FBI deputy director warns drone attacks overseas will reach the US soon

EXCLUSIVE: It is “only a matter of time” before the type of drone attacks seen on battlefields overseas reach the United States, FBI Deputy Director Chris Raia warned in an interview with Fox News Digital — as investigators race to prepare for rapidly evolving technology that could eventually allow operators thousands of miles away to pilot aircraft targeting Americans.

“I think the biggest threat right now, kind of the five-yard target, if you will, is going to be that threat from a drone,” Raia said.

Federal officials increasingly have become concerned that advances in commercially available drone technology are giving individuals and small groups capabilities once associated with larger organizations, lowering the barriers to carrying out potentially devastating attacks.

“I’m less concerned about a mass 9/11-style attack than I am a lone single person, a single attacker,” Raia said.

Raia’s warning comes as federal authorities grapple with the rapid proliferation of inexpensive drone technology, lessons learned from conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, and an alleged domestic plot targeting the White House UFC event that prosecutors say involved plans to use explosive-laden drones. The FBI is also in the midst of securing the FIFA World Cup, one of the largest domestic security operations in recent U.S. history.

“I think the biggest threat right now, kind of the five-yard target, if you will, is going to be that 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, carrying out surveillance, targeting and attack missions once reserved for sophisticated military systems. Similar tactics also have appeared in conflicts across the Middle East, where armed groups have used drones to strike military and civilian targets.

Investigators are particularly focused on the next generation of drones, which could operate via 5G and LTE cellular networks rather than relying solely on short-range radio-frequency links that generally require operators to remain nearby.

“We have seen that overseas, and it’s only a matter of time before somebody brings that type of attack, that threat vector here to the United States,” Raia said.

Most commercially available drones today rely on direct radio-frequency links, Wi-Fi-style connections or other short-range communications that generally require operators to remain relatively close to the aircraft. But Raia said the FBI is increasingly preparing for systems that could be controlled from much greater distances.

“That means somebody in China can control a drone over New Orleans,” he said.

Such a shift, he warned, could make it more difficult for investigators to identify operators and disrupt attacks before they occur.

He encouraged the public to keep calling in tips of suspicious drone activity. 

“Especially all these drone hobbyists out there that are flying drones for non-nefarious purposes,
 Raia said. “They know better what somebody out of the ordinary looks like than we do.”

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The FBI’s focus on drones has intensified during the FIFA World Cup, which federal authorities have described as one of the largest security operations in recent U.S. history.  Agents have already seized more than 300 drones and made eight arrests tied to unauthorized drone activity during the tournament, according to Raia. 

Federal prosecutors say concerns about drone misuse are not merely theoretical. Court records allege members of the alleged UFC conspiracy discussed using explosive-laden drones to trigger a mass evacuation, while a newly charged defendant allegedly exchanged messages about acquiring drones, payloads and specialized equipment for the operation.

Newly unsealed court records suggest investigators also were examining whether members of the alleged UFC conspiracy discussed targeting a FIFA World Cup match scheduled for July 3 in Kansas City, Missouri. In one affidavit, an FBI agent wrote that he believed messages exchanged among alleged conspirators referenced the event and preparations for travel to Missouri.

The war in Ukraine has demonstrated how relatively inexpensive drones can be adapted for surveillance, targeting and attack missions once associated with far more sophisticated military systems. (Efrat Lachter/Fox News Digital)

Federal officials worry both about what bad actors can do with increasingly capable drone technology, and also how they organize, recruit and plan attacks out of public view.

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The alleged UFC conspiracy highlighted another challenge for investigators: encrypted communications platforms that are largely hidden from law enforcement scrutiny.

“That is a gap for us in encrypted communications platforms,” Raia said.

Raia said the bureau attempts to overcome that challenge through confidential human sources, undercover operatives and public tips. But he acknowledged investigators do not have visibility into every encrypted conversation where criminal activity may be occurring.

“I think I would be foolish to think that we’re in every single one of those rooms,” he said.

In the alleged UFC conspiracy, investigators got a rare break.

According to Raia, the case began with a concerned parent.

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“We had a concerned parent that really launched this entire UFC 250 case off,” Raia said.

Federal officials worry both about what bad actors can do with increasingly capable drone technology, and also how they organize, recruit and plan attacks out of public view. (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 activity. After obtaining a warrant for Proper’s phone, investigators uncovered what prosecutors describe as an alleged network of encrypted chats discussing drone operations, sniper positions, rendezvous points and attack planning tied to the White House event.

Court records show Proper’s phone allegedly contained a primary Signal chat with approximately 19 participants, along with smaller operational chats organized by role and location.

For investigators, the case underscored how emerging technology and encrypted communications can allow small groups of individuals to coordinate sophisticated attack plans while remaining largely hidden from public view — a threat landscape the FBI believes will only continue to evolve.

Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino recently issued a similar warning, arguing that the rapid evolution 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 now,” he told Fox News June 16. “And don’t think that people looking to commit malicious acts, terrorists and others, haven’t picked up on this. It’s cheap. It’s very difficult to defeat.”