The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee warned that some drones that were recently spotted flying near U.S. military installations in recent days could be “adversarial” and deployed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), amid a rash of sightings in New Jersey.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) told reporters Tuesday that he’s received intelligence from the administrator of NASA, Bill Nelson, that drones have been “reported over military sites, military bases,” without providing further detail.
“I would think those are adversarial,” he said.
It’s not clear whether McCaul was referring to the Wright-Patterson or Vandenberg bases.
“We need to identify who is behind these drones,” he 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 [PRC].
“I believe they’re spy drones, and the PRC and communist China is very good at this stuff. We know they bought land around military bases. This would be very consistent with their policy over the last couple of years.”
McCaul said federal officials have told him they are unsure who is behind the drone sightings near bases.
McCaul, the former chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he is “not getting answers.”
“I think it’s because our government does not know who is behind them, and that in and of itself is very disturbing to me,” he said.
“They seem to think that most of them are American-based commercial. It’s the ones over the military bases that I can’t explain, and they can’t either.”
The Epoch Times contacted the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment but received no replies by publication time.
Unidentified aircraft—possibly drones—have been spotted frequently in New Jersey and New York in recent weeks, prompting alarm from local elected officials.
Federal officials and the White House, on multiple occasions in recent days, have said the drones may not be drones at all but instead manned aircraft or lawfully operated aircraft. But some of the sightings are of drones that are not a risk to national security or public safety, officials say.
Kirby said officials haven’t found anything unusual or any risks to public safety or national security in New Jersey or other states in the Northeast due to the sightings.
President-elect Donald Trump, who has previously called for the government to take down some of the drones, said in a Monday news conference that he believes U.S. officials know more than what they are letting on to the public.
“I can’t imagine it’s the enemy, because if it was the enemy, they’d blast it.”
