Reuters, WASHINGTON
Officials from the White House, FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security on Saturday said that most of the recent reported drone sightings in New Jersey and nearby states involved crewed aircraft, and there was no evidence of any national security threat.
An FBI official told reporters during an impromptu briefing that the agency was working with 50 local, state and federal partners to look into increased reports.
Fewer than 100 of the more than 5,000 reported sightings of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) turned out to merit further investigation, and all of the large fixed-wing reported sightings so far involved crewed aircraft, the official said.
In this image taken from video provided by MartyA45, several drones appear to be flying over Randolph, New Jersey, on Dec. 4.
Photo: MartyA45 / TMX via AP
“The combination of efforts so far … to include technical equipment, tip line information and noted consults has … not found any evidence to support large-scale [uncrewed aerial systems] activities,” they said, adding that many of the sightings occurred along regular flight paths.
Extensive efforts were under way to investigate the remaining cases, using interviews and analyses of radar and intelligence, the official added.
“We can’t ignore the sightings that have been there,” they said. “We’re doing our best to find the origin of those drone activities, but I think there has been a slight overreaction.”
The US Federal Aviation Administration restricted the air space around Saturday’s Army-Navy football game in Maryland, creating a “No Drone Zone” extending 3.2km around the stadium, state officials announced. US president-elect Donald Trump and US vice president-elect J.D. Vance attended the game.
A spate of reported drone sightings that began in New Jersey in the middle of last month spread in the past few days to include Maryland, Massachusetts and other states. The sightings have garnered media attention and prompted the creation of a Facebook page called “New Jersey Mystery Drones — let’s solve it” with 56,000 online members.
On Cape Cod in Massachusetts, residents and a police officer in Harwich reported seeing 10 to 15 drones flying in the Friday night sky, the Boston Herald reported.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Saturday called for a boost in federal law enforcement efforts after the runways at a local airport in the Hudson Valley were shut down for one hour due to drone activity on Friday.
“This has gone too far,” Hochul said in a statement posted on social media, urging the White House to boost law enforcement in New York and other areas, and calling on the US Congress to pass drone reform legislation.
