(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn — a Republican from Bondurant who’s a colonel in the Air Force Reserves — says the American public needs real answers to repeated reports of drone sightings. “I’d like to end the hysteria, but I believe that comes from clear leadership in the White House,” Nunn says. “In the last month, we clearly have not received that.” President Biden said this week there’s nothing nefarious about drone sightings on the east coast. President-elect Trump has said something strange is going on and he is staying away from his New Jersey golf club as a precaution.  “We are living in a post-9/11 world where if you see something, you should say something,” Nunn says. “Challengingly…we have a FAA who is pointing fingers at the Department of Defense who is pointing fingers at the Department of Homeland Security who is pointing fingers at the FBI (and) we have the same White House that couldn’t tell us that a Chinese-made balloon is floating over the country at the beginning of the year is now ending the year with being a little too coy on what’s happening with drones flying over New Jersey.”

Nunn says the U-S Coast Guard as well as New Jersey law enforcement agencies have confirmed the sightings there.  “It’s been verified by the governor and frankly kids on the Jersey Shore are seeing this stuff and we can’t get a straight answer out of the White House,” Nunn says, “and now it’s happening in other places across the country.” A White House spokesman says there is no national security threat and it appears to be normal, legal activity. “I will agree with the White House that we’ve got more than a million drones operating across our country, but here’s what I also know: I know the majority of these drones, particularly the commercial drones, are made in China,” Nunn says. “Elements, particularly in Iran, have used drones in an aggressive way to attack not only the State of Israel, but killed three U.S. military members in Syria earlier this year.”

Congressman Zach Nunn (R-Bondurant) speaking at news conference in Des Moines, Iowa. (RI file photo)

Nunn says the U-S should have a domestic drone production program, so the country isn’t dependent on drone technology that today comes from China and eastern Europe. Nunn, who was an airborne intelligence officer in the Air Force, also led an Iowa National Guard Intelligence Squadron in the past decade.