Eight Months After Iran Drone Warning for California, Homeland Drone Incidents in the US Remain Unattributed
No Iranian drone has reached the United States, yet drone incidents on US soil, including those at Barksdale Air Force Base, have still not been publicly attributed to anyone. The only publicly reported charge concerns a different time period.
Eight months after the FBI warned California police that Iran had "allegedly aspired" to attack the state with drones launched from a ship off the coast, no Iranian drone has reached the United States. The war with Iran continues: President Donald Trump said on November 6 that the U.S. had again struck Iranian air defenses, while Tehran is weighing a Qatari proposal to end the conflict. Meanwhile, drone incidents inside the U.S. have not been publicly tied to anyone, Iran included. The review comes from DroneXL, a news site covering unmanned aircraft.
The warning the White House rejected
The FBI's Los Angeles Joint Regional Intelligence Center sent a bulletin to California police at the end of February. It said that, as of early February, Iran had allegedly wanted to hit unspecified California targets with drones from an unidentified vessel if the U.S. struck first. The information was unverified, and the FBI had nothing on timing, method, targets or perpetrators. ABC News published the story on March 11, the twelfth day of Operation Epic Fury, initially leaving out the word "unverified." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt demanded a retraction on March 12, saying no such threat exists. Iran's drone carrier, the Shahid Bagheri, was hit in the opening hours of the campaign, according to U.S. Central Command.
Incidents without answers
At Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, waves of 12 to 15 drones appeared over the flight line between March 9 and 15, according to a briefing obtained by ABC. It described non-commercial signals and control links resistant to jamming. Sen. Bill Cassidy said there were "five or so" drones at the base, one flown by a hobbyist. In October, prosecutors in Shreveport indicted Fuad Mousa Naji for flying an unregistered DJI Air 3 near the base from March 22 to 26, after the incursions ended. He is due in federal court on December 2; an indictment is an accusation, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
In New Jersey, 15 Ceres Air C31 spray drones were taken from a warehouse on March 24 using a forged bill of lading. State police recovered them on April 27, and no arrest has been reported.
Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Jarrard, deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command, said in August that the command could not defend against a drone swarm launched inside the country.
