Who?
Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) — Foreign Affairs Committee
LISTEN: Laslo & Smith
Ask a Pol asks:
Have you asked to see one? Or they just haven’t shot any down?
Key Smith:
“As far as we know, zero,” Rep. Chris Smith exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “One went down, we’re told, over Langley — near Langley, but it crashed so badly they — it’s like, c’mon, we don’t have the capability to nab one these things? I think we do.”
Is Trump right that FAA approved these ‘drones’?
“I think hearings are really needed — DOD and Homeland Security,” Smith says.
FAA? Or are they not even needed?
“Well, sure. But I don’t know if FAA — you know, where’s the military?” Smith says. “Homeland — this is US airspace. It’s not just over the installations.”
In other Ask a Pol news…
Yeah?
“And that was the disappointment, with all due respect to the previous administration — because the guidance to them was, ‘if it’s over your perimeter, you can do something’ and then we had it over their perimeter!” Smith recounts. “At [Naval Weapons Station] Earle, we had two!”
Yeah?
“Right over the perimeter! One landed. They rushed over and it had already taken off again,” Smith says through disbelieving laughter. “It’s like, are you kidding me? It’s a munitions depot!”
ICYMI — New Jersey’s newest US senator has questions…
Caught our ear:
“Reasonable minds would say, ‘we think there’s something very serious here,’” Smith tells us. “I kept saying, ‘shoot one down.’”
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Rep. Chris Smith
SCENE: Just off the floor of the US House of Representatives, Rep. Chris Smith is looking for a local New Jersey first responder — whom he never finds during this interview — when Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo presses him on the Trump White House’s flimsy excuse for the ‘drone’ incursions over his home state…
Matt Laslo: “Curious your thoughts on what the White House said about the drones over New Jersey — that the FAA knew?”
Chris Smith: “Well, I’m checking for…”
Smith looks around and can’t find his guest.
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ML: “Yeah?”
CS: “I had a situation where I met with a, uhm — a lot of situations — through and a, uhm…”
ML: “Because I always talk about that member of the Coast Guard…”
CS: “Say what?”
ML: “The 47-foot boat…”
Laslo’s recounting the Coast Guard story Smith shared with his colleagues in their December 2024 hearing on the New Jersey ‘drone’ incursions.
CS: “And it was a windbreaker…”
ML: “Yeah!”
CS: “One hundred feet behind the boat, and they were large — they weren’t, like, little Walmart drones…”
ML: “12 to 30!”
CS: “12 to 30 — oh, you got it!”
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ML: “It’s mind numbing.”
CS: “So, so…”
ML: “Because they don’t know that technology.”
CS: “And, as you know, [Biden White House National Security Communications Adviser John] Kirby, said they were jets flying into JFK. I said, ‘what?’”
CS: “So, no. We’re asking further questions than that.”
ML: “Yeah? Are you — is the delegation gonna get another briefing maybe?”
CS: “I doubt it.”
ML: “Maybe hearings?”
CS: “I think hearings are really needed — DOD and Homeland Security.”
ML: “Yeah?”
CS: “So…”
ML: “FAA? Or are they not even needed?”
CS: “Well, sure. But I don’t know if FAA — you know, where’s the military?”
ML: “Yeah?”
CS: “Homeland — this is US airspace. It’s not just over the installations.”
ML: “Yeah?”
CS: “And that was the disappointment, with all due respect to the previous administration — because the guidance to them was, ‘if it’s over your perimeter, you can do something’ and then we had it over their perimeter! At [Naval Weapons Station] Earle, we had two!”
ML: “Yeah?”
CS: “Right over the perimeter! One landed. They rushed over and it had already taken off again.”
Smith laughs in disbelief.
CS: “It’s like, are you kidding me? It’s a munitions depot!”
ML: “In the Senate, besides Langley…”
CS: “And Langley was huge.”
ML: “…but then there’s Luke Air Force Base…”
CS: “That’s right.”
ML: “…which shut down. [US Sen.] Mark Kelly’s been bringing that up.”
CS: “These aren’t — these aren’t small issues. And I [co-]chair the [Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe or OSCE] — 106 hearings, years to date, I’ve worked it all the time. They are so far ahead of us on drones. So, if they can make them go stealth as soon as we get near them, that doesn’t sound like Walmart…”
ML: “Right?”
CS: “…or even Iran. That sounds more like China, so…”
ML: “Right now, it doesn’t seem like we’re prepared?”
CS: “We’re not.”
ML: “Not prepared?”
Laslo re-stated Smith after hearing the congressman’s voice drop down to a secretive whisper, and the congressman nods that he heard him correctly.
CS: “That’s why I’m asking all these questions, and I have been doing — I have a bill that would empower local law enforcement, well, as a matter of fact, the idea came from…”
Smith looks around outside the House chamber for his constituent guest.
CS: “Where is he? I gotta find him. I hope he didn’t leave…my sheriff.”
ML: “Did he — there’s one guy over there.”
Laslo points to a non-reporter standing in a sea of reporters by the elevators, but not a sheriff…
CS: “Yeah.”
Smith says as he sees who Laslo pointed to, but shakes head no, wrong guy.
CS: “The Sheriff of Monmouth County, Shaun Golden.”
ML: “Uh-huh?”
CS: “So, he and — two sheriffs — he and [Michael] Mastronardy from Ocean [County] are being absolutely indefeatable in tracking these things, doing work. But they don’t have all the tools to do it. This sheriff suggested we do a bill that gives the power — with training…”
ML: “Yeah?”
CS: “…to local law enforcement. Not everybody, just a select group — state police and others. So that if this happens — DOD was so reluctant to do a thing!”
ML: “Yeah?”
CS: “I couldn’t get anybody in DOD — and Kirby would say, ‘nothing to see here.’”
ML: “Yeah?”
CS: “Off the record?”
ML: “Yeah.”
Per the congressman’s request, Smith and Laslo briefly chat off the record…
CS: “What are they doing? And in New Jersey they went over this site, this infrastructure that’s critical, military bases — they weren’t…”
ML: “Weren’t messing around.”
CS: “No. And they weren’t flying over the beach, so to speak, except to get from here to there.”
ML: “Yeah?”
CS: “So, it just begs the question, reasonable minds would say, ‘we think there’s something very serious here.’ I kept saying, ‘shoot one down.’”
ML: “Right?”
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CS: “In a place where, there’s nobody in them.”
ML: “Sen. [Kirsten] Gillibrand has a bill that would allow…”
CS: “To shoot them down?”
ICYMI — Ask a Pol broke this story in the fall…
ML: “…only over military bases.”
CS: “Well, they already have it.”
ML: “So, over Langley…”
CS: “They already have that.”
ML: “See, but I think that they’re confused on that…”
CS: “They are.”
ML: “…because the Pentagon hasn’t…”
CS: “They just haven’t been given the guidance, because I talked to my two base commanders [in NJ], and they were saying, ‘we’re waiting instructions, but we do have pretty much a standing idea, if the defense parameter is breached, they can ‘Boom.’”
Smith makes an explosive sound, indicating that whatever breaches the defense parameter is shot down.
ML: “Good!”
Laslo laughs.
CS: “Yeah, but you’re not doing it…”
Smith laughs.
CS: “That was my point!”
ML: “Have you asked to see one? Or they just haven’t shot any down?”
CS: “As far as we know, zero. One went down, we’re told, over Langley — near Langley, but it crashed so badly they — it’s like, c’mon., we don’t have the capability to nab one these things? I think we do.”
ML: “Right?”
CS: “Or, if we don’t, how far advanced are they from us, you know?”
Smith looks around for the lost sheriff.
CS: “I can’t find my guest.”
Laslo laughs.
CS: “I’ll introduce you to him.”
ML: “Oh, is he in town from Jersey?”
CS: “Yes.”
ML: “Oh cool!”
CS: “Chambers here.”
New Jersey Chamber of Commerce ‘Walk to Washington’ event is going on.
ML: “Oh great.”
CS: “Because he would…”
Laslo grabs a business card from his billfold, as another reporter’s impatiently waiting to chat with Smith.
ML: “You can pass him my…”
CS: “Cause he’s been out there, constantly, himself.”
ML: “Yeah?”
CS: “And he’s from Monmouth County where we have a...”
ML: “You can pass him my card.”
CS: “…we have a munitions depot right there.”
ML: “Yeah?”
CS: “The commanding officer’s name is Smith. He’s fantastic. And they’re seeing this stuff.”
ML: “Yeah?”
CS: “And they have everything for the fleet right there. I mean, it’s dangerous.”
ML: “Right?”
CS: “It’s like, Picatinny’s [Arsenal] just to the north, which is the [research and manufacturing] site.”
ML: “Unsettling.”
CS: “Munitions depot!”
ML: “Yeah, right?”
Laslo laughs before motioning to his congressional press corps colleague patiently waiting in the wings for the congressman.
ML: “Think she needs you.”
CS: “Okay.”
ML: “Good to see you, sir!”
CS: “Good seeing you too.”
Nicolae Viorel Butler contributed to this report.
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