White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby He stressed that the government still lacks specific answers regarding the nature of drone sightings as public frustration grows.
“It turns out that many of the confirmed sightings were of manned aircraft,” Kirby said. “I didn’t say all of them, what I did say is that those are the ones we were able to confirm.”The story“There are certainly things that we haven't identified, that we don't know the answer to, and I would highly recommend that people who see these things and document them share that as much as possible with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.”
In a letter Wednesday to Biden, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy The president has requested more federal resources to address drone sightings, noting that federal law limits the ability of state and local law enforcement to confront drones.
“…it has become clear that more resources are needed to fully understand what is behind this activity,” Murphy wrote. “Continuous reporting of unmanned aircraft systems activity has raised more questions than answers and given rise to conspiracy theories across social media and other platforms.”
Map showing drone sightings around New Jersey.
Kirby spoke about the possibility that the reported drone sightings were linked to a private company, saying it was “quite possible” that they were commercially developed drones of some kind.
“Why don't we know? I wish I could tell you exactly why we don't have an answer for you here on the afternoon of December 13,” Kirby said. “But I can tell you that we're working on it. It's very hard to know, because we want to answer these questions just as much as people in New Jersey want answers to them.”
Kirby revealed that there was an interagency conversation Friday morning about this topic.
“We've now decided to use some additional technology in New Jersey and some additional staff to try to get a better idea of what these things are,” he said.
New Jersey State Assemblyman Paul Kanitra snapped a photo of what appears to be several drones hovering in the New Jersey sky on Thursday, December 13. (Paul Kanitra / “Fox News@Night”)
Sheriff Sean Golden, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, urged officials to declare a state of emergency due to the drone sightings, and issued a statement Wednesday evening. The release included a heat map showing the density of drones spotted throughout his county:
Heat map showing drone activity in Monmouth County, New Jersey. (Courtesy: Monmouth County Sheriff's Office)
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Rep. Chris Smith, R.N.J., his district Covering parts of Monmouth and Ocean counties, he recounted spending Monday night at the beach where he spoke with several individuals, including a U.S. Coast Guard officer stationed at Barnegat Light.
The commander said a 47-foot Coast Guard vessel had been closely followed by more than a dozen drones the night before.
Monmouth and Burlington counties are home to several military installations, including Naval Weapons Station Earle in Colts Neck and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
On Thursday, Middletown, New Jersey, Mayor Tony Perry expressed his “concerns” to Fox News regarding the sighting of drones near the waterfront site of Naval Weapons Station Earle in his city, 14 miles north of the Colts Neck facility.
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“I'm not going to lie to you or the American people, and I'm not going to say we know something when we don't know it,” Kirby said. “We would never stoop to believing that an American citizen was mad or insane because of what they see and what they document. We take these images seriously, and do our best to analyze them.” We encourage people to come forward if they have additional views and photos.”
