House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul, R-Texas, asserted Tuesday that at least some of the unidentified aircraft that have been roaming the skies over the East Coast are Chinese "spy drones."
McCaul made the comments to reporters prior to receiving a classified briefing about the drone activity, the New York Post reported.
"I was with the NASA administrator, Bill Nelson, he said that these drones have been reported over military sites, military bases. I would not think those are friendly. I would think those are adversarial," McCaul said, according to the Post.
"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."
McCaul as well as other members of the House Intelligence Committee were briefed Tuesday by the FBI, CIA, and Pentagon. Biden administration officials continue to dismiss the drones as commercial aircraft that do not pose a threat.
"It's not reassuring," Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., told WRIC ABC 8News. "Tell us how you know that."
Especially in the wake of the Chinese weather balloon that drifted across the United States nearly two years ago that the Biden administration kept quiet until shooting it down over the ocean off the coast of South Carolina in February 2023.
"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 past couple years," McCaul said.
He added, "We're not getting answers, and I think it's because our government does not know who is behind them and that is very disturbing to me."
The Biden administration on Monday continued to assert the drones are everything but a threat.
"We assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones," the FBI, FAA, Pentagon, and Department of Homeland Security said in a joint statement.
President-elect Donald Trump weighed in Monday and said the Biden administration, for whatever reason, wants to keep Americans in "suspense."
"I can't imagine it's the enemy," Trump added. "Because if it was the enemy, they'd blast it out — even if they were late, they'd blast it. Something strange is going on. For some reason they don't want to tell the people, and they should."