U.S. officials detected unidentified drones above the Washington Army base where Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth live, according to three people briefed on the situation. Officials have not determined where they came from, two of the people said.
The military is monitoring potential threats more closely because of the heightened alert level as the United States and Israel strike Iran, according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters. Multiple drones were spotted over Fort McNair on a single night in the last 10 days, the official said, prompting increased security measures and a meeting at the White House to discuss how to respond.
The drone sightings in Washington come as the U.S. issued a global security alert for overseas diplomatic posts and locked down several domestic bases because of threats. This week, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey and MacDill Air Force Base in Florida raised their force protection level to Charlie — a designation that means the commander has intelligence indicating an attack or danger is possible. The only higher alert level, Delta, is for when an attack has occurred or is anticipated.
The drones over Fort McNair prompted officials to weigh relocating Rubio and Hegseth, two of the people briefed said. The senior administration official said the secretaries haven’t moved. Their quarters on the base were publicly reported by multiple outlets in October.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell declined to discuss the drones. “The department cannot comment on the secretary’s movements for security reasons, and reporting on such movements is grossly irresponsible,” he said.
The State Department did not respond to requests for comment.
Twice this week officials locked down facilities at MacDill Air Force Base, home to U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for U.S. military operations against Iran. The FBI is now investigating a suspicious package that closed the base’s visitors center for hours Monday, and on Wednesday an unspecified security incident left the base under a shelter-in-place order for hours, the base said in a statement.
“To ensure the safety and security of our people and the mission, commanders adjust their installation’s security posture in accordance with local threat assessments,” an Air Force spokesperson said in a statement.
On Tuesday, the State Department ordered all U.S. diplomatic posts worldwide to “immediately” undertake security evaluations, citing “the ongoing and developing situation in the Middle East and the potential for spillover effects,” according to a cable reviewed by The Washington Post.
Fort McNair houses the National Defense University and some of the Pentagon’s most senior military officials. The base has not traditionally housed political leaders, but a growing number of Trump officials, including outgoing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem, have moved onto area bases, citing security concerns.
McNair is conveniently located close to Capitol Hill and the White House. But it does not have the same safety buffer as other bases in the capital region.
Similar drone threats surfaced surrounding President Donald Trump and other top officials in recent years as Iranian leaders sought revenge for the U.S. strike that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in 2020, according to U.S. officials spanning both the Trump and Biden administrations.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, the Secret Service detail protecting Trump’s team repeatedly encountered unidentified drones, including during a news conference in Los Angeles and a motorcade ride through rural western Pennsylvania. That September, officials told Trump that Iran wanted to kill him and had multiple kill teams in the country, and while there was no evidence linking Iran to either of the assassination attempts that year, they could not rule out a connection.
Iranian threats against former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former National Security Adviser John Bolton, whom Iran held responsible for the Soleimani strike, led the Biden administration to extend their government security protection. Trump removed their details in 2025.
John Hudson contributed reporting.
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