The FBI has been investigating several cases in the US where drones were weaponized to carry homemade bombs.
In a Congressional hearing on Thursday, FBI Director Christopher Wray mentioned the investigations while discussing the danger of drones being used for attacks on US soil.
“As the threat continues to grow, we’re investigating, even as we speak, several instances within the US, of attempts to weaponize drones with homemade IEDs [improvised explosive devices], and that is the future that is here now,” he said.
Wray didn’t elaborate on the investigations. But he said the FBI has also “located hundreds of drones” acting in violation of federal law while protecting major public events, such as the Super Bowl and New Year’s Eve in Times Square.
Wray made the statement to urge US lawmakers to pass legislation designed to help federal authorities counter malicious drone activity. US Senators Gary Peters (D-Michigan) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) have sponsored a bill to renew and expand authority under the Justice Department and Homeland Security to track, seize, or even destroy an unmanned drone when it poses a credible threat.
“Small drones, which can be purchased off the shelf at any electronic store can be weaponized by malicious actors to damage our nation’s critical infrastructure, or inflict mass casualties,”
he said during the hearing, adding that the US’s existing authority to counter malicious drones is set to expire on Dec. 16.
During the hearing, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said his own agency has also been encountering drones violating US law. This includes civilians mistakenly operating their drones in US airspace to “bad actors.”
“These are extraordinary sophisticated tools that can carry drugs, that can launch weaponry, and we must be able to counter it,” Mayorkas said.
Source: PC Mag