This five-part series translates lessons from the September 10 Utah Valley University assassination into practical guidance for campuses, event organizers, and public officials, focusing on threat assessment, drone risk, venue design, digital forensics, and crisis communications. [1]
The Sky is a Perimeter Now.
The Utah attack revealed how open-air events are vulnerable from rooftops and from above. Drones are inexpensive, widely available, and increasingly unconstrained by manufacturer geofencing, which elevates the need for site-specific awareness and monitoring. [1][6] Event teams must also understand the legal boundary. Only select federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, hold statutory authority to neutralize or mitigate unmanned aircraft systems under the Preventing Emerging Threats Act of 2018. [2][3] For everyone else, the mission shifts to detection, documentation, and coordination. Remote ID, mandated under 14 CFR Part 89, provides a digital trail that is valuable for both safety decisions and evidentiary use, if you plan ahead to capture and preserve it. [4][5][7]