Gillibrand, Kirsten

“We need to just look into whether there are rogue SAP programs that no one is providing oversight for,” says Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat who led the Senate’s April UAP hearing. “The goal for me will be to have a hearing on that at some point so that we can assess if these SAP’s actually exist.”

Matt Laslo: “Any update on the UAP stuff?”

Kristen Gillibrand: “So, we’re trying to schedule a meeting with the whistleblower, so we can ask him questions directly. And then we are also going to try to schedule meetings with the people he mentions in his whistleblowing complaint.”

ML: “And that will be classified or private?”

KG: “We’ll try to do part of it—we’ll do whatever the whistleblower wants. If the whistleblower wants it classified, we’ll do it classified. If he’s willing to do it open, we’ll do it open. And I don’t know—I’ll have to assess if there’s classified information that he’s giving us. So, we’ll create the right setting regardless, and then hopefully, he’ll come in.”

ML: “Is this really layered trying to get to the bottom of it?”

KG: “Yes, it’s extremely layered, because the allegations are very serious.”

Matt Laslo: “Still standing. Did you meet with the interim head of AARO yesterday [CORRECTION: Tuesday]?”

KG: “No. Who is it? Do you know who it is?”

ML: “No. They named somebody. You had something classified in your thing [ie, public schedule] yesterday.”

KG: “Oh, no.”

ML: “That was separate?”

KG: “Yeah. It was separate, but I’ve asked them who it is and they didn’t know.”

ML: “Really?”

KG: “Yeah.”

ML: “Because they named someone initially.”

KG: “The staff didn't know who it was.”

ML: “So what do you make of that?”

KG: “Slow.”

ML: “Yeah?”

KG: “They’re just slow.”

ML: “Case of the bureaucracy?”

KG: “Ahuh.”

ML: “That’s pretty wild.”

Gillibrand addresses a still photographer taking pictures of her from just a few feet away as she chats with Ask a Pol just a few strides away from the Senate floor. 

KG: “It's creepy.”

Gillibrand laughs and addresses photographer. 

KG: “Are you with him?”

Gillibrand points to Laslo.

Photographer: “What’s that?”

KG: “Are you with him?”

Photographer: “I’m not. We’re not…”

He tells Ask a Pol later: “She’ll love those photos when she sees em.” 

ML: “Is that frustrating though?”

KG: “It is, because I want to meet the new person. I want the new person to be named. And if there's an interim person, fine, but we should really have someone in line.”

ML: “There's no Senate confirmation for that is there?”

KG: “No. It's a DOD [Department of Defense] choice — DOD-Intel.”