Federal authorities on Monday delivered their most thorough verdict yet about the drone sightings in New Jersey in recent weeks, saying some are law enforcement, some are commercial flights, some are hobbyists and many are actually airplanes, helicopters or even stars mistaken for drones.
The statement, from the FBI, Homeland Security, the Defense Department and the Federal Aviation Administration, came after the feds said they had deployed drone-detecting technology and “trained visual observers” to get to the bottom of the mysterious flights, which had captivated residents — and in some cases sparked fear among them.
“We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast,” the agencies said.
They did confirm drone sightings over military bases — something officials had downplayed last week — but said they weren’t worrying.
“Such sightings near or over DoD installations are not new,” the agencies said. “Local commanders are actively engaged to ensure there are appropriate detection and mitigation measures in place.”
The sightings started a month ago in New Jersey but have since spread to other states, including New York and Pennsylvania.
Officials said they expect more drone sightings as the number of devices in public hands rises.
Earlier in the day, President-elect Donald Trump weighed in, saying he figured the government knew what was going on but was being coy.
“For some reason, they don’t want to comment,” he said. “I think they’d be better off saying what it is,” he continued. “Our military knows, and our president knows, and for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense.”
Mr. Trump declined to say whether he’s received an intelligence briefing on the matter but implied that the drones are not coming from a foreign enemy.
“If it was the enemy, they’d blast it out. Even if they were late they’d blast it. Something strange is going on. For some reason, they don’t want to tell people.”
A number of lawmakers from the region had wondered why federal authorities weren’t shooting them down already.
“Why can’t we bad at least one drone and get to the bottom of this?” Rep. Chris Smith said at a news conference Saturday.
Monday’s explanation came after a week of weak excuses.
A senior FBI official on Tuesday called the drones “concerning.”
By Thursday, though, the FBI and Homeland Security said they had ruled out nefarious motives or foreign governments as the source of the drones. And a White House spokesman said most of the sightings were airplanes anyway.
Sen. Andy Kim, New Jersey Democrat, was initially resistant to that notion.
He’d gone out drone-spotting and had a flight tracking app to be able to rule out airplane traffic. He said he saw drones doing things that airplanes couldn’t have replicated.
“We clearly saw several that would move horizontally and then immediately switch back in the opposite direction in maneuvers that [a] plane can’t do,” he said on social media.
But by Saturday he’d changed his mind.
“After more analysis and help from civilian pilots/experts and flight data, I’ve concluded the possible drone sightings pointed out to me were almost certainly planes,” he said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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