They have advantages:
LINK: https://warontherocks.com/2019/01/in-the-era-of-electronic-warfare-bring-back-pigeons/

Pigeons are certainly no substitute for drones, but they provide a low-visibility option to relay information.
Considering the storage capacity of microSD memory cards, a pigeon's organic characteristics provide front line forces a relatively clandestine mean to transport gigabytes of video, voice, or still imagery and documentation over considerable distance with zero electromagnetic emissions or obvious detectability to radar. These decidedly low-technology options prove difficult to detect and track. Pigeons cannot talk under interrogation, although they are not entirely immune to being held under suspicion of espionage. Within an urban environment, a pigeon has even greater potential to blend into the local avian population, further compounding detection.

The author points out that both France and China still maintain a small number of pigeons in case electronic communications are disrupted. ....

EDITED TO ADD (2/13): The Russian military is still using pigeons.
LINK: https://forum.qrz.ru/300-radiomuzey-valeriya-gromova/
48266-u-nas-v-gostyah-voennye-svyazisty.html

About Bruce Schneier

I am a public-interest technologist, working at the intersection of security, technology, and people. I've been writing about security issues on my blog since 2004, and in my monthly newsletter since 1998.

I'm a Special Advisor to IBM Security, a fellow and lecturer at Harvard's Kennedy School, and a board member of EFF. This personal website expresses the opinions of none of those organizations.

Latest Book