By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House, FBI and DHS officials emphasized on Saturday that most of the recent reported drone sightings in New Jersey and nearby states involved manned aircraft and that there was no evidence of any threat to the national safety.
An FBI official told reporters at an impromptu briefing that the agency was working with 50 local, state and federal partners to investigate the increased reports. The official said that fewer than 100 of the more than 5,000 reported sightings appeared to be worthy of further investigation, and that all major reported fixed-wing sightings to date have involved manned aircraft.
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“The combination of efforts to date … to record technical equipment, tip line information and known consultations has … not found any evidence supporting large-scale (unmanned aerial systems) activities,” the official said, adding that many of the sightings took place along regular flight routes.
Extensive efforts have been made to investigate the remaining cases, using interviews and radar and intelligence analyses, the official added.
“We cannot ignore the observations made there,” the official said. “We are doing our best to trace the origins of those drone activities, but I think there is a slight overreaction.”
A wave of reported drone sightings that began in New Jersey in mid-November spread to Maryland, Massachusetts and other states in recent days. The sightings have attracted media attention and prompted the creation of a Facebook page called “New Jersey Mystery Drones – Let’s Solve It” with 56,000 online members.
US President Joe Biden receives regular updates on the issue, a White House official said.
On Cape Cod in Massachusetts, residents and a Harwich police officer reported seeing 10 to 15 drones flying in the sky Friday evening, the Boston Herald reported.
Police passed the information on to the Boston FBI and Massachusetts State Police.
Governor Maura Healey said on Facebook that she is also “aware of a growing number of drone sightings across Massachusetts and we are closely monitoring the situation.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Saturday called for a boost in federal law enforcement efforts after the runways at a local airport in the Hudson Valley were closed for an hour Friday due to drone activity.
“This has gone too far,” Hochul said in a statement on the social media network X, urging the Biden administration to boost law enforcement in New York and other areas and calling on Congress to pass drone reform legislation to approve.
A Federal Aviation Administration official said a temporary ban on drone activities had been imposed over Picatinny Arsenal, a military base in Wharton, New Jersey, that was set to expire on December 26 and could be made permanent.
There had been drone sightings over Picatinny and another Navy weapons station in December, a military official told reporters, but there was no information or observation that they were linked to a foreign actor or had malicious intent. Drone operations over military installations are generally prohibited but do occur from time to time, the official added.
A second ban was imposed at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, which was set to expire Dec. 20 but could be extended, the FAA official said.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; additional reporting by Rich McKay and Susan Heavey; editing by David Gregorio)
