Obama calls for drone regulation after Monday's incident at the White House

(Image credit: Kristoffer Tripplaar - Pool/Getty Images)

In an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria on Tuesday, President Obama emphasized the importance of regulating unmanned aircraft.

Obama said that the remote-controlled quadcopter found on the White House lawn Monday was the kind "you buy in Radio Shack." He said that U.S. drone regulations need to "get the good and minimize the bad."

"There are incredibly useful functions that these drones can play in terms of farmers who are managing crops and conservationists who want to take stock of wildlife," Obama said. "But we don't really have any kind of regulatory structure at all for it."

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The Federal Aviation Administration is drafting drone regulations that will allow for wider drone use, but the process has been "fraught with delays," according to CNN.

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Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.