Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery said Thursday on Newsmax that any potential drone threat tied to Iran and California was more plausibly the work of someone radicalized online than a direct operation by Iran's conventional military or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Appearing on "American Agenda," the Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior fellow said the scenario discussed in recent reporting should be understood less as a traditional military strike and more as the possibility that Tehran or its allies could inspire an individual to carry out a smaller-scale attack using a commercially available drone.
"So I'm going to break that up," Montgomery said when asked about a reported FBI memo warning of a possible Iranian strike on California.
"Is it possible that someone could be radicalized online ... and do something with a drone? Yes," he said.
"Is it possible that the Iranian Navy, Air Force, Army, or IRGC — the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps — could use their traditional military elements to do this? No."
Montgomery said that if such an incident were to happen, it would more likely involve "someone online" being pushed toward "some minor but traumatizing event" rather than a direct action by Iran's regular armed forces.
"It's much more likely that if this were to happen, it's that they were able to radicalize someone online," he said. "And that's clearly what was ... intended in that intelligence report we hear from California, online radicalization, not use of the Iranian military."
Montgomery's comments came as the White House and California officials sought to tamp down concern over the underlying report.
Reuters reported Thursday that the FBI alert circulated to law enforcement was based on a single unverified tip sent in an email, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did."
The Associated Press also reported Thursday that California Gov. Gavin Newsom said there was no imminent threat to the state, while the FBI bulletin itself said the information was "unverified" and offered no additional details on timing, target, method, or perpetrators.
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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