Gimenez Raises Alarm About Chinese Drones Over Washington

More than any other country, Communist China is the largest foreign threat to the United States, with no facet of American society being off-limits as a target. Recently, Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL-26) appeared on Fox's Evening Edit to discuss Chinese-manufactured drones possibly engaging in espionage.

"Drones manufactured by Communist #China pose a threat to our national security whether at the U.S. Capitol or critical infrastructure sites across the nation," Gimenez tweets, saying that "in Congress, I’m fighting so that we have the proper defense in place."

Host Elizabeth MacDonald begins by citing a Politico article which describes "hundreds" of Chinese drones flying through restricted areas throughout Washington, D.C. Gimenez says the headline is obvious. "You've got Chinese-manufactured drones, not necessarily flown by the Chinese," he clarifies, "they're made in China. They're getting into restricted areas, and so that's a concern not only in the capital, it's a concern around the United States."

Gimenez elaborates on what sort of places these drones could be spying on, such as airports and infrastructure. From here, he describes that the Israelis are "somehow seem to be about a step or two ahead of us when it comes to these threats and how to handle them."

MacDonald then asks if national security is indeed at risk due to these drones, especially as espionage. "It could also be a physical threat," answers Gimenez. By this, he means that "remember, these drones are getting more capable, they can carry higher payloads." Thankfully, it is noted that most drones still require a human controller, but technology advancing means they will soon be able to work through artificial intelligence. "And so we not only need electronic countermeasures to knock them down, but eventually we're going to have to have some kind of kinetic energy to knock them down too for those drones that are autonomously flying around," Gimenez states, adding that this is "something we're looking into."