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First of all, a huge thank you to D. Dean Johnson on X (https://twitter.com/ddeanjohnson/status/1780615983440257088) aka u/implacable_gaze for this tweet and clip:

CONGRESSMAN: "Langley had to close down" because of Unmanned Aircraft Systems [drones]

At a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee today (4-17-24), Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA) said: "We saw recently a very disturbing trend at Langley Air Force Base [in Virginia], where because of a large number of UASs that were in that airspace, Langley had to close down, just to make sure that we were able to defend the operations that were going on there." Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall responded.

Important things to note here:

-Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall deflected from the direct question about Langley to overseas bases. Seems like there is an overarching DoD policy to not directly publicly address any of the odd 'unmanned aerial systems' incursions that are happening on US soil to several different bases around the country.

-A natural question is why is this not more of a pressing issue, considering the national security implications of these incursions that are making these bases shutdown or suspend operations for safety and security.

-The US aided Israel in its defense from an attack from Iran where it successfully defended against 99% of drones/missiles/UAVs but cannot defend its own military installations on US soil against these 'unmanned aerial system' incursions.