On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight,” Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) said that she and Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) told the White House information about reported drone sightings and the bases in their district “And it seemed as if the White House might have been unaware of some of the information we were presenting to them, but we’ve presented it before. So, the communication still does not seem to be operating where we want it to be operating, and it isn’t clear to me that all of the information that the government’s collated is being brought together and then dispersed to law enforcement on the ground. I’m still hearing on the ground some lack of information.”
Sherrill said, [relevant remarks begin around 31:00] “There still seems to be a lack of communication. I was just having that White House briefing today and I was reporting some information on the base in my district, and Pat Ryan was reporting information on the base in his district. We’re both military veterans. So, we’ve been focused on some of the national security implications. And it seemed as if the White House might have been unaware of some of the information we were presenting to them, but we’ve presented it before. So, the communication still does not seem to be operating where we want it to be operating, and it isn’t clear to me that all of the information that the government’s collated is being brought together and then dispersed to law enforcement on the ground. I’m still hearing on the ground some lack of information. And, finally, we know the communication to the public is simply not where it needs to be. It has gotten better, but there is still work to be done. And it is for all of these reasons that I have been pushing out a plan. I’m happy to see that the first step, getting these radars on the ground, has been accomplished. We are seeing more communications, we are getting more briefings in Congress, again, things that I think need to immediately happen. I would still like to see an agency in charge of interagency operations, and I still want to see a future plan for…dealing with drones like this.”
She added, “I still feel as if there is a lack of information on specific events and there is a lack of information on exactly what happened and an understanding of if these government agencies are communicating to the full extent they need to be. So, I feel better after having received the briefings I’ve had and what I’ve heard about some of what’s going on. I don’t feel like we are at the point where every sighting, I have had a report back that it is, in fact, either a law enforcement drone, a hobbyist drone, or aircraft or something that we would expect to be in the sky. So, that is problematic, and I’m still working to get to the bottom of that, and we are slowly getting there. Problem B. It took far too long to get to this point.”
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