Sen Gillibrand is very candid about the unknown origin and purpose of the east coast drones

[Renew Deal]

From an interview on MSNBC

"We know very little about the drones."
"We don't know who is sending them, who is controlling them. And whether they are putting the American people at risk."

Question from Andrea Mitchell: "The Pentagon is denying a claim made by a republican NJ congressman that quote 'an Iranian mothership is behind these drones.' Does it ease your concerns that they say there's nothing to that?"

Gillibrand: Well, I wouldn't say that either Andrea. We've had drone incursions over Langley for two weeks in a row, and did not see them coming, did not know who they were from, or who was operating them. They are using technologies in some of these instances that are unfamiliar. The size of these drones are usual. It's a size that is not commercially available.

The craziest thing is that she doesn't rule out that they came from ships.

Mitchell: Do you really thing that there could be an Iranian mothership that close off the coast of the US, that would launch something that would go over Langley?

Gillibrand: There's reason to believe that drone incursions that have happened over many months, over the last few years in different places in the US could have been launched from ships. Particularly if you look at the drone incursions we've seen over Virginia, the drone incursions we've seen at Langley, the drone incursions in places that are easily accessible by sea.

The DOD said that they don't have any evidence that they came from a specific Iranian ship, but we don't have any evidence that they didn't come from a ship. We don't know who is building them, and who is flying them, and we don't know their purpose.

She says it causes her "grave concern."

"With the size of the drone, they can carry any payload they wanted to carry, carry any weapon they wanted to carry."

[Bread and Circuses]

1. The Pentagon knows

more than they want to say.

What’s going on? I have no idea.

They know some of the story, but it may be murky. Or they may be guarding military secrets. They may not want to disclose what they know to prevent our adversaries from knowing what we know.

I will say that it seems to me a matter of concern if these drones are surveilling military bases.

[Renew Deal]

7. There should be some concern about people being trained to believe they are not a threat.

That's probably the message because Americans would demand action if they knew it was a foreign threat.

And if they can carry weapons, people aren't doing enough to protect themselves.

[Historic NY]

3. Then why aren't they being shot down?

[intheflow]

5. Right?

I don’t understand this, either. Just shoot one down, it would start to answer questions even if it blows up and we only have fragments. It makes me wonder if a rogue subset of our Pentagon are behind them. Especially when I think of the first time I remember it happening, over eastern Colorado. Several flying in grid formation over the plains. Not far from Fort Carson, the Air Force Academy, and Cheyanne Mountain. Now over Langley. 🤔

[Buckeyeblue]

8. I agree with you. These are US drones.

The military is not going to say, it's us, don't worry. Instead they are being vague. The big question is what is their purpose. Time will tell, I guess.

[Renew Deal]

6. I've heard two reasons

1. We actually can’t track them. They are moving freely.

2. We don’t want to give away our capabilities.

I’ve heard more messages sounding like 1.

[intheflow]

9. That first point sounds like baloney.

We can track missiles, pilots can track and hit enemy aircraft, which is also free moving. I don’t remember reading they were moving at unusually high rates of speed. Still sounds hinky to me.

[Gaugamela]

4. I keep expecting Andrea Mitchell to fall asleep and tip over like a sack of potatoes.

[Red Mountain]

10. Not to worry

the stick up her posterior will hold her upright if she falls asleep.