House Foreign Affairs Chair Says Drones Flying Over US Bases Likely From ‘Communist China’

December 18, 2024 TruthUSA

The Chinese Communist Party ‘is very good at this stuff,’ Rep. Michael McCaul warns.

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.

This week, the Wright-Patterson Air Force base in Ohio reported multiple instances of drones being sighted near the facility, causing it to shut down over the weekend for a period of time. A second incursion involving drones was reported on Dec. 16 and Dec. 17, a base spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

Earlier this month, a Chinese national living in the United States was arrested by federal law enforcement officials for flying a drone in an illegal manner near the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California.

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.

On Sunday, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC News in an interview that the U.S. government lacks the authority to take more concrete action against the drones. He said some of the reports are of drones, not just manned aircraft.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby, however, said that the drones are being operated in a lawful manner or are being used by government entities. Some of the sightings are of celestial bodies such as stars or planets, he said.

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.

The FBI’s Newark office has advised the public not to shoot at the suspected drones with firearms or by other means, and it also advised people not to shine lasers at any aerial objects. The agency said shining lasers could be harmful for pilots flying manned aircraft.

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.

“For some reason, they don’t want to comment, and I think they’d be better off saying what it is. Our military knows. Our president knows, and for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense,” Trump said at a press event in Mar-a-Lago.

“I can’t imagine it’s the enemy, because if it was the enemy, they’d blast it.”

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