JACQUI: “On the drones, does the U.S. government have any of its own imagery or video of these systems?”
WH’s John Kirby: “I’m not aware that we have U.S. government — uh — produced — uh — imagery ourselves, but as I said in my opening statement, we have certainly done thorough analysis of the existing imagery.”
Jacqui Heinrich: “Like, from people’s cell phones that we’re seeing? Basically, with what you’re looking at, how can you credibly tell people that there is no public safety threat, there’s no national security threat that there’s no reason to believe that a foreign government is involved?”
Kirby: “Because the analysis thus far in an investigation that is ongoing has not revealed any national security or malicious intent or criminal activity, but Jacqui, I would remind you, we’re at the beginning here, not the end. There’s a lot more work to be done and we’re working closely with state and local authorities to gain more information.”
Heinrich: “So, it might take awhile?”
Kirby: “I would argue that it’s — we’re — we’re moving — uh — pretty well here with — with a sense of energy to try to figure out what we can do to learn more about this. We’re at — we’re still in the middle of an ongoing investigation, and I’m up here explaining to you and let you know what we know so far, what we believe so far. If information comes to light that changes that characterization, then my goodness, you know, we’ll be the first ones to let you know, but right now, there’s just no indication that this is some sort of foreign malign activity or, in fact, even criminal.”
Jacqui Heinrich: “That’s not what the senator said in the letter. They said in fact that they’ve been observed maneuvering their critical infrastructure, sensitive locations including reservoirs and military installations and cited concern from law enforcement about public safety threats because a Medevac helicopter was prevented from transporting a seriously injured patient for care because of the presence of these drones.”
WH’s John Kirby: “I stand by my opening statement.”
Jacqui Heinrich: “Can you make that make more sense? Because I think people in New York and New Jersey see drones the size of an SUV over their house every night and think that that doesn’t make any sense.”
Kirby: “Yeah, I understand why people would be looking at this and being concerned about it. I — we’re concerned about it too, which is why we have the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI — my goodness — looking at this, and we’re taking it seriously and we — we — we understand that people are concerned. We understand that they got questions. We got questions too, and we’re working hard to get the answers to that. What I can tell you as we sit here today — uh — you know, at 2:16 in the afternoon on the 12th is we haven’t seen any indication thus far — uh — that there’s a public safety risk, and we haven’t seen —”
Heinrich: “But you still don’t know what they are.”
Kirby: “— we are still investigating this。 I can’t tell you definitively — uh — I cannot characterize for you definitively what these sightings are. I can just go back to what I said at the opening. We’ve looked at the imagery. We — we can’t corroborate some of the reported sightings through our own expert analysis using sophisticated detection techniques, but that doesn’t mean that, you know, I’m — we’re putting our pen down here this afternoon and calling it a day. We’re going to keep at this.”
Heinrich: “But what are you doing though?”
Kirby: “We — we are continuing to investigate it, as I said in my opening statement, two federal agencies, as well as the United States Coast Guard and state and local law enforcement officials, which we are staying in close touch with.”
https://www.facebook.com/HygoNewsUSA/videos/1369162874446418
JACQUI: how can you credibly say no safety threat, people see drones every night, make more sense?