive civilian sector list in the summary.
The JIATF‑401 publication is guidance/advisory material for installation commanders and local law enforcement—not a binding law. DoD/installation guidance typically consolidates policy and best practices and clarifies authorities, but whether a measure is mandatory depends on separate DoW/Service or federal statutes, regulations and local policies.
The War Department posted the release and a link to the guidance on the department website (war.gov). The public news release is at the War Department URL; the guidance document itself is linked from that release and has been summarized in DoW/press coverage. (If the DoW site blocks automated access, the release URL remains the official location.)
Public summaries say the guidance emphasizes passive physical protections and consolidates counter‑sUAS policy for installations; they do not fully reproduce legal or privacy analyses. Whether the document contains detailed legal limits, rules of engagement or privacy guidance is not stated in the public summary—those topics are normally covered in separate legal‑authority or service‑level policy documents—so the public summary alone is insufficient to confirm inclusion of comprehensive legal/privacy limits.