Today the Tech Policy Institute and the Icelandic think tank Varða are publishing Detect and Deter: Drone Threats, Governance Gaps, and the Future of Icelandic Defence, the first dedicated multi-agency assessment of the drone threat facing Iceland. It arrives after a year in which Iceland’s first terrorism case exposed plans to print and weaponize drones for a multi-site attack, while reported drone sightings near Keflavík triggered law enforcement responses and the first drone-related convening of the National Security Council. The findings come straight from the front line; drawn from interviews with the agencies responsible for detection and response, the operators running Iceland’s ports and airports, and sharpened at a closed briefing with the agencies and ministries that would carry out said response.

The report identifies three reinforcing gaps in Iceland’s ability to detect, respond to, and deter drones: the defence-thinking gap, the response-authority gap, and the standing-watch gap, each of which cut across institutional boundaries. Closing anyone of these without addressing the others will not resolve Iceland’s exposure. None of the recommendations require new institutions. What they require is political will, legislative time, and targeted funding.

You can also access the report in Icelandic via Varða: https://varda.org/2026/06/11/ad-finna-og-faela-ognir-vegna-drona-og-gloppur-i-opinberum-vidbragdskerfum/