| schema:text
| - The information was unverified, according to the FBI. The FBI shared the tip with California officials in case the threat was real, and did not confirm such a threat was real or imminent.
On March 11, 2026, ABC News reported that the FBI had shared a tip with law enforcement officials in California warning that Iran could launch retaliatory drone strikes in the state. The report quickly spread on social media, and Snopes readers wrote in looking for more information.
We reached out to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the White House and the national and Los Angeles offices of the FBI as part of researching the claim. Newsom and the national FBI office had not responded at time of publication. Laura Eimiller, a spokesperson for the FBI's LA office, declined to comment on the matter, while the White House referred us to a comment from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (detailed below).
The claim that the FBI issued the warning was true, but according to both federal and local officials, Iranian drones posed no imminent threat to California. FBI spokesman Ben Williamson posted to X on March 12 what he said was the full alert sent by the FBI and criticized ABC News for not describing the information as unverified.
In Leavitt's post on X, she called for ABC News to redact the story because it suggested the alert was based on confirmed information. According to her, the alert was sent due to "a single, unverified tip."
According to The Associated Press, Newsom said the alert was about "preparedness for worst-case scenarios" rather than a confirmed threat.
Newsom's office responded via email shortly after this story was published. "The Governor's Office of Emergency Services is actively working with state, local and federal security officials to protect our communities," spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo said.
A separate spokesperson from the California Office of Emergency Services told Snopes via email that "coordination happens every day to keep people safe."
The alert, as posted by Williamson, read as follows:
UNCLASSIFIED//LAW ENFORCEMENT
SENSITIVENOT FOR DISSEMINATION TO THE PUBLIC OR PRESS
THIS MESSAGE CONTATINS RAW INORMATON SUBJECT TO REVISION AND IS PROVIDED FOR YOUR SITUATIONAL AWARENESS ONLY.JTTF Partners,
(U//LES) We recently acquired unverified information that as of early February 2026, Iran allegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from an unidentified vessel off the coast of the United States homeland, specifically against unspecified targets in California, in the event the U.S. conducted strikes against Iran. We have no additional information on the timing, method, target, or perpetrators of this alleged attack.
ABC News' story was subsequently updated to include the full alert, according to an editor's note. The note suggested, but did not outright claim, that the word "unverified" was not present in the initial alert reviewed by the outlet.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)