With lawmakers seeing stars over the government’s failure to provide an explanation for the spate of drone sightings over New Jersey, the White House pointed to the heavens in its latest attempt to provide an answer for the phenomenon.
With powerful figures including Donald Trump and Charles Schumer demanding answers, White House national security spokesman John Kirby attempted to confront the fury, beginning his remarks to reporters Monday by pointing to the proliferation of hobbyist drones over the sky.
‘There are more than 1 million drones that are lawfully registered with the Federal Aviation Administration here in the United States, and there are thousands of commercial hobbyists and law enforcement drones that are lawfully in the sky on any given day,’ Kirby told reporters.
He said the FBI had received tips on 5,000 drone sightings in recent weeks of which 100 they ‘felt needed to be followed up on.’
Then Kirby pointed to the array of explanations over what U.S. officials believe to be in the skies, having looked at the various tips – even saying misidentified stars were part of the problem.
‘We assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and even stars that were mistakenly reported as drones.’
‘We have not identified anything anomalous or any national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace In New Jersey, or other states in the Northeast. The work continues.’
‘But I want to stress again, our assessment at this stage is that the activity represents commercial, hobbyist law enforcement drones, all operating legally and lawful and or civilian aviation aircraft,’ he underlined.
National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby was under fire Friday for comments he made to address reports of drone sightings over New Jersey. He said there was no evidence of a ‘national security or a public safety threat or have a foreign nexus’
He cited federal ‘resources and personnel’ as supporting the efforts, including additional ‘advanced detection technology’ and trained observers.
His comments came hours after Trump blasted the federal response as he made a comment, perhaps joking, that he was holding off on visiting his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course because of the situation.
‘Something strange is going on,’ Trump told reporters in response to a question about the drone sightings. ‘For some reason, they don’t want to tell the people.’
‘They’re very close to Bedminster. I think maybe I won’t spend the weekend in Bedminster. I’ve decided to cancel my trip,’ he said.
Kirby’s comments come days after New Jersey Republican state lawmakers blasted his prior response as ‘idiotic’ even as they were followed by new sightings at Naval Air Station Earle in New Jersey.
Democratic lawmakers are demanding answers about the mysterious New Jersey drones that federal authorities and President Joe Biden have yet to explain.
The bizarre unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) were first noticed hovering over New Jersey over a month ago, yet neither local or federal authorities have offered an explanation behind the lights that dash across the sky from dusk to dawn – notably disappearing during daylight.
Biden has since tasked his agencies with finding out what is occurring over the Garden State, White House spokesman John Kirby said last week on Fox News.
In the same interview Kirby, the White House National Security Communications Advisor, did not have an explanation to offer as to what was behind the UAPs, saying the president’s men are still searching for answers.
The Pentagon, FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have all been probing what is going on, and its of particular concern because these drones are flying over sensitive U.S. military instillations.
As the unsettling sightings have racked the minds of residents living in the area with worry, the lawmakers representing these neighborhoods have been bombarded with questions.
‘We’re here today because it’s not a bird, it’s not a plane, it’s a drone,’ Senate Leader Chuck Schumer began a press conference over the weekend. ‘And when it comes to drones, people in the New York area and all across the country have more questions than answers.’
Schumer is the highest-ranking Democrat in politics outside of the White House, and his demands that the Pentagon, DHS and FBI provide answers are the weightiest yet outside of the executive branch.
Biden has tasked his agencies with getting to the bottom of the New Jersey drone phenomenon, but so far lawmakers like Schumer and other Democrats are not satisfied with the odd lack of answers
Schumer holding up a picture of a drone at a press conference over the weekend
He raised concern that there have not been appropriate answers as to what is flying over NJ
‘We’ve seen lots of recent, recent sightings in New York, New Jersey, Long Island, Staten Island,’ he continued while holding up a picture of a drone-looking device pictured in a recent sighting.
‘So it’s remarkable with all these sightings over the last while, why do we have more questions than answers?’
Speaking on Sunday Schumer pushed for methods to detect the drones.
‘If the technology exists for a drone to make it up into the sky, there certainly is technology that can track the craft with precision and determine what the heck is going on.’
He has announced an initiative to push for drone-detecting measures.
Earlier in the weekend the New York Democrat floated the idea on X:
‘I’m pushing for answers amid these drone sightings,’ he said in the post. ‘I’m calling for [DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas] to deploy special drone-detection tech across NY and NJ.’
‘And I’m working to pass a bill in the Senate to give local law enforcement more tools for drone detection.’
This photo provided by Brian Glenn shows what appears to be multiple drones flying over Bernardsville, N.J., on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024
In this image taken from video, what appears to be drones flying over Randolph, N.J., Dec. 4, 2024
Last week, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said the agency does not know what the drones are, however she could say that DoD has ‘no evidence’ that the drones are ‘the work of a foreign adversary.’
On Monday New Jersey Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill mocked this explanation on CNBC.
She accused authorities of telling the public, ‘Don’t worry, they’re not a threat,’ while also claiming, ‘We don’t know what they are,’ an explanation that she found mind-boggling.
‘It just both can’t be true,’ she added. ‘We need somebody in charge.’
A former helicopter pilot, Sherill suggested using U.S.-made reaper drones to surveil the devices to determine what they are – a plan similar to Schumer’s.
‘So quite frankly, I think why we’re here and why I’m so frustrated is that talking point of ‘they’re just commercial aircraft, don’t worry your pretty little head,” she said speaking to the hosts.
‘That doesn’t work in New Jersey,’ she lamented.
New Jersey Democratic Senate-elect, Rep. Andy Kim, went to view the phenomena himself in-person days ago and was still left with questions after his visit despite being accompanied by local authorities.
‘Any images or video footage people get, the police urge them to submit to the FBI, but I haven’t gotten any follow up yet from the FBI on their investigation and what they’ve compiled,’ he posted in a thread describing his experience.
He was told that the UAPs could be the size of the hood of a car and they would disappear when approached by helicopter.
‘This has gone on for weeks. It’s hard to understand how with the technology we have we aren’t able to track these devices to determine origin and this makes me much more concerned about our capabilities more broadly when it comes to drone detection and counter measures,’ he concluded his 13-part account.
Alejandro Mayorkas has said a new Federal Aviation Administration rule may be behind the deluge of drone sightings across New Jersey and the East Coast
Monmouth County is home to the Naval Weapons Station Earle, a navy base. Experts have mused that foreign powers could be targeting areas like this which harbor intelligence and weapons bases. (Pictured: points of interest in NJ where drones have been seen overhead)
‘I’ve concluded the possible drone sightings pointed out to me were almost certainly planes,’ the Democrat wrote in a follow-up.
Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill told DailyMail.com last week about the concerning drone saga has gone on too long without sufficient answers.
Firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called it ‘bulls***’ that the Pentagon does not have answers despite the sightings having gone on for over a month.
Speaker Mike Johnson received a private briefing on the matter from FBI, DoD and DHS, though he has not spoken about what they have said.
Mayorkas said on X Sunday: ‘To date, there is no known threat posed by these sightings. If a threat is identified, the federal government will address it and communicate with the American public about it.’
‘There is no question that drones have been sighted. It is also true that many reported sightings have turned out to be piloted aircraft. The technology we have deployed to New Jersey has confirmed this,’ he continued.
