The Next Assassin Won’t Need a Gun: The Unseen Threat of Store-Bought Drones

 

Drone Warfare Hits Home: Why We Should All Be Worried About the Next Attack

The next would-be assassin might not be carrying a rifle. Instead, they could be piloting a drone from miles away, turning a relatively cheap device into a deadly weapon. U.S. law enforcement, it seems, isn’t fully prepared for this rising threat.

     Take the July 13th rally where a gunman managed to fire eight shots at then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. The Secret Service failed to stop him, but what if, instead of a rifle, the attacker had used a drone rigged with explosives? The outcome could have been far more devastating.

     Drones have become the weapon of choice in conflicts like those in Ukraine and across the Middle East. These remote-controlled flying bombs are a nightmare for security experts who warn that extremist groups in the West might soon adopt the same tactics. For agencies like the Secret Service, already stretched thin by the need to protect against guns, knives, and traditional bombs, the threat posed by drones is a new and daunting challenge.

     Imagine how easy it would be: Attach a small explosive to a drone, fly it over a crowded event, and detonate it with pinpoint accuracy. “Nobody is really doing countermeasures against drones,” one security expert admitted, highlighting a glaring vulnerability.

     The Secret Service has tried to mitigate this risk by establishing drone-free zones around presidential events and using jamming technology near the White House. But these measures aren’t foolproof. The 20-year-old gunman who wounded Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 used a drone to scout the rally site just hours before he took his shots. Despite the FAA imposing restrictions on drone flights around the time of Trump's speech, the rally was far from drone-proof, as demonstrated by the litany of security lapses that day.

     Assassination by drone isn’t new for militaries and intelligence agencies. The U.S., Britain, Israel, and others have been using large, sophisticated drones like the MQ-9 Reaper for years, deploying them to take out high-value targets from the sky. But now, insurgents and extremists are weaponizing consumer-grade drones, turning them into affordable and effective tools for assassination.

     This is becoming a weapon of choice in Ukraine and across the Middle East, and it’s only a matter of time before it migrates to the West. In my CIA spy thriller novel Mission of Vengeance, CIA spymaster Corey Pearson worries about this very scenario. He’s concerned that Hezbollah suicide bombers, who are planning an attack in the Caribbean, might skip the human element and instead use drones to target a meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) on a Bahamian out island. The potential for devastation is enormous, and Pearson knows that if drones are deployed, the odds of stopping them in time are slim.

     The danger of drones isn’t just in their ability to carry explosives—it’s in their sheer versatility. These flying machines can do more than just surveil a target zone, like what happened at Trump’s rally. They can be rigged to carry chemical or biological weapons, turning them into stand-off strike weapons with a kill zone far larger than traditional methods. The scary part? A small quadcopter, the kind you can buy online for a few hundred bucks, can be flown by someone with minimal experience, making it an easy tool for anyone with bad intentions.

     And this isn’t just theory—it’s already happening. Take the real-life instance in Venezuela, August 2018. During a military parade in Caracas, two drones rigged with explosives were flown straight at President Nicolás Maduro while he was giving a speech. These weren’t military-grade drones—they were the kind you can grab off the shelf. The attack was intercepted by security forces, but it was a wake-up call. The incident highlighted the very real and growing threat of using commercially available drones for targeted assassinations, a threat that U.S. intelligence is preparing for.

     While drones won’t necessarily replace traditional assassination methods, they offer a terrifying new option. In some situations, a drone could be used in conjunction with other tactics, creating a multi-platform attack that overwhelms a dignitary’s security detail.

     Defending against drones is no easy task. Even on the battlefield, troops struggle to neutralize them, as seen in the Ukraine war where both Russia and Ukraine have suffered significant losses despite employing jammers and anti-aircraft defenses. But taking down a drone during a crowded event is even more complex. Simple countermeasures like jamming GPS signals can work, but there’s always the risk that a downed drone could cause collateral damage, with debris injuring or killing civilians.    

     As drones keep getting more advanced and easier to buy, the threat they pose to political leaders—and to all of us—keeps growing. The Secret Service, FBI, and other U.S. intelligence agencies know this and are racing to keep up. They’re pouring resources into new technologies to detect, jam, and take down rogue drones before they can do any damage. But the clock is ticking, and the challenge is real. The danger isn’t just from military-grade drones—it’s also from the kind you can buy online for a few hundred bucks. These store-bought drones can be just as deadly in the wrong hands.

     In the spy thriller Mission of Vengeance, Corey Pearson is all too aware of this. He knows that these small, seemingly harmless drones can be easily turned into lethal weapons by terrorists or extremists. With just a little cash and basic know-how, anyone could rig a drone with explosives and pull off an attack without being noticed until it’s too late. That’s what worries Pearson—the idea that someone could buy a drone online, modify it for a deadly purpose, and use it to strike at a moment’s notice.

     This isn’t just a problem for politicians and world leaders—it’s a danger that could affect any of us. Drones are everywhere now, and as they get smarter and more capable, law enforcement must stay one step ahead to protect us all.

     The fictional Corey Pearson incident reflects reality. He knows how quickly the threat landscape is changing. He’s seen firsthand that if we don’t get the right measures in place, the next attack might not come from a gunman on a rooftop but from a small, silent drone hovering overhead. And by then, it could be too late to do anything about it. The stakes are incredibly high, and we all have a lot to lose if we don’t take this new threat seriously.

 

Robert Morton is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and authors the ‘Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster’ series. Check out his latest spy thriller, ‘Mission of Vengeance’