FBI deputy director warns drone attacks overseas will reach the US soon
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SPECIAL: FBI Deputy Director Chris Raia warned in an interview with Fox News Digital that it is “only a matter of time” before drone strikes seen on battlefields overseas reach the United States; Investigators are racing to prepare for rapidly evolving technology that could allow operators thousands of miles away to pilot planes targeting Americans.
“I think the biggest threat right now, the five-yard target, is going to be the threat from a drone,” Raia said.
Federal officials have become increasingly concerned that advances in commercially available drone technology are giving individuals and small groups capabilities once associated with larger organizations and lowering barriers to carrying out potentially devastating attacks.
“I’m less worried about a 9/11-style mass attack than just one person, one attacker,” Raia said.
Raia’s warning comes as federal authorities grapple with the rapid spread of cheap drone technology, lessons learned from conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, and an alleged domestic plot to target the White House UFC event that prosecutors say included plans to use explosives-laden drones. The FBI is also in the midst of securing the FIFA World Cup, one of the largest homeland security operations in recent U.S. history.
“I think the biggest threat right now, the five-yard target, is going to be the threat from a drone,” FBI Co-Deputy Director Chris Raia said. (David Berding/Getty Images)
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In Ukraine, relatively inexpensive drones have transformed warfare by performing surveillance, targeting and strike missions once reserved for complex military systems. Similar tactics have emerged in conflicts in the Middle East, where armed groups have used drones to strike military and civilian targets.
Researchers are specifically focusing on next-generation drones that can operate over 5G and LTE cellular networks, rather than relying on short-range radio frequency links that often require operators to stay nearby.
“We’ve seen this abroad, too, and it’s only a matter of time before someone brings this type of attack, this threat vector, to the United States,” Raia said.
Most commercially available drones today rely on direct radio frequency connections, Wi-Fi-style connections, or other short-range communications that often require operators to remain relatively close to the aircraft. But Raia said the FBI is increasingly preparing for systems that can be controlled from much greater distances.
“This means someone in China could control a drone over New Orleans,” he said.
He warned that such a shift could make it harder for researchers to identify operators and block attacks before they happen.
He encouraged the public to continue looking for clues regarding suspicious drone activity.
“All drone hobbyists, especially those who fly drones for malicious purposes,
Raia said. “They know better than we do what an extraordinary person looks like.”
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The FBI’s focus on drones intensified during the FIFA World Cup, which federal officials described as one of the largest security operations in recent U.S. history. Agents have already seized more than 300 drones and arrested eight people related to unauthorized drone activity during the tournament, according to Raia.
Federal prosecutors say concerns about drone misuse aren’t just theoretical. Members of the alleged UFC conspiracy allegedly discussed using explosives-laden drones to trigger a mass evacuation, while a newly indicted defendant allegedly exchanged messages about obtaining drones, payloads and special equipment for the operation, court records allege.
Newly unsealed court records show investigators are also examining whether members of the alleged UFC conspiracy targeted the FIFA World Cup match scheduled for July 3 in Kansas City, Missouri. In an affidavit, an FBI agent wrote that he believed messages shared between the alleged co-conspirators referred to the incident and preparations for travel to Missouri.
The war in Ukraine demonstrated how relatively inexpensive drones can be adapted to surveillance, targeting and strike missions once associated with much more complex military systems. (Efrat Lachter/Fox News Digital)
Federal officials worry both about what bad actors can do with increasingly capable drone technology and how they publicly organize, recruit and plan attacks.
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The alleged UFC conspiracy highlighted another challenge for investigators: encrypted communications platforms that are largely hidden from law enforcement scrutiny.
“This is a gap in encrypted communication platforms for us,” Raia said.
Raia said the bureau is trying to meet that challenge through undercover human resources, undercover agents and publicly available tips. But he acknowledged that investigators cannot see every encrypted conversation in which criminal activity could occur.
“I think it would be foolish to think we’ve been in every single one of these rooms,” he said.
Investigators have a rare opportunity in the alleged UFC conspiracy.
According to Raia, the case started with a concerned parent.
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“We had a concerned parent who really started this whole UFC 250 thing,” Raia said.
Federal officials worry both about what bad actors can do with increasingly capable drone technology and how they publicly organize, recruit and plan attacks. (Raul Arboleda/AFP via Getty Images)
The tip from Tycen Proper’s mother reportedly prompted investigators to take a closer look at her son’s online activities. After obtaining a search warrant for Proper’s phone, investigators uncovered what prosecutors described as a network of encrypted chats discussing drone operations, sniper locations, rendezvous points and attack planning linked to the White House incident.
Court records show Proper’s phone contained the primary Signal chat with approximately 19 participants, as well as smaller operational chats organized by role and location.
According to researchers, the case highlighted how advancing technology and encrypted communications have allowed small groups of individuals to coordinate complex attack plans while remaining largely hidden from public view; This is a threat landscape that the FBI believes will only continue to evolve.
Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino recently issued a similar warning, arguing that the rapid development of commercially available drone technology is outpacing traditional security assumptions.
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“This technology is evolving on probably weekly, if not monthly, cycles right now,” he told Fox News on June 16. “And don’t think that people who want to commit malicious acts, terrorists and others, don’t understand that. It’s cheap. It’s very hard to defeat.”
