UN-paywalled: Merry whatever!
Who?
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) — Chair, Senate Intelligence Committee
LISTEN: Laslo & Warner
Background:
Last December, swarms of unmanned aerial craft forced the relocation of “an entire fighter wing” of F-22 Raptor stealth fighters at Virginia’s Joint Base Langley-Eustis. Two months earlier a similar incident was reported by officials at the Energy Department’s Nevada National Security Site.
Recently, similar incursions have been reported at New Jersey’s Picatinny Arsenal, Naval Weapons Station Earle, the Air Force’s Plant 42 in California (home to top secret aerospace programs), President-elect Donald Trump's Bedminster country club, along with US military bases in the UK and Germany, etc.
Ask a Pol asks:
How’d Thursday’s classified briefing go?
Key Warner:
“Disappointing,” Sen. Mark Warner exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “We’re a year in and we still don’t have where they came from, who's behind it.”
ICYMI — Langley alarm been raised for a year this month
Caught our ear:
“You gotta have the ability to take them down,” Warner tells us.
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Mark Warner
SCENE: Shortly after the US House of Representatives passed a last minute measure averting a government shutdown Friday evening, the US Senate was buzzing with anticipation ahead of the midnight government funding deadline.
On his way back from covering the last House vote of the year — including scoring some new UAP exclusives; stay tuned! — Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo passed through the Senate basement when he spotted Sen. Mark Warner and an aide. He gave them space for a private conversation until a Senate tram arrived.
After the senator and his aide boarded, Laslo approached, but the senator motioned he wasn’t welcome.
Tis the season: Ask a Pol staked out 5 classified UAP briefings December alone!
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So Laslo stood just outside the tram door and asked the Intel Chair for an update on the classified briefing he and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) received Thursday afternoon on the Langley incursions.
Matt Laslo: “Sir.”
Warner shakes his head ‘no’ from inside the tram car, so Laslo stops at the gap.
ML: “How’d the briefing go?”
Mark Warner: “Um.”
ICYMI — FOUND IT! FREE link to WSJ Langley feature
ML: “The Langley one.”
MW: “Disappointing.”
ML: “Disappointing?”
Warner nods yes.
MW: “We’re a year in and we still don’t have where they came from, who's behind it.”
ML: “Yeah?”
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MW: “And, you know, there are — we've got to change some of the…um.”
Warner turns to his aide.
MW: “What’s the word I’m looking for?”
Speaking to himself as he struggles finding the right word.
MW: “Not borders, capabilities…”
The self-driving tram’s digital bell rings, alerting everyone it’s taking off momentarily.
ML: “Sensors or…?”
MW: “No, no.”
The tram’s heavy doors start lumbering closed.
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MW: “You gotta have the ability to take them down.”
ML: “Yeah, yeah.”
The tram doors lock.
ML: “Thank you.”
As he starts heading back to the Capitol, Laslo repeats Warner’s last statement into his mic.
ML: “They’ve gotta have the ability to take them down.”
Laslo turns back to the tram.
ML: “Merry Christmas, sir.”
Please pardon any typos. We’re exhausted…
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