In October, French forces were training Kurdish fighters outside the Iraqi town of Dohuk when a drone crashed to the ground. As they inspected the device, it exploded, killing two Kurdish soldiers and wounding many others. A Kurdish official later reported that the drone had been "booby-trapped" with a bomb disguised as a battery case. Former Rep. Jane Harman is the director, president and CEO of the Wilson Center. She served nine terms in Congress, representing the aerospace center of California.

Anthony Foxx waits for the countdown, then hits the plunger. The catapult releases its bungee cord, slinging the drone from to a standstill to 50 mph in half a second. The drone spins up its twin propellers and flies a few hundred feet up, circling overhead. "That's amazing," Foxx says, as the UAV drops its package within a few feet of the practice delivery zone, then belly flops onto a brown landing pad that resembles the base of a jumping castle. During the closing months of his four-year run as US Secretary of Transportation, Foxx has come to California on a fact finding mission.