U.S. national security officials sought to allay concerns about the disaster mysterious drones who recently flew over the Northeast during a phone call with reporters, even describing the nationwide unease as “a slight overreaction.”
The call, which was attended by Fox News Digital on Saturday, was hosted by senior Biden administration officials, including representatives from the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Security Council (NSC), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD).
Senior officials remained tight-lipped on the matter origin of the drones, which are still being investigated. The mysterious plane was first spotted over northern New Jersey in mid-November and has happened repeatedly seen by thousands of residents the past few weeks.
On the call with reporters, an FBI official said his agency has received 5,000 tips since the mysterious drone was first spotted over the Garden State in November. Of those 5,000 tips, fewer than 100 warranted further investigation, the official said.
In this image, taken from a video by MartyA45_, several drones appear to fly over Randolph, NJ on December 4. (MartyA45_ /TMX via AP, file)
The FBI official added that investigators have found no evidence of large-scale unmanned drone activity, despite a recent increase in drone activity in recent weeks.
“We are doing our best to find the origin of those specific drone activities,” the official said. “But I think there is a slight overreaction.”
Echoing the FBI representative’s comments, a DHS official noted that while his agency is not dismissing all tips about the drones as non-credible, “the amount of actual drone activity is likely less than what is being reported.”
A DOD official added that the agency “has not gathered any intelligence or observations that would indicate (the drones) were associated with a foreign actor or that they had malicious intent.”
“But you know, just to put it bluntly, we don’t know,” the representative said. “We have not been able to locate or identify the operators or the points of origin.”
New Jersey State Assemblyman Paul Kanitra snapped a photo of what appears to be multiple drones hovering in the New Jersey sky. (Paul Kanitra/Fox News @ Night)
The Pentagon official added that there are limitations in investigating the sources of the drones.
“We are also significantly limited, and rightly so, in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance here at home,” the spokesperson noted. “So we don’t have the same capabilities and the same methods that we would use in other locations outside the home country to determine origin.”
“Here, on the military side, we are equally frustrated by the irresponsible nature of this activity,” the official admitted.
An NSC official echoed the DOD representative’s sentiment, arguing that there is no evidence that foreign adversaries are involved with the drones, and that there is no evidence of any threat to public safety.
Map showing some locations where mysterious drones were spotted in December 2024. (Fox News)
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“Obviously we are taking this incredibly seriously at this point,” the NSC official said. “We have found no basis to believe that there is any criminal activity, that there is a threat to national security, that there is a specific threat to public safety or that there is a malicious foreign actor is involved in these drones.”
Fox News’ Daniel Scully contributed to this report.
