BY: Walker
Published 3 mins ago
Mysterious drone sightings in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania have prompted an outcry from officials seeking answers about the flying objects, which have been spotted near military installations.
With residents and multiple public officials calling for a response to the drone activity and experts working to uncover exactly what’s going on, the White House’s national security communications adviser, John Kirby, sought to assure the public on Thursday there is no threat to public safety.
“We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus,” Kirby said.
While many drone sightings hav?e been reported, Kirby said images and videos of the drones that authorities and state and local law enforcement have reviewed appear to show that many of “the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully.”
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$1 Trillion dollars on defense spending and that’s what we get for answers? pic.twitter.com/7ujbx2W2yv
— Brandon Aceto (@BrandonAceto) December 11, 2024
But many local New Jersey elected officials say the general assurances that people are safe aren’t enough for their constituents.
The FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security “have a responsibility to brief the public more thoroughly … and to make sure everyone knows what they know,” Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer told CNN’s Kate Bolduan Friday. “The bottom line is this: They are not providing enough information to the public.”
Gottheimer said he received a closed-door briefing on the matter and agrees that there is no reason to believe the drones pose a credible threat, but the “public has a right to know because the people are concerned.”
The FBI, Department of Homeland Security and other federal and state agencies “continue to deploy personnel and technology to investigate this situation and confirm whether the reported drone flights are actually drones or are instead manned aircraft or otherwise inaccurate sightings,” the FBI and DHS said in a joint statement Thursday.
Federal investigators have yet to corroborate any drone sightings with electronic detection, the joint statement said. It noted that some images of reported sightings appear to show manned aircraft that are being operated legally.
US Northern Command, which oversees the Defense Department’s homeland security efforts, said in a statement Wednesday that it had “conducted a deliberate analysis of the events” regarding the drone sightings but had not been asked “to assist with these events.”
Aligned with the North American Aerospace Defense Command, USNORTHCOM is responsible for aerospace control and warning over North America.
The US intelligence community and federal law enforcement do not suspect foreign involvement in the New Jersey drone sightings, security officials told members of Congress Thursday in a private briefing.
According to a source familiar with the briefing conducted by representatives from the FBI, DHS, and FAA, authorities told key lawmakers assigned to congressional national security committees they do not believe the sightings involved an overseas connection, the use of foreign drones, nor an operator on the ground connected to a foreign government.
Officials said sighted drones have been observed with FAA-required anticollision lights and are not believed to have entered any restricted airspaces, according to the source.
Lawmakers were also told many of the recently reported sightings are believed to have been civilian aircraft mistaken for drones, the source said.
Still, several New Jersey politicians have expressed their mounting frustration with what they believe to be inaction from the federal government on the drone sightings.
via: CNN
