Pentagon says it can’t stop mysterious drones from surveilling US military sites

According to the Wall Street Journal, drones of unknown origin have been flying over military bases in Virginia as well as in Nevada during the past year. This includes spying on the Navy’s elite SEAL Team Six commando unit and Naval Station Norfolk, which is the largest naval port in the world. Federal laws have gotten in the way of the country from doing anything to shoot down the drones over fears that debris will harm people on the ground.

Gen. Glen VanHerck, who led the takedown of the Chinese spy balloon, recommended that Lloyd Austin issue teams to eavesdrop on the spycraft to learn more about it. “If there are unknown objects within North America,” VanHerck commented, the goal is “to go out and identify them.”

During White House meetings, the option of jamming the signals of the drones has also been ruled out over concerns that the move would impact 911 systems, Wi-Fi, as well as commercial airliners in the sky. The inaction has resulted in the US not being able to fire on potential adversarial surveillance operations.

The drone sightings were first relayed to US Air Force Gen. Mark Kelly in December 2023 when officials at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia reported that fleets of the drones could be seen flying over the base during the night.

The base contains some of America's most advanced stealth weapons: F-22 Raptor fighter jets, and since spying on the base does not count as an imminent threat, the military is unable to shoot them down. Authorities have ruled out that an amateur drone pilot has been behind the sightings, as there are far too many flying at once in an organized fashion.

However, those investigating have found one drone that was being flown by a Chinese student at the University of Minnesota. Fengyun Shi, 26, was on vacation in the area of Langley Airforce Base and got his drone stuck in a tree. He abandoned it, but it was later found by authorities. The FBI found that he was taking photos of Navy ships in dry docks at the base.

Shi was arrested just days later as he was boarding a one-way flight to China and was charged with unlawfully taking photos of classified naval installations with the drone. Shi later pleaded guilty to espionage. His defense argued that he was just flying the drone for fun on vacation.