Missouri state Sen. Nick Schroer first heard murmurs of possible drone incursions at Whiteman Air Force Base around the state’s 2024 legislative session. Then, last year, news broke that a Canadian couple with alleged ties to Chinese intelligence had purchased a trailer park less than a mile from Whiteman’s perimeter fence.
Incidents at the base were what Schroer calls “crap or get off the pot” moments, he told the Washington Examiner. Whiteman is home to the U.S.’s fleet of B-2 Spirit aircraft, stealth bombers that shaped the military campaign against Iran and would be pivotal in a future conflict with China. The Republican politician and radio host introduced legislation, a version of which became law last month, to restrict drone flights over critical infrastructure like military bases.
Among other issues, Schroer has also pushed legislation prohibiting international organizations like the World Health Organization and the United Nations from exercising jurisdiction in his state.
“I think if there’s any issue that pops up where the state should take their power back, you can count on me and my Freedom Caucus colleagues to support that,” Schroer said.
Despite lacking the clearances to access classified intelligence, state legislators such as Schroer are showing increased interest in national security issues. Most believe that the federal government is too slow to address pressing issues in their districts. Some argue that states should claw back jurisdiction from an expanding federal government. All share the position that state governments must act as foreign threats reach the American homeland.
National security policy catches momentum in state legislatures
“Our form of government is set up as the federalist form of government, and then the state’s form of government, and they were separated purposefully by the Founding Fathers,” Joe Gebbia Sr., founder of the advocacy organization State Shield, told the Washington Examiner. “China knows this, and China has been playing a game where they would subvert at the state level in a long-term program.”
State Shield and its partner organizations work with lawmakers to prioritize state-level regulation, much of which addresses Chinese threats. Through State Shield, Gebbia leads a team of lobbyists who advocate for legislation across 17 states this spring. The sample bills that State Shield provides legislators focus on five principal policy areas: foreign participation in the political process, ownership of land and other strategic assets, divestment from adversarial regimes, drone incursions over critical infrastructure, and international influence on higher education.
State Shield maintains an extensive bill tracker on its website, though state legislators who spoke with the Washington Examiner said the organization is not directly involved with every bill that it supports. Recent policies that State Shield has supported include a Tennessee bill requiring the state board of education to adopt age-appropriate instruction related to communism and a Louisiana resolution encouraging economic ties with Taiwan.
State Armor, a similarly named organization, emerged around the same time as State Shield. State Armor has both a research branch, which develops policy and intelligence briefs, and a legislative action division.
The group’s founder, Michael Lucci, sought to leverage his experience as chief of policy for former Illinois Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
“One of two things had to happen: someone in Washington, D.C. who had this deep national security background had to develop the state ability, or someone with the state ability had to develop the national security knowledge,” Lucci said in an interview.
State Armor currently operates in 15 states, of which two-thirds have Republican governors.
“A lot of these issues should be red, blue, and purple issues,” Lucci said. “Right now it is more red and purple.”
State legislators have various rationales for getting involved in national security policy.
Some, like Oklahoma Republican state Rep. Chad Caldwell, described the importance of reacting to topics, such as China, that pique the interest of their constituents.
“First and foremost, we are to be representative of our communities and constituents,” Caldwell said. “When something rises to their interest, we try to be responsive.”
Others, like Schroer, rejected the conventional view that national security policy should be handled at the federal level.
“We’re going to go back to the original intent of the Tenth Amendment,” Schroer said, addressing a hypothetical federal decision-maker. “If you guys want to join us and help us protect our people, great. We’ll welcome you, but until then, we’re going to cover our own butts.”
While not all legislators interviewed for this story worked directly with State Armor or State Shield, both have played roles in the background. Schroer said that he did not recall working directly with either organization. Yet the report he cited about the Chinese-owned trailer park near Whiteman Air Force Base came from a tip State Armor gave to the Daily Caller.
State legislatures push ahead with policy in face of ‘dysfunction’ at national level
Republican State Sen. Julie Daniels, the Oklahoma Senate’s Majority Floor Leader, first became aware of unregistered foreign lobbying through a sample bill provided by State Armor.
Daniels decided to write the Foreign Principal Lobbying Oversight Act, which requires agents lobbying on behalf of foreign governments to register with the Oklahoma Secretary of State.
“I have always come away thinking that people agree that this isn’t a policy that states can implement if they just copy-paste federal legislation,” she said.
Many so-called “Baby FARA” bills, a reference to the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, target specific foreign adversaries. Yet Daniels intentionally left her proposal open-ended. She stressed her intention to provide legislators with more information, rather than to punish innocent lobbyists or discourage local investment from foreign corporations.
“Most recently, the first aluminum smelter in the U.S. in 50 years is going to be built in Oklahoma with federal and state incentives as part of the Trump national security strategy,” Daniels said. “If you are lobbying for that company, which is 60% owned by the UAE, you’ll have to register.”
Daniels says that registration will give state legislators more context as they meet with lobbyists, particularly when bills offer monetary benefits to foreign nations.
“I was specifically focused on the commercial area — someone lobbying for a law, a policy, or an incentive,” Daniels said.
Daniels’s bill passed unanimously, and Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK) signed it into law in May. Still, the Republican state senator is a reluctant advocate for her own legislation.
“Like a number of other issues, I wish Congress would act,” Daniels said. “So that we have less pressure to act at the state level. We feel our citizens are pressuring us to take action that would be best accomplished at the federal level.”
Caldwell, another Oklahoma Republican, described how the “overall dysfunction you see coming out of D.C.” prompted him to introduce the Military Installation and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act of 2026 with state Sen. Brent Howard. The bill restricts adversarial foreign nations from maintaining significant investments in agricultural land and property near military bases, among other provisions.
Federal law provides only limited oversight. One statute requires foreign buyers to disclose purchases of U.S. farmland, while another allows the government to review and sometimes block land deals near sensitive military sites.
Congress has repeatedly considered bills with stronger requirements, many of which have garnered bipartisan support. Some proposals have stalled amid broader legislative priorities, while others have raised questions about property rights and due process. None have become federal law.
Caldwell’s bill passed unanimously in the Oklahoma House of Representatives and by a 42-6 vote in the state’s Senate before Stitt signed it into law in May. All of the bill’s “nay” voters were Democrats.
“We have our own type of dysfunction,” Caldwell said. “It is all a matter of perspective. We have a supermajority in the [Oklahoma] House and Senate. Overall, we are a Republican dominated state, which allows us to do more.”
Where federal action is still needed
State legislatures are eager to partner with the federal government on national security matters, even in areas with preexisting federal jurisdiction.
Republican state Sen. Kevin Avard introduced a bill, which is currently pending in the New Hampshire legislature, to close what he saw as a “loophole” in federal election law that enables foreign governments to exert influence over local referenda.
Federal Election Commission regulations prohibit foreign contributions in state and local races. Yet the commission affirmed in 2021 that foreign nationals could monetarily back ballot initiatives, which it considers separate from candidate elections.
Avard grew concerned that the Chinese bottled water company Nongfu Spring, which purchased a more than 375,000 square-foot industrial property in Nashua in 2025, would begin to exert influence over the local political process. He grew even more concerned when he realized that the property is less than a mile from the Nashua airport.
“This bill basically is preemptive, so that whether it’s a local zoning school board or other areas, like our constitutional amendments, big money can’t come in and sway through funding opposition to what local individuals may be concerned with,” Avard said.
Avard emphasized the continued importance of federal enforcement, even as he builds out New Hampshire election law with his bill.
“It basically gives a state law to somewhat mirror the federal, so that we can enforce it ourselves as well,” Avard added. “We want to partner with the federal government on this.”
Schroer, the Missouri legislator, is also promoting legislation in an area already addressed by federal regulations. The Federal Aviation Agency prohibits drone flights over certain national security installations, including Whiteman Air Force Base. Yet Schroer believes the agency needs to act more quickly if it wants to keep pace with the emerging drone threat.
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Absent swift enforcement, Schroer believes that local authorities are best equipped to investigate and even shoot down drone flights. Rather than waiting on the FAA, he wants police officers and sheriff’s deputies to take action immediately.
“The people of Missouri don’t want to wait on the federal government to come in and react to something when you have boots on the ground right now in the state, whether it’s highway patrol or state or local law enforcement,” he said. “They need the tools to take this thing down if they believe it’s an imminent threat to the people they represent.”