Open the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what the 2024 US elections mean for Washington and the world
Multiple sightings of the aerial objects after sunset have sparked concern along the East Coast of the United States and widespread anger that the federal government is not taking the issue seriously.
Since last month, authorities in New Jersey have received reports of flooding Drones They spread across the night sky, sometimes in clusters and for no apparent purpose, over the nation's most densely populated state.
Officials tried to calm the public, but did not provide any explanation for this phenomenon.
“We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a threat to national security or public safety or have a foreign affiliation,” the FBI and US Department of Homeland Security said. He said this week.
These reassurances did not succeed in allaying fears about the planes, whose owners and base are still unknown.
“It's very annoying, in all honesty, that our officials expect us to think they don't know what's going on,” said James Dodd, mayor of Dover, New Jersey.
Dover is located just down the road from Picatinny Arsenal, a US military installation. The Federal Aviation Administration imposed temporary restrictions on drone flights over the site last month, citing “special security reasons.” Similar restrictions were announced this month for the area around President-elect Donald Trump's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
No such restrictions have been imposed anywhere else in the state, even with the influx of drone sightings.
Dodd was among the New Jersey mayors invited to attend a news conference hosted by the New Jersey State Police this week. He said he left frustrated by what he saw as little information about a serious case.
He posted on his city's website a question-and-answer document he received from the Department of Homeland Security. “At this time, it is not clear who is operating the drones,” the document said.
Reports of drones spread up and down the East Coast. Larry Hogan, the former governor of Maryland, wrote on social media that he saw “what appeared to be dozens of large drones in the sky” over his home for about 45 minutes on Thursday evening.
“Like many who have seen these drones, I do not know whether this increased activity over our skies represents a threat to public safety or national security,” Hogan wrote. “But the public is increasingly concerned and frustrated by the complete lack of transparency and dismissive stance of the federal government,” Hogan wrote. He posted a video of what he said were planes.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on Friday that the state was investigating drone sightings in her state, in cooperation with federal authorities.
Federal regulations place few restrictions on the use of civilian drones, said Mary Lou Smulders, marketing director for Dedrone, a company that helps public safety agencies detect drones. Violations include flying near airports and sensitive sites such as nuclear power plants and at an altitude exceeding 400 feet.
Even then, rules are commonly violated. Dedrone sensors have recorded more than 1.1 million violations so far this year.
State and local police are not authorized to intercept drones, Smulders said. These powers are only granted to four federal departments under certain circumstances, making it difficult to take strict action against violators.
Federal authorities said they had not detected any malicious activity related to flights in New Jersey. “Maybe some people think it's funny that they can create this horror,” Smulders speculated. “What . . . would there be a purpose for flying at night? Not much.”
The FBI has questioned whether most of the surveillance was of drones at all. “On the contrary, after reviewing available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings were in fact manned, legally operated aircraft,” its statement from the Department of Homeland Security said.
Located between New York City and Philadelphia, New Jersey has some of the busiest airspace in North America.
Unresolved concerns have led to increasingly urgent calls for action. New Jersey Republican Congressman Jeff Van Drew suggested this week that the flights had taken off from an “unmanned Iranian mother ship” in the Atlantic Ocean.
Trump commented on Friday, send on his social media platform that the government should be more prepared or the plane will be shot down.
US officials said they did not assess the drone activity to be linked to any foreign actors or adversaries. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said on Wednesday that no Iranian ship had launched drones towards the United States.
Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz in Washington
