House Intelligence Committee members sought to ease public worries Tuesday about drone sightings following a briefing, echoing law enforcement statements that there is nothing nefarious behind the activity even as some called for legislation to address the matter.
Lawmakers on the panel met for more than two hours with 28 briefers from a slew of government agencies, including the FBI, the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“No. 1, we spent a lot of time in this hearing asking the question in every way imaginable as to whether or not any of these sightings in New Jersey, Connecticut — anywhere they're being sighted — are federal government operations, and they are not. We were assured, and we asked this question over and over and over again,” Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.), the top Democrat on the panel, told reporters as he exited the briefing.
“No. 2, they remain committed to their message that there is zero evidence of laws being broken by any of these drones.”
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) likewise shared there does not appear to be any nefarious activity.
“I think that the message for the American people is that a lot of people from a lot of........