Who?
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) – Senate Armed Services Committee
LISTEN: Laslo & Kaine
Ask a Pol asks:
Your colleague Sen. Mark Warner wasn’t happy about the briefing on drone incursions at Langley. What are your thoughts?
Key Kaine:
“I'm not happy with the answers,” Sen. Tim Kaine exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “If we're a year out, you should know more than you know, or maybe you know stuff that you haven't shared with. It wasn't the latter, it was more the former, though.”
ICYMI — Senate Intel Vice-chair Warner growing angry
Will this be addressed?
“As soon as you get one NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] done, you're starting to work on the next one, and so you'll see a heavy focus on this within the NDAA, but it is a multi-committee thing,” Kaine says. “Because to the extent FAA is involved, okay, that would be in Commerce [Committee]. To the extent Homeland Security’s involved, that’s in HSGA [Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs]. So we will need to have some discussions across the jurisdictions and committees to make sure that there's the effective coordination that we need.”
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Caught our ear:
“If they were ‘off-the-shelf,’ there are also methods to bring down the ones that are off-the-shelf that weren't successful with these,” Kaine tells us.
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Tim Kaine
SCENE: Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo is waiting in the basement of the Capitol when Sen. Tim Kaine walks by, so Laslo proceeds to interview him as he walks back to his office alongside the underground Senate trams.
Tim Kaine: “Hey.”
Matt Laslo: “Haven't seen you since after you had your Langley briefing with [Sen. Mark] Warner.”
T.K: “Yes.”
ML: “But I talked to Warner, and he wasn't happy with it.”
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T.K: “No. It just is still, I mean, we're a year out, and, you know, I think we had this sense of, if we're a year out, you should know more than you know or maybe you know stuff that you haven't shared with. It wasn't the latter, it was more the former though.”
They nervously laugh.
T.K: “You know, the ability to have information about the origin, they still really don't have any good information. And, you know, the point that I have made publicly is, it's one thing, if there's a drone swarm one day.”
ML: “Yeah?”
T.K: “And by the time you're, ‘Okay, okay. We're trying to figure out where it is’ and you can't find it. But when it's 17 days in a row, I mean, like, couldn't you follow it?”
ML: “Yeah?”
T.K: “I mean, couldn't you do something in that 17-day period to determine the origin? And so I'm not happy with the answers. And also, I think there's a little bit of a left-hand, right-hand issue…”
A tram passes.
T.K: “…where different agencies are responsible for different pieces of this and kinda point at somebody else. ‘Oh, the FBI, it's domestic law enforcement,’ ‘No, it should be the military, because it was a military base’ or ‘it should be the FAA — FAA because they're the ones that, you know, control airspace.’ So I think they, I think we have to be more coordinated.”
ML: “And now they — some of your colleagues — say, ‘Oh, a lot of these are just off-the-shelf, blah, blah, blah,’ but some of the reports are that these were 16 or even 20 foot…”
T.K: “Yeah, they're — even if they were, quote, ‘Off-the-shelf,’ if they were ‘off-the-shelf,’ there are also methods to bring down the ones that are off-the-shelf that weren't successful with these.”
ML: “Yeah?”
T.K: “So that tells you, again, I mean, they can't tell us that much about them, but if they were off-the-shelf, they were off-the-shelf and modified in such a way that some of the traditional methods we would use to disable them were not successful.”
ML: “And now, where do you see this going? Because it doesn't seem like the Virginia delegation — or the Jersey delegation — is going to let up.”
T.K: “No. It's, I mean, look, you know, as soon as you get one NDAA done, you're starting to work on the next one. And so you'll see, you'll see a heavy focus on this within the NDAA, but it is a multi-committee thing.”
ML: “Yeah.”
T.K: “Because, you know, to the extent FAA is involved, okay, that would be in Commerce [Committee]. To the extent Homeland Security’s involved, that’s in HSGA [Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs]. So we will need to have some discussions across the jurisdictions and committees to make sure that there's the effective coordination that we need.”
ML: “And now, are you unsettled that they don't know what it is? Or…”
T.K: “I am. I am.”
Kaine waves to Capitol visitors they pass.
T.K: “Good to see you guys.”
Kaine turns back to Laslo.
T.K: “Yeah, I'm very, very — we should know more than we know a year later given the extent of this thing.”
ML: “Yeah?”
T.K: “Okay?”
ML: “I’ll be watching. Preciate ya.”
Andrey Beregovskiy contributed to this report.
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Hi Matt, it's great that Sen. Kaine was willing to engage with you for longer than most. It'll be very interesting to see what transpires going forward. Thanks as always 🙏🙏🙏
He can be quick in the halls - but luckily he was heading back to his office instead of running to vote on the Senate floor this time!
Hi Matt, it's