Successful drone attack on Russia exposes US vulnerabilities: Lawmakers

WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — Ukraine's recent crippling attack on Russia's bomber fleet raises new concerns that the U.S. is unprepared for a drone attack on American soil.
Lawmakers from both parties who have spoken with NewsNation agree that American airspace is vulnerable, and the highly-strategized Ukrainian drone shows just how much damage a relatively inexpensive drone can do to a multimillion-dollar aircraft, as was the case in Russia.
The targets were Russian warplanes, including strategic bombers and command-and-control aircraft, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The weapons were Ukrainian drones, each costing under $1,000 and launched from wooden containers carried on trucks.
'Hard to believe' drone attacks without US knowledge: Mark Halperin
'Operation Spiderweb,' which Ukraine said destroyed or damaged over 40 aircraft parked near air bases across Russia on Sunday, wasn't just a blow to the Kremlin's prestige. It was also a wake-up call for the West to bolster its air defense systems against such hybrid tactics. How deeply the attack will impact Russian military operations is unclear. Although officials in Kyiv estimated it caused $7 billion in damage.
Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll and Federal Aviation Administration Chief Chris Rocheleau were recently grilled during Capitol Hill testimony on the safety of American airspace.
NewsNation spoke exclusively with U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., who says there are problems with the airspace when it comes to detecting drones or incursions. He says, at this point, the U.S. still cannot do that in an efficient way to prevent what could be a serious threat.
Chinese-owned US farmland raises concerns of foreign drone attacks
Kim pointed to recent mysterious drone sightings over the Garden State, sightings that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy still cannot explain.
'Regardless of what was flying up in the skies in New Jersey, the fact that our military bases didn't know what was going on, nor did they have a clarity of how they would have responded if it was something dangerous or nefarious, shows that we're just not at the level of readiness to be able to take this on,' said Kim. 'And this isn't just about our military bases. It's about critical infrastructure, water treatment plants, power plants.'
Back in January, newly sworn-in President Donald Trump said all of what were seen over New Jersey were FAA-authorized aircraft, a break from what Duffy told NewsNation.
Senators who spoke with NewsNation said that in the not-so-distant past, the FAA and the Department of Defense were not necessarily communicating with each other. Sources tell NewsNation the two agencies are now sharing more information when it comes to drone sightings.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Los Angeles Times

7 minutes ago

• Los Angeles Times

The latest: U.S. joins Israeli air campaign and strikes 3 nuclear sites in Iran

The U.S. military struck three sites in Iran early Sunday, inserting itself into Israel 's effort to decapitating the country's nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran's threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict. The decision to directly involve the U.S. comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved to systematically eradicate the country's air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But U.S. and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and a 30,000-lb. bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily-fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground. President Donald Trump was the first to disclose the strikes. There was no immediate acknowledgment from the Iranian government. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that attacks targeted the country's Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. The agency did not elaborate. Here is the latest: Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency has published an account by one of its reporters, saying flames could be seen after the bombs hit the Fordo facility. Fars, which is believed close to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said its reporter heard anti-aircraft fire around 2:05 a.m. local time and explosions two minutes later. 'When I reached the vicinity ... the air defense system was operating intensely, and its activity was clearly visible in the sky,' the reporter said. Later on, the reporter said, 'flames suddenly erupted from the direction of Fordo.' Simultaneously with the flames, a faint trail of smoke and a significant amount of dust rose in the area, Fars quoted the reporter. It offered no photos or video showing the attack Israeli officials lauded the strikes in sweeping and dramatic language. Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, thanked Trump and said the strikes marked a 'decisive moment between the axis of terror and evil and the axis of hope.' Israel's defense minister congratulated Trump on what he described as a 'historic decision.' The U.S. is stepping up evacuation flights for American citizens from Israel to Europe and continuing to draw down its staff at diplomatic missions in Iraq as fears of Iranian retaliation again U.S. interests in the Middle East grow. Even before those airstrikes were announced by President Donald Trump on Saturday evening in Washington, the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem announced the start of evacuation flights for American civilians from Israel. Sixty-seven American citizens left Israel on two government flights bound for Athens, Greece on Saturday and four more evacuation flights to Athens were planned for Sunday, according to an internal State Department document seen by The Associated Press. In addition to the flights, a cruise ship carrying more than 1,000 American citizens, including several hundred Jewish youngsters who had been visiting Israel on an organized tour, arrived in Cyprus, according to the document. — Matthew Lee Israel's Airport Authority announced it was closing the country's airspace to both inbound and outbound flights in the wake of the U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear sites. The agency said it was shutting down air traffic 'due to recent developments' and did not say for how long. Iran said early Sunday there were 'no signs of contamination' at its nuclear sites at Isfahan, Fordo and Natanz after U.S. airstrikes targeted the facilities. Iranian state media quoted the country's National Nuclear Safety System Center, which published a statement saying its radiation detectors had recorded no radioactive release after the strikes. 'There is no danger to the residents living around the aforementioned sites,' the statement added. Earlier Israeli airstrikes on nuclear sites similarly have caused no recorded release of radioactive material into the environment around the facilities, the International Atomic Energy Agency has said. The U.S. military used 'bunker-buster' bombs in its attack on Iran's Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant, which is built deep into a mountain, a U.S. official said. That official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. The 30,000-pound bunker-busting American bomb known as the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to penetrate underground and then explode. Saturday's strikes were the first time it has been used in combat. U.S. submarines also participated in the attacks in Iran, launching about 30 Tomahawk land attack missiles, according to another U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. It was not clear what those missiles were aimed at. Two Iranian nuclear sites besides Fordo were attacked, Isfahan and Natanz. — Lolita C. Baldor Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video that Trump called him after the strikes. 'It was a very warm conversation, very emotional,' Netanyahu said. Speaking in Hebrew, he called Trump a friend of Israel like no one before him. 'In my name, and on behalf of all citizens of Israel and on behalf of the entire Jewish world, I thank him from the bottom of my heart.' Press writes for the Associated Press.

Politico

12 minutes ago

• Politico

White House wary of Iran counterattack as Trump strikes triumphant tone

President Donald Trump was triumphant Saturday night during his Oval Office address but within the administration the mood was less sanguine as officials braced for a potential Iran counterattack. The decision to send American B-2 bombers to attack Iran, the most significant military action of Trump's presidency, threatens to inject the United States into another Middle East conflict, the kind that Trump and Vice President JD Vance have long promised to avoid. 'We don't know how much this is going to get us into something protracted,' said an administration official, who like others was granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberation. 'Right now the message is we want to get rid of the nuclear capacity and focus on negotiations.' Trump over the last few days had become increasingly convinced that he had a rare opportunity to take out Tehran's nuclear capability with minimal risk to U.S. personnel, according to a senior White House official. Plans for the attack, which Trump deemed 'very successful' shortly after it was completed, were already in the works when the president said he'd decide 'within two weeks' whether to join Israel in its efforts to destroy the Islamist regime's nuclear sites, according to a second administration official and a person close to the White House. But even as the president offered hope for de-escalation he was weighing military options, the first Trump administration official said. 'He looked at various strike packages and selected a narrow and tailored one,' the same official said. The senior White House official earlier this week telegraphed that a 'surgical' strike, one that didn't put boots on the ground or directly jeopardize American lives, would not run afoul of the president's pledge to avoid the kinds of long and costly wars that dogged previous administrations, 'which are the sort of main thrusts of the things that a majority of Americans, would oppose in the medium to long term.' In a brief speech on Saturday, Trump appeared to suggest that U.S. strikes on Iran were over, for now. Thanking U.S. service members who carried out the strikes, he underscored that he hoped their services would no longer be needed. At the same time, the president urged Tehran to make peace, warning that if they did not, Iran would face tragedy 'far greater' than it has seen over the past eight days, as Israel has struck military and nuclear facilities across the country. Much will now depend on how Iran responds to the attack. There are more than 40,000 U.S. troops and defense department civilians stationed in the Middle East who could be targeted if Tehran opts to retaliate. The administration has increasing confidence that Iran and its proxy network in the region have been sufficiently weakened by Israeli military action in recent weeks, so that Tehran would be limited in its ability to respond and spark a wider war. A U.S. official said it was a 'realistic possibility' that Iran would either cave after the American strikes or take a limited response that would leave room for a short diplomatic off-ramp. 'This is really uncharted territory for Iran,' the official said. 'The regime has been attempting to prevent a U.S. attack since its inception.' Yet within Trumpworld, there remains consternation. 'There's a lot of risks here for escalation,' said one person familiar with debates inside the administration. If there is a mass casualty event that involves Americans stemming from Iran's response, the person said, 'there's going to be more pressure on the United States to get involved.' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth 'is going to feel pressure and somehow prove that the strikes are as successful as Trump claimed they are,' the person added, saying that the Pentagon assessed this year that the U.S. military would need to do 30 days of sustained strikes to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, owing to their underground depth and spread out layout. The White House gave both Republican and Democratic congressional leadership a heads up about the Iran bombings, a senior White House official said. But Democrats, including the ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, pushed back, saying that they were not briefed ahead of the strikes. 'According to the Constitution we are both sworn to defend, my attention to this matter comes BEFORE bombs fall,' Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn), the top democrat on the House intelligence panel, posted on X. Shortly before the announcement, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer received a perfunctory notification without details. On Saturday, the administration also informed NATO allies Britain and France of the planned strikes, according to diplomats from both countries. While Trump's decision to strike Iran's nuclear sites came together over the past week – a throughline in his foreign policy thinking for several years has been an insistence that Iran not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. 'I decided a long time ago I would not let this happen. It will not continue,' Trump said in his remarks on Saturday. Paul McLeary, Sophia Cai and Amy Mackinnon contributed to this report.

New York Post

13 minutes ago

• New York Post

Read President Trump's speech after US strikes on Iran

Thank you very much. A short time ago, the US military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's No. 1 state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier. Advertisement 4 President Trump speaking in the White House after announcing his that the US has bombed three nuclear facilities in Iran on June 21, 2025. REUTERS For 40 years, Iran has been saying 'death to America, death to Israel.' They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs. That was their specialty. We lost over a thousand people and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate. In particular, so many were killed by their general, Qassem Soleimani. Advertisement I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will not continue. I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team. Like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we've gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel. I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they've done. And most importantly, I want to congratulate the great American patriots who flew those magnificent machines tonight and all of the United States military on an operation the likes of which the world has not seen in many, many decades. Hopefully, we'll no longer need their services in this capacity. I hope that's so. I so want to congratulate the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Dan 'Razin ' Caine, spectacular general and all of the brilliant military minds involved in this attack. 4 The United States bombed three suspected nuclear sites in Iran. Tam Nguyen / / NYPost Design Advertisement 4 Trump declared that Iran's facilities have been 'completely and totally obliterated' after the US strike. CNN With all of that being said, this cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most difficult of them all by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes. 4 The New York Post's front page for Sunday, June 22, 2025. Advertisement There is no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight. Not even close. There has never been a military that could do what took place just a little while ago. Tomorrow, General Caine [and] Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will have a press conference at 8 a.m. at the Pentagon. And I want to just thank everybody. And in particular God, I want to just say, we love you, God, and we love our great military. Protect them. God bless the Middle East. God bless Israel, and God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you.