From New Jersey and New York to Ohio and Florida, thousands of drone sightings have been reported since November, concerning both the public and elected officials who are trying to get answers. The feds have largely dismissed the sightings, insisting most are “manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully.” That assessment was fiercely disputed, especially in New Jersey.
On Tuesday night, the House Intelligence Committee heard directly from the CIA, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Defense Department during a three-hour classified briefing. Here’s what we know from that closed-door meeting.
“Based on the information we have to date, there are no imminent threats to public safety,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ). “And that’s, I think, the No. 1 issue that we’re focused on.”
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), ranking member of the committee, told reporters afterwards that there is “no evidence that anybody acted unlawfully here or that any of these drones, in as much as the authorities know anything about them, are associated with anybody with malign intent.”
"I don't think we have any reason to believe that they are hiding information,” he added. “And, again, we asked an extraordinarily detailed series of questions of 28 people over a period of three hours.”
Hines said the theory that the drones are a classified government operation, as some security experts have speculated, can be ruled out.
"We asked this question over and over and over again," he said, "They are not. We were assured."
He also dismissed another theory that the government is searching for radioactive material.
“They are not federal government operations to sniff radiation, gas, recovery – anything else,” said Himes.
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) echoed National Security spokesman John Kirby’s assessment that most are “just traditional planes, drones, stars, private planes—all the things that are typically in our skies.”
Based on the answers the lawmakers received, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) concluded that “the technology of drones has outpaced the law.”
"We have to work in a bipartisan manner to plug some holes within the law in terms of who is allowed to operate drones in what manner and how do you disable or deal with drones in improper airspace,” Krishnamoorthi added.
Prior to the hearing, Rep. Michael McCaul claimed some of the UAS are Chinese spy drones.
“I was with the NASA administrator, Bill Nelson, he said that these drones have been reported over military sites, military bases. I would not think those are friendly. I would think those are adversarial,” McCaul said.
“My judgment based on my experience is that those that are over our military sites are adversarial and most likely are coming from the People’s Republic of China,” he continued.