EXCLUSIVE: It is “only a matter of time” before the type of overseas reach the United States, FBI Deputy Director Chris Raia warned in an interview with Fox News Digital â 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.
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 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.Â
“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.”
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. Â Agents have already seized more than 300 drones and made eight arrests tied to unauthorized drone activity during the tournament, according to Raia.Â
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.
Federal officials worry both about
