Retired Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer told Newsmax on Friday that national security adviser John Kirby is lying by stating the Biden administration has no clue about the origin of the swarms of drones sighted along the East Coast this week and that they pose no security threat to the U.S.
"My guess would be China, or it's us," Shaffer told "The Chris Salcedo Show," referring to who might be behind the drones. "But either way, the reason that the federal government is not talking about this is because either it's a foreign power that they can't stop, so they don't want to address it, or it's something they're doing and don't want to tell the American people what's going on.
"One of those two things must be the truth."
Kirby told reporters at a White House briefing Thursday that "we have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat or have a foreign nexus."
"The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are investigating these sightings, and they're working closely with state and local law enforcement to provide resources, using numerous detection methods to better understand their origin," Kirby said. "Upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully."
But Shaffer said Kirby is being "purposely obtuse" about the situation.
"There [are] multiple venues of telemetry that can be used," Shaffer said. "We have very sophisticated radars that can track these things. So, that tells me, Chris, we're not really trying that hard if they're not tracking them by radar. That's No. 1. No. 2, the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration], if these things really aren't a threat, can verify by telemetry by the fact that any drone that's actually sold here in the United States has to basically squawk [have a transponder signal].
"My son is a drone operator at [age] 18. He's got a license. He has to follow the rules.
"So, the fact that these aren't following the rules, there's something really wrong. These things all being equal tells me [that] John Kirby [is] lying. That's not new but it is important to understand he's lying here.
"The fact that these drones do not emit the required telemetry or signature to be FAA certified tells me that there's something else."
Newsmax reached out to the White House for comment.
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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