FBI Official Warns of Explosive Drone Attacks Reaching US: ‘Only a Matter of Time’

Amid the FIFA World Cup games and events in the United States, the FBI has so far seized around 300 drones in around two weeks.

Federal Bureau of Investigations Co-Deputy Director Christopher Raia addresses media at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota in Minneapolis on May 21, 2026. David Berding/Getty Images

FBI Deputy Director Chris Raia on Wednesday warned that it’s “only a matter of time” before drones that can deploy explosives are used in terrorist attacks in the United States, noting that a person “in China can control a drone over New Orleans.”

“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 told Fox News in an interview. He elaborated that he suspects that “the biggest threat right now” is drones that have a “kind of the five-yard target.”