Threats from drones to US ‘steadily escalating’

WASHINGTON: FBI director Christopher Wray told a US Senate panel on Wednesday that the threat from drones "is steadily escalating" even as Congress gives agencies new tools to address threats.

Wray told the Senate Homeland Security committee that the FBI assesses that "given their retail availability, lack of verified identification requirement to procure, general ease of use, and prior use overseas, (drones) will be used to facilitate an attack in the United States against a vulnerable target, such as a mass gathering."

Wray made his comments days after President Donald Trump signed into law legislation that gives the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI new powers to disable or destroy drones that pose a threat to government facilities.

The new law also requires DHS to conduct several assessments to evaluate emerging threats that drones may pose to state or private critical infrastructure entities and domestic airports. Wray said the risk has "only increased in light of the publicity associated with the apparent attempted assassination of Venezuelan President Maduro using explosives-laden" drones.

Wray noted the FBI had disrupted a plan in the United States to use drones to attack the Pentagon and the Capitol building. In 2012, Rezwan Ferdaus was sentenced to 17 years in prison for attempting to conduct a terrorist attack.