State Secrets Inside Emerging Threats: Former CIA Leader Sheetal Patel on Drones, Tech, and America’s Adversaries
Sep 2, 2025
Sheetal Patel, a former CIA senior leader and expert in drone threats, discusses the evolving challenges facing the U.S. due to small drone swarms and highlights lessons from Ukraine’s tactics against Russia. She emphasizes the need for stronger interagency coordination and clear authorities to tackle these vulnerabilities. Patel also points out the crucial role of the private sector in advancing drone technology and warns of rising counterintelligence risks from foreign adversaries, particularly China, amid shifting U.S.-India relations.
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Drones Enable Cheap Deep Strikes
- Ukraine's drone innovations show how cheap, adaptive systems can conduct deep strikes far from front lines.
- Sheetal Patel warns the U.S. could be similarly vulnerable if drones are pre-positioned and autonomy bypasses GPS.
Defense Fails Without Policy And Resources
- Defending against small drones requires layered resources, policy and clear roles across agencies.
- Patel highlights detection limits, ID challenges and the huge number of potential targets as core problems.
Don't Jam First — Define Authorities
- Avoid blunt radio/GPS jamming without policy clarity because it can disrupt other systems and civilian flights.
- Define legal authorities and safe mitigation tactics before deploying counter-UAS tools broadly.