The black, four-blade drone sped toward the airfield at the Atlantic City International Airport in New Jersey Thursday, flying over the fence toward the runway and right past the "No Drone Zone" sign, coming within sight – and seconds – of a commercial jet taxing toward its gate.In a first, the drone had already been spotted – not by the passengers, but by the Federal Aviation Administration."The red dots," Mike DiPilato, the FAA test director, explained as he pointed to a screen inside the trailer command center tracking the drone, was how "you can see it's moving." "Now it is over the fence line." New effort to protect airportsThe six distinct drone detection tests at three locations conducted at this airport within the span of a few hours Thursday marked a new effort to protect America’s airports, passengers, and crews from wayward or malicious drones, known formally as unmanned aerial systems (UAS).No member of the public or any journalist has seen this FAA initiative until now, when the agency invited the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit to observe a brisk series of exercises. Jim Patterson is leading the FAA’s research and testing of drone detection—and by next summer, drone mitigation – technology from about a dozen companies. Their names are not being disclosed at this stage of the process. "We understand the threat," Patterson said. "We are going to fully understand these systems and be able to make a confident decision that they're safe for the airport environment."Drone sightings spike The threat is real. Drone sightings near U.S. airports or aircraft have reached nearly the entire total from 2020 in just the first six months of this year, according to publicly available FAA data. Find drone sightings in your community using our interactive mapAnd yet, the FAA has repeatedly warned airports that federal law, for now, does not allow them to buy their own drone defense systems.Leesa Papier, executive director of the FAA’s National Security Programs and Incident Response section, is in charge of writing the rule that will one-day allow those systems nationwide. "We're being very deliberate and methodical about our approach to this," Papier said, "because as we move forward in regulatory action, we want to make sure that we are as clear as we could possibly be to make sure that we help the airports, but at the same time, we do no additional harm."When asked by a correspondent if she would acknowledge that many airports say they can’t get drone detection and mitigation technology fast enough, Papier answered: "I do recognize that."With new urgency, the first-of-their-kind tests will soon expand to a total of five commercial airports across the country, adding those in Washington, Ohio, Alabama and New York, a process that began with a solicitation for airport hosts.But those phases of the research and testing, spearheaded from the FAA Technical Center adjacent to the Atlantic City airport, are expected to last for another 18 months, putting a national rule for airports to follow – and the prospect of securing drone spotting and defense technology – even further beyond that. In an interview on the airfield after observing the initial testing, Papier would not commit to a specific timeline."We do not have a date at this point in time," she said. "We're being very safe, very deliberate."Airports 'completely blind'The agency is taking that deliberate approach, Papier says, so that any technology that meets the eventual FAA rule does not interfere with complicated systems on planes or at airports.But the wait has its own risks.Two years ago, the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit revealed new technology seeking to counter drone attacks, whether near the Super Bowl, against the U.S. military, or at airports.The then-director of the San Luis Obispo Airport on the California coast, Kevin Bumen, said in an interview in 2019 that his airport, like nearly all the ones in the country, are without drone defense technology, a gap that left his commercial airfield "completely blind."The director of the airport in Atlantic City where the FAA research testing occurred this week, Tim Kroll, agreed with Bumen. "We absolutely do need that technology. It's critical for safety and security of the airport," Kroll said.Drone attacks pose growing threat Attacks have already been launched against American troops overseas. The defense department says a drone attack struck a U.S. position in Syria just last month. Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security under Pres. George W. Bush, warned in an interview the country should "buckle up; you’re going to see" UAS attacks on American soil. "Look at some laws that perhaps in their current application are a little bit antiquated and revise them to take account of new technologies," Chertoff said. "Because otherwise we're going to wind up with drone attacks."That is one of the drone-related problems the FAA is facing – and, it says, trying to solve.Jim Patterson, the FAA official overseeing the research and testing now underway, explained a "new era" is taking off to meet the incoming threat."It's critical that we make sure we understand these technologies and how they behave," Patterson said.Mark Albert is the chief national investigative correspondent for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit, based in Washington D.C. April Chunko, David Postovit, and Madison Miller contributed to this report. Know of drone threats where you live? Have a confidential tip or inside information? Send information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.