OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Americans are confused and concerned about the drone sightings that began in New Jersey and have started to be seen in other states and the lack of a response or answers from the federal government has only brought more consternation from citizens.
President-elect Donald Trump had a response to the madness and a suggestion for the administration of President Joe Biden in a post on TruthSocial.
“Mystery Drone sightings all over the Country. Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge. I don’t think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!” he said.
More frustrating is that the federal government’s only response so far is to suggest that people are misinterpreting what they are seeing.
“We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus. The FBI, DHS and our federal partners, in close coordination with the New Jersey State Police, 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 Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security said in a joint press release.
“Historically, we have experienced cases of mistaken identity, where reported drones are, in fact, manned aircraft or facilities. We are supporting local law enforcement in New Jersey with numerous detection methods but have not corroborated any of the reported visual sightings with electronic detection. To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully. There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted air space,” the agencies said.
“We take seriously the threat that can be posed by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), which is why law enforcement and other agencies continue to support New Jersey and investigate the reports. To be clear, they have uncovered no such malicious activity or intent at this stage. While there is no known malicious activity occurring in New Jersey, the reported sightings there do, however, highlight the insufficiency of current authorities,” they said.
Republican and Democrat elected leaders have shared their frustration with the federal government’s response.
“I’ve been a little frustrated,” New Jersey Democrat Sen. Cory Booker said to reporters. “There hasn’t been enough transparency letting people know what’s happening. It’s allowing a lot of potential misinformation to spread, or at least fear. We should know what’s going on over our skies.”
“We have agencies and organizations from the government that should be able to provide a lot more information than the public has,” he said.
Connecticut Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal was in agreement with the president-elect on what should be done about the drones.
“We should be doing some very smart intelligence analysis and take them out of the skies, especially if they’re flying over airports or military bases,” he said. “They should be shot down, if necessary, because they’re flying over sensitive areas.”
“I’m hearing from constituents in the metropolitan area around New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, who are really terrified by these drones flying unidentified over airports and military bases,” he said.
New Jersey Republican Rep. Chris Smith was furious with the federal government’s response.
“I asked Secretary Mayorkas at a briefing, a Zoom briefing, why we can’t follow them, find out where they’re going,” the representative said to reporters. “They’re coming from somewhere. … You can’t seem to do that.
“Why can’t we follow them and find what their origin is? Many of them seem to be coming from the ocean,” he said.
“I’ve written Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asking the Pentagon to authorize the use of force to down one or more of these unmanned threats to uncover the mystery, bring them down over the ocean, over an area where there’s no population,” Smith added. “Bring them down and find out who’s doing it.”
