Who?
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) — Ranking Member, Oversight Subcommittee on Military & Foreign Affairs
LISTEN: Laslo & Subramanyam
#UAPWeek special — limited time SALE!*
*through end of week of May 12th (or when we run outta stakeout exclusives to post. Buckle up, fam! We trained for this…)
Ask a Pol asks:
Do you think you guys might need to provide the Pentagon a statutory answer so they know whether they have the authority to shoot these UAP — or ‘drones’ or ‘UAS’ (Unmanned Aircraft System)* — down on US soil?
*on Capitol Hill ‘drone’ is often used interchangeably with ‘UAP’ and ‘UAS’
Key Subramanyam:
“Yeah,” Rep. Suhas Subramanyam exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “I want to work with the rest of the committee on trying to push some legislation. One is also trying to expand the definition of covered entities so that more installations have the ability to defend themselves, trying to make sure that people are very clear on when and how they can respond and trying to make sure that, generally, the people and installations have the technology and tools to defend themselves when they know UAS is coming.”
ICYMI — April 29, 2025 Oversight hearing
Subscribe & pass it on — LIFETIME VIP MEMBERSHIP to Ask a Pol’s 5,000th subscriber!
Was craft recovered during 17 day Langley swarms?
You’ve been briefed on it but haven’t seen it?
“I haven't seen it myself, no,” Subramanyam says.
Have you guys requested to see it?
“Oh, no,” Subramanyam says. “Not yet.”
New bipartisan bill in works…?
”I had actually asked [Chair William Timmons] during the hearing, like, kind of privately, if he's willing to work together. He said, ‘Yes,’” Subramanyam says. “So very much so, I think there's going to be consensus around trying to do something. It’s just what we do.”
Caught our ear:
“I haven't seen significant change the first 100 days, but I'm hopeful that we can push for significant changes moving forward,” Subramanyam tells us of transparency — or the lack there of — in the Trump administration. “It's important.”
What should we ask Congress next?
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Rep. Subramanyam (4-30-2025)
SCENE: The day after the House “Securing the Skies: Addressing Unauthorized Drone Activity Over Military Installations” on April 29th, Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo runs into Rep. Suhas Subramanyam as he makes his way to a vote on the House floor.
It’s the first time they’ve met, so Laslo starts by introducing himself to the freshman congressman.
Matt Laslo: “I used to be the correspondent for Virginia Public Radio for years…”
Suhas Subramanyam: “Oh nice.”
ML: “…and I was also WAMU’s correspondent.”
SS: “Oh yeah, absolutely.”
ML: “But it’s interesting, I was watching that hearing yesterday. What’d you…?”
SS: “Which one?”
ML: “The one on — not Langley, but the one tangential to Langley.”
SS: “Oh yes. Yeah, yeah.”
ML: “Did you — like what was your takeaway from that?”
Laslo passes the congressman a business card for his wire service, The LCB.
ML: “That's me.”
SS: “Oh, great, yeah. The LCB, that's awesome.”
SS: “What was my takeaway? Oh, I think we are all in agreement that there's a problem when it comes to UAS and flying over military installations, and really over any critical infrastructure. The rear admiral made a point that I agree with, which is, we've developed the technology for UAS offense but not really for UAS defense.”
ML: “Yeah. Right?”
SUBSCRIBER-ONLY CONTENT*
*Student? Lost a gig? Blind? Health issues?
Got you. No questions asked. Just ping us.
Listen to this episode with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Ask a Pol uaps to listen to this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.
