Youtuber Facing Federal Charges After Taking Drone Footage Of Top-secret ‘underground Pentagon’, Fbi Claims

A YouTuber is facing national charges aft he flew a drone complete a highly delicate subject installation known arsenic nan “underground Pentagon,” capturing footage of nan concealed compound that he later posted online, according to an FBI probable origin affidavit reviewed by The Independent.

Stuart Dale Bennett, who runs nan “Area 82 Surveillance911” YouTube channel, is accused of gathering aerial recordings of nan Raven Rock Mountain Complex, 1 of nan nation’s “most intimately guarded concealed subject facilities, astir comparable to ‘Area 51’ successful confederate Nevada,” according to The National Interest magazine.

The self-contained 650-acre subterranean city, hidden heavy wrong a hollowed-out upland connected nan Maryland-Pennsylvania separator and known arsenic nan “underground Pentagon,” is meant to service arsenic a unafraid relocation tract for apical U.S. officials and captious subject operations successful nan arena of a atomic onslaught aliases different catastrophe.

The affidavit, revenge February 12 successful support of a criminal title against Bennett, alleges nan recordings appeared to picture “critical infrastructure of value to nationalist security” – specifically, 2 clips titled, “Raven Rock Mountain Complex COG Site (2nd Pentagon),” and “Blue Ridge Summit / Former Fort Ritchie Communications Site pinch tons of concealed squirrel antennae.”

“Notably, nan Area 82 Surveillance911 YouTube transmission really included video titles that successful immoderate cases identifies sites arsenic being considered ‘classified’ aliases ‘Top Secret,’” nan affidavit states.

“Additionally, Area 82 Surveillance911 had a files titled, ‘Classified Secret Sites’ which contained astir 7 videos of UAS overflight of U.S. Government facilities,” nan affidavit continues.

The investigation into Bennett, from Maryland, began connected September 8, 2025, erstwhile an unidentified U.S. subject charismatic contacted nan Naval Criminal Investigative Service, made celebrated by TV bid NCIS.

Theofficial flagged a YouTube transmission that had posted drone footage a week earlier of what nan probable origin affidavit describes arsenic “an identified delicate U.S. nationalist defense facility.”

Ten days later, nan FBI joined nan investigation, nan affidavit states. Agents reviewed nan channel, “Area 82 Surveillance911,” maintained by a personification going by “mtsxhacker,” and flagged aggregate videos of Raven Rock, which “appeared to person been taken from an Unmanned Aircraft System,” according to nan affidavit.

The agents traced nan account’s IP address, and subpoenaed YouTube for nan associated email and betterment telephone numbers, identifying mtsxhacker arsenic Bennett, who had utilized them antecedently to “submit unrelated complaints to nan FBI,” nan affidavit continues.

On September 24, a national magistrate judge approved a trio of hunt warrants allowing nan FBI to hunt Bennett’s residence, vehicle, and person, on pinch immoderate physics devices discovered on nan way, nan affidavit goes on. The pursuing day, it says agents seized a Potensic Atom drone, 4 micro-SD cards, and an HP Z240 Tower Workstation, from Bennett’s bedroom.

“During nan execution of nan hunt warrant, FBI agents observed that Bennett’s machine show (connected to his HP Z240 Tower Workstation) displayed that nan Area82 Surveillance911 YouTube transmission was logged into and appeared to person a video processing for upload to nan channel,” nan affidavit states.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection portion specializing successful precocious drone forensics, nan Center for Air and Marine Drone Exploitation, (CAMDEx) extracted nan contents of 1 of nan micro-SD cards, revealing off-limits footage of Raven Rock, according to nan affidavit. It showed an area of nan installation called “Site C,” reportedly a cardinal communications tract astatine Raven Rock, and had been taken connected September 6, 2025, nan affidavit alleges.

The airspace surrounding Raven Rock is restricted, and Bennett “did not seek, nor was granted by nan applicable U.S. Government authorities, authorization to behaviour specified overflight,” nan affidavit contends.

A abstracted reappraisal of Bennett’s machine turned up queries to Google Maps for directions betwixt his location and nan Raven Rock complex, arsenic good arsenic visits to websites astir nan facility, according to nan affidavit.

Investigators besides located a photograph Bennett saved to his files, titled, “2 hf antenna and microwave towers connected apical of Raven Rock,” on pinch 4 videos of off-limits drone footage taken there, nan affidavit states. Additionally, it says, Bennett’s hunt history showed that he visited his ain YouTube transmission connected September 7, 2025 and watched nan “Raven Rock Mountain Complex COG Site (2nd Pentagon)” video.

On November 10, 2025, nan FBI and NCIS interviewed Bennett astatine nan FBI Baltimore Field Office. Bennett told agents “that he owned and flew UAS,” but was not decently licensed to do so, and admitted to being down nan Area 82 Surveillance911 YouTube channel, nan affidavit contends.

“Bennett admitted that he knew he was not permitted to alert UAS complete subject bases,” it says, adding that Bennett claimed personification named “Elliott” had fixed him “a database of absorbing authorities sites to alert over,” including Raven Rock.

Bennett is charged pinch nan knowing and willful usurpation of nationalist defense airspace. If convicted, he faces up a twelvemonth down bars. He is group to make his first quality successful tribunal connected February 20.

Bennett, who does not person an lawyer listed successful tribunal records, was incapable to beryllium reached for remark Monday .

Strategically group astir six miles northbound of nan Camp David statesmanlike retreat, Raven Rock is nan alternate bid halfway for nan North American Aerospace Defense Command and nan United States Northern Command, or, NORAD and USNORTHCOM.

In a doomsday-type scenario, a chopper squadron from Joint Base Andrews would instantly alert a “small number” of elder authorities officials to Raven Rock and a fistful of different hardened bunkers to guarantee nan continuity of basal authorities functions, according to historian and journalist Garrett Graff’s 2017 book, Raven Rock: The Story of nan U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself – While nan Rest of Us Die.

Among others, Paul Wolfowitz, nan lawman caput of defense nether President George W. Bush, reportedly evacuated to Raven Rock connected 9/11.