Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
Multiple sightings of aerial objects after sunset have sparked concern along the US East Coast and widespread anger that the federal government is not taking the matter seriously.
Authorities in New Jersey have been inundated since last month with reports of drones dotting the night sky, sometimes in groups and without any apparent purpose, above the most densely populated state in the country.
Officials tried to reassure the public but offered no explanation for the phenomenon.
“At this time, we have no evidence that the reported drone sightings pose a threat to national or public security or that they have a foreign connection,” the FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security he said this week.
These assurances do little to allay fears surrounding the flying machines, whose owners and home base remain a mystery.
“Frankly, it’s quite disturbing that our officials expect us to believe that they don’t know what’s going on. We could fire a missile 5,000 miles away, but we can’t tell where these drones are coming from?” said James Dodd, Mayor of the City of Dover, New Jersey.
Dover is down the road from the Picatinny Arsenal, a US military installation. The Federal Aviation Administration imposed temporary restrictions on drone flights over the site last month, citing “special safety reasons.” Similar restrictions were announced this month for the area around President-elect Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
No such restrictions have been imposed anywhere else in the state, even as drone sightings increase.
Dodd was among the New Jersey mayors invited to a briefing organized by the New Jersey State Police this week. He said he left frustrated with what he felt was a paucity of information on a serious issue.
He posted a question-and-answer document he received from the Department of Homeland Security on his city’s website. “It is unclear at this time who is operating the drones,” the document said.
Drone reports are spreading up and down the East Coast. Larry Hogan, the former governor of Maryland, wrote on social media that he witnessed “what appeared to be dozens of large drones in the sky” over his home for about 45 minutes Thursday night.
“Like many who have observed these drones, I do not know if this increasing activity above our skies is a threat to public or national security. But the public is growing increasingly concerned and frustrated by the complete lack of transparency and condescending attitude of the federal government,” Hogan wrote. He posted a video of what he said were craft.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday that the state is investigating drone sightings in her state, in cooperation with federal authorities.
Federal regulations place few restrictions on civilian use of drones, said Mary-Lou Smulders, director of marketing for Dedrone, a company that helps public safety agencies detect drones. Violations include flying too close to airports and sensitive sites such as nuclear power plants and exceeding an altitude of 400 feet.
Even then, the rules are usually broken. Dedrone’s sensors have recorded more than 1.1 million violations so far this year.
State and local police are not authorized to intercept drones, Smulders said. These powers are granted to only four federal departments under certain circumstances, making it difficult to crack down on violators.
Federal authorities said they have not detected any malicious activity connected to the flights in New Jersey. “Some people probably think it’s funny that they’re able to cause this madness,” Smulders speculates. “What . . . would there be any point in flying around at night? Not much.”
The FBI doubted whether most of the sightings were drones at all. “On the contrary, after reviewing the available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft, operating legally,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
New Jersey, sandwiched between New York and Philadelphia, contains one of the busiest airspaces in North America.
Unresolved problems led to increasingly urgent calls for action. This week, New Jersey Republican Congressman Jeff Van Drew suggested that the flights had taken off from an “Iranian home drone ship” in the Atlantic.
Trump weighed in on Friday, posting on his social media platform that the government should be more proactive or shoot the plane down.
U.S. officials said they do not believe the drone activity is linked to any foreign actors or adversaries. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Wednesday that no Iranian ships are launching drones toward the United States.
Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz in Washington
