Drones have been buzzing over parts of New Jersey for weeks. National security officials say they don’t believe the remote-controlled flying devices are a threat. Still, state elected officials want the mysterious flights to stop.
Dozens of mystery nighttime flights started last month over parts of New Jersey. Drones are legal there for recreational and commercial use. However, they are subject to local and federal laws.
Part of residents’ concern stems from where the drones flew. People first saw them near the Picatinny Arsenal, a U.S. military facility. Then they spotted them over President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster.
Now folks all along the northern East Coast are reporting drones. There have been sightings in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
“There’s a lot of us who are pretty frustrated right now,” Connecticut Representative Jim Himes said on Fox News Sunday. He added, “‘We don’t know’ is not a good enough answer.”
National security officials say the drones don’t appear to be a sign of foreign spying or a public safety threat. But no one seems to know who is responsible for the drone swarms.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer called Sunday for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to deploy better drone-tracking tech to identify the drones and their operators.
The federal government held its own media briefings Sunday morning. “There’s no question that people are seeing drones,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says. “But I want to assure the American public that we are on it.”
Some of the drones reported above parts of New York and New Jersey turned out to be “manned aircraft that are commonly mistaken for drones,” Mayorkas says. “We know of no foreign involvement” concerning the drones, “and we are vigilant in investigating this matter.”
Last year, federal aviation rules began requiring certain drones to broadcast their identification, including the location of their operators. It’s not clear whether officials have tried to use that information to determine who is behind the current drone flights.
Schumer says state and local officials do not have the authority to track drones. So he wants the federal government to use a recently declassified radio wave technology. The detector can be attached to a drone or airplane and to determine whether another flying object is a bird or a drone, read its ID, and follow it back to its landing place.
Some U.S. political leaders, including President-elect Trump, call for stronger action against the drones.
A bill before the U.S. Senate would give new abilities to local and state agencies to track drones. It could also allow them to disrupt, disable, or seize a drone without prior consent of the operator.
“What the drone issue points out are gaps in our agencies,” says Representative Mike Waltz. President-elect Trump’s pick for national security advisor spoke on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday. “Americans are finding it hard to believe we can’t figure out where these are coming from.”
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. — Proverbs 15:3
