‘IT’S A BRAND-NEW ECOSYSTEM’: In a teleconference with reporters and an appearance on Fox News, John Kirby, White House national security communications adviser, is telling skeptical Americans — including lawmakers and even President-elect Donald Trump — that what they see in the sky is simply an anodyne sign of the times.
“We’re in a new ecosystem regarding unmanned aircraft in this country. Again, all legal and lawful and doing the right thing for the public good, but it’s a brand-new ecosystem,” Kirby told a questioning Fox News anchor Bret Baier. “We’ve done the detection, then the analysis. We’ve corroborated the sightings. And in every case that we have examined to date, we have seen nothing, nothing that indicates a public safety risk … Our assessment to date, given all the work that we’ve done, the FBI, state, and local officials, that these are legal and lawful drones flying for the common good.”
People in the country, he said, need to get used to the idea that with more than one million drones registered with the Federal Aviation Administration, and thousands of commercial, hobbyist, and law enforcement drones flying legally every day, the number of drone sightings will only increase over time.
“That is the ecosystem that we are dealing with. And it is legal, it is proper,” Kirby said earlier in a conference call with reporters. “In many cases, these drones provide valuable services, both on the commercial side and on the law enforcement/public safety side.”
‘WE HAVE NOT IDENTIFIED ANYTHING ANOMALOUS’: “Having closely examined the data, having closely looked at the tips and collated them as best we can from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and even stars that were mistakenly reported as drones,” Kirby told reporters, with the “stars” example apparently referring to a social media post by former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, whose video of suspected drones over his house was identified as stars in the constellation Orion in a reader’s note.
“We have not identified anything anomalous or any national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast,” Kirby said while insisting the investigation is not over and that the federal government will continue to support state and local authorities to follow up on leads that are still active.
“We urge Congress to enact counter UAS, Unmanned Aerial Systems, legislation that has been proposed and repeatedly requested by this administration that would extend and expand existing counter drone authorities to help identify and counter any threat that does emerge,” Kirby said. “When Congress reconvenes in January, we’re going to be calling on them to put in place a bipartisan task force to examine congestion in the skies and to help set appropriate rules to address the public’s concerns.”
DRONES ARE THE NEW CARS: At the Pentagon, chief spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder tried out an analogy comparing drones to cars when it comes to the threat they might pose to military bases in an attempt to make the case that most drones pose no threat to national security.
“The Department of Defense has thousands of installations around the world. There’s also millions of legally registered automobiles on the roads around these installations. And on any given day, an unauthorized car or truck may approach one of the base gates, usually by accident. Ninety-nine percent of the time, those cars are turned away without incident. But every once in a while, a vehicle may enter the installation illegally, at which point security forces respond,” Ryder told reporters. “Unless there’s a clear and present danger, and typically there is not, security forces personnel aren’t going to shoot at the vehicle as a first resort.”
“So, just as automobiles were a new technology once, so are drones, which can be flown for commercial use, recreational or hobbyist use, in some cases for law enforcement purposes. The point being is that flying drones is not illegal,” Ryder said. “Some fly near or over our bases from time to time. That in and of itself is not unusual and the vast majority pose no physical threat to our forces or impact our operations.”
“So, to be clear, we’ll continue to do everything possible to investigate reports of concerning activity. But given how many drones are lawfully in our skies every day, we need to be careful to avoid assuming malintent or malicious behavior.”
TRUMP: ‘SOMETHING STRANGE IS GOING ON’: Count Trump among the skeptics who, despite having full access to U.S. intelligence as the president-elect, claims to be totally in the dark about what’s happening.
“Something strange is going on. For some reason, they don’t want to tell the people,” Trump said at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, his first since the election. “I think they’d be better off saying what it is. Our military knows, and our president knows. And for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense.”
“The government knows what is happening. Look, our military knows where they took off from. If it’s a garage, they can go right into that garage. They know where it came from and where it went,” Trump said. “I can’t imagine it’s the enemy because if it was the enemy, they’d blast it out. Even if they were late, they’d blast it.”
“I mean, they happen to be over Bedminster, if you want to know the truth,” Trump mused. “They’re very close to Bedminster. I think maybe I won’t spend the weekend in Bedminster.”
BLACKBURN DEMANDS BRIEFING AND ANSWERS FROM PENTAGON ON MYSTERIOUS DRONE SIGHTINGS
Good Tuesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Christopher Tremoglie (@chriswtremo). Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP OR READ BACK ISSUES OF DAILY ON DEFENSE
NOTE TO READERS: Daily on Defense will be on Christmas break from Monday, Dec. 23 through Wednesday, Jan. 1.
HAPPENING TODAY: SHOWDOWN ON SHUTDOWN: With a Friday deadline looming, House Republicans and Democrats have yet to agree on final language for a continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded into the new year.
Talks stalled over the weekend due to a bipartisan divide over how much aid to provide for hard-hit farmers. This prevented the bill from being ready for a vote, with only days to get it to the Senate for final passage. Farm state lawmakers from both parties blamed each other for failing to make a deal.
“The coming onslaught of farm foreclosures and retirement sales is on the Republican Leadership,” retiring Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and House Agriculture ranking member David Scott (D-GA) said in a statement Saturday. “Republican Leadership turned down this $10 Billion proposal, rejecting needed economic assistance and increased conservation spending for decades.”
Because of a House rule requiring 72 hours for members to read and review the text of any final agreement, time is quickly running out, which may require some legislative gymnastics to pass something before Friday’s midnight deadline, perhaps even working into the weekend. Without farm aid, the bill’s fate in the Senate is uncertain. “Through no fault of their own, Kansas farm families are struggling to keep their heads above water, and it is critical they receive assistance as soon as possible to continue their operations,” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) posted on X. “If there is no assistance for our farmers and ranchers in the Continuing Resolution, I will not support the bill.”
MEANWHILE, THE NDAA IS SET FOR FINAL PASSAGE: Last night, on a bipartisan vote of 83-12, the Senate advanced the $884 billion 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, setting up the must-pass annual policy bill for final passage today or tomorrow. “This year’s NDAA is not a perfect bill, but it nonetheless has some very good things that Democrats fought hard for that will strengthen military families and boost tech innovation here at home, something very important to me,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in floor remarks before the vote. “We must pass our annual defense authorization bill, the NDAA …If cloture is invoked, I hope we can find a path to pass an NDAA as soon as [Tuesday].”
UKRAINE KILLS TOP RUSSIAN GENERAL: The big news out of Russia this morning is that a senior Russian general was assassinated today by a remotely triggered bomb planted in a scooter parked outside his Moscow apartment, and Ukraine’s security service is claiming credit for the attack.
Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological, and chemical protection, was under criminal indictment by Ukrainian authorities for alleged war crimes, accusing him of being responsible for thousands of times when Russia used chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops.
The assassination comes a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that North Korean troops are suffering substantial losses after being deployed in the same sort of “meatgrinder” ground assaults that have resulted in horrific Russian casualties.
“Ukraine’s Defense Forces and intelligence are working to determine the full extent of the actual losses suffered by Russian units that include North Koreans,” Zelenesky said in his nightly video address. “Unfortunately, we are forced to defend against them as well, even though there is not a single reason for North Koreans to die in this war.”
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said around 30 North Korean troops were killed or wounded over the weekend.
TRUMP ON ZELENSKY: ‘PREPARE TO MAKE A DEAL’: In his Mar-a-Lago news conference yesterday President-elect Trump had a blunt message for Zelensky. “He should prepare to make a deal. That’s all,” he said. “There’s got to be a deal. Too many people being killed.”
“And Putin has to make a deal,” he quickly added, repeating one of his favorite talking points, insisting Russian President Vladimir Putin would never have invaded Ukraine had he been president in 2022.
In what would be a major concession to Putin, Trump also said he “might” revoke the permission granted to Ukraine by the Biden administration to use U.S. weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia. “I might, yeah. I thought it was a very stupid thing to do.”
“I don’t think they should have allowed missiles to be shot 200 miles into Russia. I think that was a bad thing. And that brought the Koreans in, you know, North Korea, another man I get along with very well,” Trump said while complaining he wasn’t consulted. “Why would they do that without asking me what I thought? I wouldn’t have had them do that. I think that was a big mistake they made.”
TRUMP CALLS ON BIDEN TO STOP SELLING MATERIALS FOR THE BORDER WALL
‘FAR WORSE THAN PEOPLE ARE REPORTING’: Unlike the Biden approach, which is that it is totally up to Ukraine when and if it wants to make concessions to bring the war to an end, Trump is appalled by the carnage and believes it’s his role as a peacemaker to ending the killing and suffering on both sides.
“We’re trying to get the war stopped, that horrible, horrible war,” Trump said. “It’s a tough one. It’s a nasty one. It’s nasty. People are being killed at levels that nobody has ever seen.”
“What’s happening there is far worse than people are reporting, for both sides,” Trump said. Previously, he cited figures he has been provided in classified briefings that put Ukrainian casualties — dead and wounded — at 400,000 and Russia’s at 600,000.
“The number of soldiers that are being killed on both sides is astronomical. I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “I have pictures of fields where bodies are lying on top of bodies. Looks like the old pictures of the Civil War, where just bodies are all over, just — if you saw those pictures, you’d feel more strongly about it. It’s got to stop.”
“I get reports every week … They’re going down. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it,” he said. “So we’re going to do our best, and we’ve been doing our best, and we’ll see what happens, but since the election, I’ve been working every day to put the world at ease a little bit, to get rid of the wars.”
“We’ll be talking to President Putin, and we’ll be talking to the representatives, Zelensky and representatives from Ukraine, and we’ve got to stop it. It’s carnage,” Trump said.
SYRIA: U.S. AIRSTRIKES KILL ISIS OPERATIVES: The U.S. Central Command announced another round of airstrikes yesterday targeting ISIS camps and operatives in Syria, and claims the precision strikes killed 12 ISIS “terrorists.”
“The strikes against the ISIS leaders, operatives, and camps were conducted as part of the ongoing mission to disrupt, degrade, and defeat ISIS, preventing the terrorist group from conducting external operations and to ensure that ISIS does not seek opportunities to reconstitute in central Syria,” CENTCOM said in a release. “CENTCOM, working with allies and partners in the region, will not allow ISIS to reconstitute and take advantage of the current situation in Syria,” said Gen. Erik Kurilla, commander of CENTCOM forces.
TRUMP ON U.S. TROOPS IN SYRIA: When Trump was in office last time, he wanted to pull all U.S. troops out of Syria, and let Turkey take control of the North and deal with ISIS. Under Trump, the number of U.S. troops in Syria helping local fighters battle ISIS went from 5,000 to 900.
“I took a lot of heat. And, you know what happened? Nothing. Nothing,” Trump said. Trump said he was uncomfortable with the small contingent of U.S. troops being deployed between the Turkish and Syrian armies.
Asked if he would pull the remaining U.S. 900 troops out of Syria, Trump replied, “I don’t think that I want our soldiers killed, but I don’t think that will happen now anyway because the one side has been decimated.”
Trump seemed predisposed toward giving Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a free hand to do what he wants in northern Syria, where his forces have been tangling with the Syrian Democratic Forces currently backed by the U.S. “Turkey is a major force,” he said, adding “I get along with [Erdogan] great, but he has a major military force. And his has not been worn out at war.”
“Nobody knows what the final outcome is going to be in the region. Nobody knows who will be the final. I believe it’s Turkey, and I think Turkey is very smart. He’s a very smart guy, and he’s very tough,” Trump said.
ASSAD LAMENTS ‘TERRORIST’ CONTROL OF SYRIA IN FIRST STATEMENT SINCE FLEEING TO RUSSIA
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: Blackburn demands briefing and answers from Pentagon on mysterious drone sightings
Washington Examiner: Canadian finance minister resigns over disagreements about Trump tariff threat
Washington Examiner: The Next Frontier: US adversaries ‘shrinking’ the ‘gap’ in space capabilities
Washington Examiner: Justin Trudeau on the brink: Canadian prime minister facing widespread calls to step down
Washington Examiner: German government dissolves after no-confidence vote, triggering snap elections
Washington Examiner: Assad laments ‘terrorist’ control of Syria in first statement since fleeing to Russia
Washington Examiner: Trump calls on Biden to stop selling materials for the border wall
Washington Examiner: Russian Navy chief touts Arctic nuclear forces as guarantee of national security
Washington Examiner: Man released from Syrian prison was intelligence officer for Assad
Washington Examiner: Andy Harris underscores Trump getting resources to stop ‘border nonsense’
Washington Examiner: Tom Rogan Opinion: Biden handcuffs Trump to dangerous China tech agreement
AP: Ukraine and US Say Some North Korean Troops Have Been Killed Fighting Alongside Russian Forces
CNN: Russian Military Has Begun Large-Scale Withdrawal from Syria, US and Western Officials Say
The War Zone: China Launches Hypersonic Test Planes from Drones, Balloons
Washington Post: Two Arrested in Connection with Fatal Drone Attack on US Troops in Jordan
Air & Space Forces Magazine: US Conducts Fresh Anti-ISIS Airstrikes in Syria in New ‘Permissible’ Airspace
Air & Space Forces Magazine: B-52s in Europe Head Home, Bombers in Middle East to Follow
Air & Space Forces Magazine: New Engine for B-52J Passes Design Review on Time, but Upgrade Program Still Lags
Defense News: Space Command Strategy Aims to Boost Commercial Role in Operations
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Space Force Plans Billions in Spending on Launch Infrastructure
SpaceNews: Starlink Set to Hit $11.8 Billion Revenue in 2025, Boosted by Military Contracts
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Breaking Defense: China’s Remote Sensing Buildup Risks US National Security: Congressional Commission Report
Defense One: Several Pentagon Commands Failed to Keep Good Track of Classified Mobile Devices, Audit Finds
Aviation Week: AFWERX Says Agility Prime eVTOLs Lack Range, Shifts to Hybrid
19fortyfive.com: Should Israel Attack Turkey’s Nuclear Plant?
19fortyfive.com: Is the Russian Army a Spent Force?
19fortyfive.com: Leclerc: The Powerhouse Tank From France You Never Heard Of
Breaking Defense: Opinion: Bring on the Unstoppable Rise of Thinking War Machines
THE CALENDAR:
TUESDAY | DECEMBER 17
9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW — Center for Strategic International Studies all-day event “Celebrating the U.S. Space Force and Charting Its Future,” with Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) House Armed Services Committee chairman; Space Force Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations; retired Gen. John Raymond, first Chief of Space Operations; Robert Lightfoot, president, Lockheed Martin Space; and Gwynne Shotwell, president and COO, SpaceX. Register and full speaker list at: https://www.csis.org/events/celebrating-us-space-force-and-charting-its-future
10 a.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW — Hudson Institute discussion: “Homeland Security and the China Challenge,” with House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) livestream at https://www.hudson.org/events/homeland-security-china-challenge
10 a.m. — Arab Center virtual discussion: “Syria After Assad: Domestic and Regional Challenges,” with Natasha Hall, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Middle East Program; Marwan Kabalan, director of political studies at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies; Marwa Daoudy, associate professor at Georgetown University; and Khalil Jahshan, executive director of the Arab Center https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/
11 a.m. 1400 L St. NW — Atlantic Council discussion of a new report: “The Reluctant Consensus: War and Russia’s Public Opinion,” with author Maria Snegovaya, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program; Henry Hale, professor at George Washington University; Brian Whitmore, assistant professor of practice at the University of Texas at Austin; and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/report-launch
11 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “South Korea’s Political Crisis,” with Darcie Draudt-Vejares, fellow for Korean studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Asia Program; Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center; and Victor Cha, CSIS Korea chair https://www.csis.org/events/impossible-state-live-podcast
1 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies Defending Democratic Institutions Project virtual fireside conversation with former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, moderated by Suzanne Spaulding, director, CSIS Defending Democratic Institutions Project https://www.csis.org/events/day-after-election-fireside-conversation
3 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “Growing Consensus on China: Real or Imagined?” with Rory Truex, associate professor at Princeton University; Jessica Chen Weiss, professor of China studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; Robert Daly, director of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the U.S.; Elizabeth Economy, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution; and Michael Cerny, Ph.D. student at Harvard University https://www.csis.org/events/growing-consensus-china-real-or-imagined
WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 18
9 a.m. 1400 L St. NW — Atlantic Council discussion: “The NATO perspective: Strengthening resilience within the Alliance,” with Assistant NATO Secretary-General for Defense Policy and Planning Angus Lapsley; Michael Carpenter, senior director for Europe at the National Security Council; and Estonian Ambassador to the U.S. Kristjan Prikk https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/the-nato-perspective
9:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW — Center for Strategic and International Studies conference: “Security and Resilience: The Strategic Future of Subsea Cables,” with Assistant Homeland Security Secretary for Trade and Economic Security Christa Brzozowski; and Deputy Assistant Homeland Security Secretary for Economic Security Brien Andrew Beattie https://www.csis.org/events/security-and-resilience-strategic-future-subsea-cables
10 a.m. 310 Cannon — House Homeland Security Transportation and Maritime Security Subcommittee hearing: “Examining the Polar Security Cutter: An Update on Coast Guard Acquisitions” http://homeland.house.gov
10 a.m. — Center for a New American Security virtual briefing: “Irregular Warfare in an Era of Great Power Competition,” with Christopher Maier, assistant secretary of defense secretary for special operations and low-intensity conflict https://www.cnas.org/events/mission-brief-irregular-warfare
1 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW — Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion: “The Defense Department’s 2024 China Military Power Report,” with Assistant Defense Secretary for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner; and Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia Michael Chase https://www.csis.org/events/discussion
THURSDAY | DECEMBER 19
10 a.m. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies “Aerospace Nation” virtual discussion with Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/event/an-frank-kendall-24/
