![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/5808_NSL_251204_Supermoon.JPG\" "\\"The")
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The moon rises over the Sacramento skyline on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. The Sacramento County sheriff downplayed concerns on Thursday, March 12, 2026, of a potential Iranian drone attack on California after an unverified tip to the FBI made news.<\/p>\n
NATHANIEL LEVINE<\/p>\n
nlevine@sacbee.com<\/p>\n
Federal, state and local officials largely remained in agreement Thursday that there were no imminent threats to California from Iranian drones.<\/p>\n
The warning of a drone strike was first reported by ABC News on Wednesday.<\/a> The report centered on an FBI alert sent to local police departments about a tip that Iran \u201callegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack\u201d from an unidentified vessel off the California coast, according to the news outlet.<\/p>\n The warning came in early February, before the U.S. and Israel launched surprise attacks on Iranian cities and military sites.<\/p>\n Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper said Thursday the agency heard about the report from federal law enforcement but that it was not considered a credible threat.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more possible threat of some lone wolf doing some action versus sending a ship with drones on it to,\u201d Cooper told The Sacramento Bee. \u201cThat just got out. There\u2019s no truth to that.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, said his office was aware of the reports and had requested additional information from Trump administration officials on federal efforts to counter any potential threats.<\/p>\n In a Thursday morning post on X, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called for the retraction of the ABC News story and said it provided \u201cfalse information to intentionally alarm the American people.\u201d Leavitt said the story was based on one email sent to local law enforcement in California \u201cabout a single, unverified tip.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did,\u201d Leavitt wrote.<\/p>\n Gina Swankie, a spokesperson for the FBI\u2019s Sacramento field office, said in an email that the agency \u201cwill neither confirm nor deny\u201d ABC\u2019s report, according to previous reporting from The Sacramento Bee.<\/p>\n Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters on Wednesday<\/a> that he was aware of the report and his administration was working with the Office of Emergency Services\u2019 State Operations Center to funnel information to law enforcement.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all-around intelligence collecting, and it\u2019s all about a posture of preparedness for the worst-case scenario,\u201d he said on Wednesday. \u201cWe have been gaming those out for some time as it relates to, again, what the FBI has been warning of. Again, it\u2019s not a surprise, and it\u2019s sort of a large part of the larger spectrum of considerations that we have as it relates to doing what we can to support our federal partners and local partners at the state level, in terms of what could happen next.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Eisenstadt, the director of the military and security studies program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said an attack was \u201cplausible\u201d but cautioned against quantifying the likelihood. He added that the threat of a retaliation attack will continue for years, even after the war is deemed over.<\/p>\n \u201cMy thinking is this war is going to have long tails,\u201d Eisenstadt said. \u201cIn other words, once it\u2019s over, it\u2019s not really over… This might be a threat that will linger for a long time to come.\u201d<\/p>\n Retired Marine intelligence officer\u2019s perspective<\/p>\n Cal OES, in a written statement, said its Homeland Security team is in regular coordination with federal, state and local partners to share information on potential threats.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we can\u2019t discuss sensitive details, Californians should know that this kind of coordination happens every day to keep people safe,\u201d said the office in a statement. \u201cCalifornia is prepared to protect its communities, and we\u2019ll continue working closely with our federal partners.\u201d<\/p>\n Hal Kempfer, a retired Marine intelligence officer, said he believes there is \u201calways a threat\u201d of a drone attack given their increasing use in warfare and terrorism. He called the potential for an attack on California \u201crealistic,\u201d adding that Sacramento could be a \u201cpossibility\u201d because of the region\u2019s critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n He cited state government buildings and military bases as potential targets should an attack occur.<\/p>\n \u201cTactics, techniques, procedures and technology involving drones just keeps getting better and better every year,\u201d said Kempfer, who spent 24 years with the U.S. Marines.<\/p>\n Bruce Hoffman, a senior fellow for counterterrorism and homeland security at the Council on Foreign Relations, published an op-ed last week<\/a> saying Iran could have \u201cgreater incentive\u201d to use all forms of \u201casymmetric warfare\u201d the longer the war continues. Hoffman is a renowned American political analyst specializing in terrorism and insurgency for nearly five decades.<\/p>\n \u201cSleeper agents, lone actors inspired and motivated by Iran, cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure, and physical attacks on critical infrastructure are all possible,\u201d Hoffman wrote.<\/p>\n The Insecurity Insight website lists several tips in case of a drone attack, according to previous reporting from The Bee.<\/a> These include running in a zig-zag pattern, hiding from view and not attracting attention.<\/p>\n The Bee\u2019s Capitol Bureau reporters Kate Wolffe and Lia Russell contributed to this story.<\/p>\n This story was originally published March 12, 2026 at 3:02 PM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n