After weeks of fear and bewilderment over drones flying over parts of New Jersey and other US states, incoming administration officials are urging action to identify and stop the mysterious flights.
US President-elect Donald Trump's incoming national security adviser says it's time to find out where the dozens of inexplicable drones that fly over the eastern states of the country and if there is any bad intention involved.
Michael Waltz, Florida's Republican congressional representative who will join Trump's White House team when the president-elect takes office on Jan. 20, told CBS' “Face the Nation” on Sunday: “We have to get to the bottom of this.”
For weeks now, residents of the state of New Jersey, which borders New York City, and other states to the north and south along the Atlantic Ocean coast have reported seeing more than 5,000 suspected drones, a figure which U.S. officials have concluded is grossly inflated.
All sorts of conspiracy theories have been offered for the unexplained sightings, including U.S. government spying and the deployment of drones launched by Iran from a mothership in coastal waters off the eastern United States.
Waltz called them drones “that have been around for a long time and could be dangerous.” He thanked President Joe Biden's outgoing administration for trying to allay fears and resolve any mysteries about the drones, but offered no explanation.
“We need more transparency,” Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar told the CBS show. “This cannot be the future.”
On Saturday, officials from the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) emphasized that most of the recent alleged drone sightings in New Jersey (the state with the most reports) and elsewhere locations have been manned aircraft and do not pose a threat to national security.
An FBI official told reporters that the agency was working with 50 local, state and federal partners and had determined that fewer than 100 of the more than 5,000 reported sightings had proven worthy of further investigation.
“The combination of efforts so far… including technical equipment, hotline information and flagged inquiries… has not found any evidence to support large-scale activities (with unmanned aerial systems),” the official said, adding that many of the sightings occurred along regular flight routes.
The official said further investigations are underway to examine the remaining cases, including radar and intelligence analysis.
“We cannot ignore the sightings that have occurred there,” the official said. “We are doing everything we can to find the source of those drone activities, but I think there has been a slight overreaction” in the number of alleged drone sightings.
U.S. officials say they have confirmed drone sightings over military bases in New Jersey, including Picatinny Arsenal, but have found no evidence that a foreign government launched the drones. However, national security officials have been unable to find out who has been operating the unexplained drones.
State and local officials in East Coast states have expressed concern. Larry Hogan, the former governor of Maryland, posted on social media on Friday that he had seen “what appeared to be dozens of large drones in the sky” above his residence in the state. “The public is increasingly concerned and frustrated by the complete lack of transparency and dismissive attitude of the federal government.”
President-elect Trump suggested Saturday that the Biden administration was withholding information about drone sightings and that the devices should be shot down. Republican Rep. Christopher Smith of New Jersey said in a statement Friday that the White House's attitude toward the sightings had been “inconsiderate.”
U.S. officials said Saturday that the administration had sent New Jersey officials radar technology with an “electro-optical infrared camera system” to track the devices.
Last week, White House Homeland Security spokesman John Kirby said an investigation into the drone sightings had not revealed any illegal activity.
“In contrast, upon review of available images, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated legally,” Kirby said.