Cops and feds scramble to bolster California’s drone defense system as Iran threat looms

Californian authorities are scrambling to strengthen the state’s anti-drone measures amid fears of an Iranian attack, cops and defense experts told the California Post.

A leaked FBI memo on Wednesday caused alarm when it revealed the Bureau had passed on “unverified” information regarding a potential Iranian plot to use unmanned aircraft against the Golden State.

The White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt and agency insiders have been quick to shoot down the significance of the alert, saying there were no credible threats against the US homeland.

But experts told the Post police and federal authorities are now racing to counter any threat linked to what was outlined in the FBI’s memo.

“My phone won’t stop ringing,” said Steven Haro, CEO of WhiteFox Defense Technologies, an anti-drone company whose client list includes the United Nations, royal palaces and government centers – plus major stadiums and a nuclear power plant in California.

Both police and the feds are racing to shore up drone defenses in California and elsewhere, Haro said, because the danger to the population is so immediate and clear.

President Trump has led the charge at the federal level, with more than $33 billion in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for AI and unmanned systems to achieve “Drone Dominance,” including $13.5 billion for drones and $16 billion for AI.

The act also included a $500 million, two-year Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS) Grant Program to help state and local law enforcement combat drone threats.

Under current laws and the framework established by the feds, drone detection remains legal for both private citizens and local police, but drone mitigation may be conducted by police only if they have received federal training offered by the FBI in Alabama.

Local departments including the LAPD and the San Bernadino Sherrif’s office have said they’re aware of the FBI’s memo.

In some places, including San Bernadino, police have said they’ve upped patrols in light of the drone threat outlined by the feds. The LAPD said it’s not aware of any specific threats against the city.

Last month the department set aside $10 million in federal grant money from the Department of Homeland Security to protect the city’s airspace from drones. The funding came from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, according to police documents.

The LAPD plans to install two dozen radio frequency sensors across the city to detect the presence of threatening drones, in addition to mobile drone mitigation stations to destroy attacking drones. The department declined to provide fresh details on its anti-drone measures.

But police departments across the state are now rushing to follow suit by enrolling the FBI’s training, so they too can begin drone mitigation programs like the one planned by LAPD, Haro said.

He said it’s conceivable that police departments could begin rolling out anti-drone technology within weeks.

“There’s always new drone threats emerging,” said Haro. “And they’re defeating the countermeasures that the counter-drone systems have.”

Reps for the FBI declined to comment or provide information on the Bureau’s anti-drone training for police.

Brett Velicovich, a former US Army intelligence and special operations soldier who spent years using drones to hunt and kill terrorists, said the safety of the California hinges on the race to build defenses in the face of a real threat from Iran.

“Local law enforcement needs to be educated on what they can and cannot do with these counter drone devices, and that is a big process in and of itself,” said Velicovich, who co-founded the drone company Powerus. “There’s too many cooks in the kitchen right now,” he said.

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