Society
What we know about the mysterious drones flying over New Jersey “Something’s going on”
A month ago, reports began of mysterious drones flying in the night skies over New Jersey. The sightings have now expanded to five other states.
Mysterious drone sightings in the nighttime skies have sparked alarm among residents, and have them and their lawmakers demanding answers. The sightings began a month ago in New Jersey and have crescendoed to 180 per night.
Observations of the flying objects have also spread to four other states on the East Coast including New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia as well as Ohio. They have not only been seen over neighborhoods, but also spotted over restricted sites and critical infrastructure. Witnesses say that some of the aircraft have been quite large, in some cases reportedly as big as an SUV.
Federal authorities have been trying to steady nerves. On Monday, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder noted that “thousands of drones flown around the US on a daily basis.” Thus, seeing them in the sky is “not that unusual,” and neither “is it an indication of malicious activity or any public safety threat.” That includes those flown near military installations.
DHS and the FBI released a joint statement last week which said they “have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.” That has not been enough for some local and national politicians who want more transparency.
The mysterious drones flying over New Jersey “Something’s going on”
Lawmakers from the Garden State, where the spat of sightings began, have been some of the most vocal. US Senator Cory Booker told the press that he’s been “a little frustrated” at the lack of transparency saying, “it’s allowing potential a lot of misinformation spread or at least fear.”
New Jersey US Rep Jeff Van Drew said that he has evidence that the drones were sent by an Iranian “mothership” that was still sitting off the East Coast. However, the Defense Department quickly shot that idea down saying they are aware of the drones but had no evidence that “these activities are coming from a foreign entity or adversary.”
Sabrina Singh, the DoD’s spokesperson, also attempted to squash a conspiracy theory that the drones are part of some secret government program confirming that the drones do not belong to the US military.
Still Matthew Murello, the mayor of Washington Township, New Jersey isn’t convinced. On Monday, told ‘Good Morning America’ that he believes “something’s going on.” He took issue with the official statements stating that there is “no perceived threat.”
“We’ve heard that before from our federal government,” Murello said. “Nobody knows what these things are doing. Best case scenario, they’re just getting video of us,” he added. “Again, I don’t know why out here. We’re nothing but farm country,” he said. “If you want videos of cows, I’ll be happy to send you some.”
While he’s “not trying to stir anything up” he’s worried about the worst case scenario. “We all know -- if you just turn on the television -- that drones can be used in an aggressive fashion. They can carry payloads. They can be used for all kinds of really aggressive-type things,” Murello said.
The “drones” flying over New Jersey probably much ado about nothing
Authorities investigating the flying objects stressed that many were manned aircraft that had been mistaken for drones. Of the 5,000 tips received less than 100 produced leads that were “deemed worthy of further investigative activity” an FBI officials said.
Sightings reported to the tip line matched flight approach patterns for nearby airports. Additionally, pilots have not been reporting seeing drones in the sky a reports CNN.
Former FBI supervisory special agent Tom Adams told the outlet that some of the more recent sightings could be copycats flying their own drones to play off the growing news coverage. He said in his experience investigating such sightings at critical infrastructure that they tend to be “planets, crewed aircraft and even low Earth orbit satellites,” which are “misidentified as drones at night.”
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