Look. Up in the sky. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a kite. It’s a balloon. It’s a “low-altitude and slow-speed aerial vehicle.” It’s a gyrocopter. It’s a mailman. Or a terrorist?

Can you tell the difference? Well, those charged with protecting the Capitol can’t tell either.

That became evident at Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing probing the gyrocopter incursion at the Capitol earlier this month. And believe it or not, birds, planes, kites, balloons, weather systems and a “low-altitude and slow-speed aerial vehicle” are the slate of possibilities through which authorities must sift when determining if a bogey poses an actual threat — or is merely a special delivery to Capitol Hill via gyrocopter.

“Gy .. Gyro .. Gyro … Gyrocopter,” stammered Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House panel, almost incredulous that the greatest liability in the American threat matrix is a flying jalopy. Read more