The New Orleans terrorist attacker visited the city twice in the weeks before the attack and recorded video of the area using Meta smart glasses.[1]
Read the full assessment in our THREAT ASSESSMENT REPORT: THE DANGERS OF SMART GLASSES AS RELEASED BY META X RAY-BAN.
CTG assesses with HIGH CONFIDENCE that smart glasses, such as the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses (Meta glasses hereafter), will likely facilitate terrorist activities, as malicious actors are likely to divert the initial use of the glasses to serve criminal or terrorist objectives. Potential terrorists will likely use the glasses as props to enhance their operational capabilities and efficiency in carrying out attacks, likely improving attack preparation and planning, surveillance tactics, and espionage. Given the glasses’ capabilities to capture and broadcast photos, videos, and sounds, potential terrorists will likely use them to access sensitive information and sites, record the topography of potential targets, security measures, and personnel, or live-stream terrorist attacks. Given the device's potential discretion and users' ability to disguise them as normal glasses, security services will likely have difficulty identifying potential threats on the ground. On the other hand, the glasses' connectivity functions will enable law enforcement to track online individuals using the glasses for terrorist purposes by identifying networks, GPS, or IP addresses.
[1] Video Footage Related to Bourbon Street Attack in New Orleans, FBI, January 5, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5dDmqlTho (Seals removed)