An increase in the number of alleged drone sightings along the coast East Coast unleashed a wave of panicked calls for investigations from residents and state lawmakers on Friday, even as government officials insist that the planes in question are in fact flown legally, and a retired Port Authority aviation expert tells Fox News Digital that the fears are overblown.
The drone complaints started pouring in last month in New Jersey, where witnesses and residents for the first time began reporting drone sightings outside coastal areas, including near Cape May, a quaint town outside Atlantic City.
More recently, lawmakers in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland reported new alleged drone sightings in their home states, with some witnesses claiming the aircraft in question was “the size of cars” or was seen flying over sensitive infrastructure or in restricted airspace . .
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, told reporters on Friday that he had done so written to President Biden to share concerns about new reports of sightings of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in New Jersey airspace, and called for more federal resources to investigate the issue.
“It has become clear that more resources are needed to fully understand what is behind this activity,” Murphy wrote in the letter.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
Other state lawmakers have gone even further, calling on the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to join their investigation into the unmanned aircraft, with one Garden State lawmaker pushing for the objects to be “shot down” if necessary .
“We are literally being invaded by drones,” Pequannock Mayor Ryan Herbwe told reporters Wednesday evening after a town hall meeting in New Jersey.
“We have no idea who is doing this and where they are coming from.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., issued a statement Friday raising concerns about the potential of these unmanned aerial vehicles — many of which are as large as a car — to disrupt air traffic and, even more alarming, to become malicious used. to threaten national security.”
These comments have contributed to a growing collective sense of panic – but a panic that many in the law enforcement community believe is both unfounded and unnecessary.
White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby sought to allay those fears, insisting at a news conference Thursday that there is “no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a threat to national security or public safety, or have any foreign relationship.”
Others in the law enforcement community also echoed this sentiment. Retired Port Authority Police Detective Lt. John Ryan told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday that the increase in activity is likely due to two things.
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Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is seen next to a photo of reported drones in Connecticut. Blumenthal is among lawmakers who have pushed for action on the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
The first, he said, is that drones are a rapidly evolving technology that has exploded in both recreational and commercial use in the U.S. over the past decade. Federal drone registration data reflects this sharp increase in use, most if not all of which are legal.
Federal drone registration data reflects this sharp increase in use: As of October of this year, there were more than 790,000 drones registered with the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) and nearly 400,000 registered commercial drones.
That’s “just to give you an idea” of the size of the number legal drones in the USsaid Ryan, whose extensive law enforcement career includes a decade as an emergency responder service commander for special operations at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, and later the chief officer of the Port Authority, whose role includes oversight of all transportation facilities, including Kennedy, LaGuardia and all other area airports and ports.
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A map of drone sightings around New Jersey.
The second mistake, Ryan said, is that the people in question ask the wrong authorities for help.
“The mistake I see people make is they go to the wrong agencies and ask these questions,” he added.
The FAA is the federal agency charged with registering drones and other U.S. aircraft. It is also the one charged with monitoring recreational and commercial drone use in the US
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“In New Jersey, they asked the FBI, they asked the Department of Homeland Security — they asked everyone except the people they were supposed to ask,” Ryan said.
The Pentagon also reiterated this position, noting that an initial assessment had found that the drones did not come from another country and had not been shot down because they were not considered a threat to national security.
Kirby echoed this sentiment Thursday. Asked whether the US would consider banning the use of drones in US airspace, he told reporters: “I don’t know that we’re at a stage now where we’re considering that” as a policy option.
