By Lia Russell
The Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The FBI is warning local police that Iran could target the West Coast, including California, with drone strikes in retaliation for the U.S. and Israel’s attacks, according to ABC News.
Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters he was “aware” of the report. His administration is working with the Office of Emergency Services’ State Operations Center to funnel information to law enforcement, including local and federal agencies.
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“It’s all-around intelligence collecting, and it’s all about a posture of preparedness for the worst-case scenario,” he said. “We have been gaming those out for some time as it relates to, again, what the FBI has been warning of. Again, it’s not a surprise, and it’s sort of a large part of the larger spectrum of considerations that we have as it relates to doing what we can to support our federal partners and local partners at the state level, in terms of what could happen next.”
Gina Swankie, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Sacramento office, declined to comment, and said in an email the agency “will neither confirm nor deny” ABC’s reporting.
The U.S. and Israel launched surprise attacks on February 28 on Iranian cities and government and military sites. A missile hit an elementary school, killing at least 175 people, mostly children. A preliminary military investigation determined the U.S. was at fault, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
President Donald Trump has offered shifting timelines for when the U.S. attacks will end. More than 1,200 Iranians, 8 U.S. soldiers and 17 Israelis have died, as of Tuesday.
Iran has attacked sites across the Middle East in response.
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Newsom, who has a combative relationship with the White House, said he has not spoken to Trump about the war.
“We’ve seen no real end game in sight as it relates to the Strait of Hormuz,” he said, referring to the waterway choke point that oil tankers leaving the Persian Gulf must pass through and that Iran has vowed to use force to keep closed.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Newsom said his administration has met with security officials to “game out” how to respond in “break-the-glass” scenarios should Iran attack.
“We hope those don’t occur, but I imagine there’s few governors in the country that are not doing the same under these remarkable circumstances,” Newsom said.
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