Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) disputed Fox News host Jacqui Heinrich after she suggested drone sightings were a "Pearl Harbor moment" for Americans.
During an interview on Fox News Sunday, Himes agreed that the federal government was responsible for ensuring drones were not flying over sensitive government facilities.
The lawmaker pointed to the increased availability of consumer drones as one possibility for recent sightings.
"And all I'm saying is we should be sober about it and not start worrying about Iranian motherships or the Martians landing, you know, as New Jersey so famously had happened with the old Orson Welles thing of many, many decades ago," Himes explained.
"So is there no concern in your mind that this could be potentially a Pearl Harbor moment, like with the Japanese submarines surveilling in the waters off Hawaii in the months leading up to the attack?" the Fox News host wondered.
"No, it's not," Himes insisted. "Look, our adversaries that will that would wish us harm, you know, have billion-dollar satellites over our heads right now that are capable of, you know, doing what we do to them, which is observing."
"You know what they're not going to do?" he continued. "They're not going to put technology over Newark, New Jersey, that could fall out of the sky, and we would capture it."
"But no, they are not going to launch an attack on Pearl Harbor that is preceded by drones."
