New York is a city of hundreds of skyscrapers and tall buildings, with emergency officials always keeping a watchful eye on possible threats, including drones.
FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief Paul Miller oversees the department’s Center for Terrorism and Disaster Preparedness.
“Look at drones, laden with explosives, that’s a real concern for us. We don’t do bombs. That’s the NYPD,” Miller said. “But if there is an explosive drone, now we have to assess whether or not we can go in. We have to assess, you know, what’s the life hazard?”
“My major concern is the unmanned aerial system, the drones,” he added. “They’re becoming smaller and smaller.”
Miller says drone technology is advancing rapidly, especially with the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as conflicts in the Middle East and parts of Africa.
Forces are using small commercial and consumer drones in their attacks.
“Couple that with the development, the rapid development of artificial intelligence, and you’re looking at scenarios where you could have drone swarms launched from outside the city, just hitting buildings throughout the city,” Miller said. “It’s very, very concerning.”
They are often called weaponized drones, or killer drones, and can cost just a few hundred dollars, according to the police department.
“If there is one threat that keeps me up at night, it is from drones,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a World Cup-related security briefing earlier this year.
“Tactics that once belonged to militaries are now increasingly accessible to smaller groups and individuals,” Tisch added. “And commercial drones can be easily adapted into weapons of war. That reality matters in New York City.”
It was announced last month at the beginning of the US Open that the NYPD now has the legal authority to take drones out of the sky at large public events.
Because of the Safer Skies Act, local officers don’t need permission from the federal government any more to take control of or disable an unmanned aerial device.
“And no, we don’t shoot them out of the sky. That would be more dangerous, possibly even, than certain drones themselves,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner said. “It’s electronic countermeasures that we employ, and this is the standard of safety.”
Weiner said the agency has seen “a proliferation of fiber optic drones.”
“That is a drone that is on a fiber optic cable, and so it’s not emitting a radio frequency signal that you can interrupt or identify,” she explained. “It’s physically connected, a cable that can be miles long, and the operator is remote, and they are able to stealthfully fly the drone without it being detected.”
The NYPD’s counter-drone team is constantly on the lookout for suspicious activity. Other rapidly advancing technologies are on the radar as well.
“I think AI technology is certainly something that we have been grappling with more and more over the last few years, and it’s not at all surprising that terrorists are using AI to help them make their bombs, plan their attacks, even consuming a lot of false information that’s helping people radicalize to violence,” Weiner said. “That’s not a surprise. It’s something we anticipated. But it is certainly a growing threat.”
The FDNY agrees.
“And 25 years later, we’ve gone from airplanes to drones, from computer viruses to AI,” Miller said. “The threats have multiplied exponentially.”
The police and fire departments regularly train to prevent an attack on New York and learn how best to respond to one to save lives.
At this point, they say there are no credible threats against the city.