Dozens of drones have been spotted flying around New Jersey in recent weeks, including visits to sensitive military bases, police departments, and one of Donald Trump’s golf courses.
Officials are split on the origins of the drones, and on an appropriate response, with some advocating for a limited state of emergency, others for a temporary ban on drones, while NJ Governor Phil Murphy has stressed that the drones appear to pose no public safety concerns.
New Jersey assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia dismissed this, according to the BBC, saying, “To state that there is no known or credible threat is incredibly misleading.” She added that the drones are up to 6ft (1.8m) in diameter, travel with lights turned off and “operate in a co-ordinated manner.”
Residents of eight counties in New Jersey began noticing the drones in mid-November, posting about them on social media, and the issue has now risen up the ranks to the Pentagon.
On Wednesday, Robert Wheeler, an FBI official in charge of investigating the matter, confirmed to a hearing that despite 3,000 sightings, the agency still had no explanation for the sightings.
When asked whether the public was at risk, according to USA Today Wheeler replied: “Are we concerned there are nefarious intentions that could cause either an actual security or public safety incident? There’s nothing that is known that would lead me to say that, but we just don’t know. And that’s the concerning part of it.”
Also on Wednesday, the Pentagon released a statement addressing the unfounded claims from a Republican New Jersey congressman that the drones were from an “Iranian mothership” situated off the state coast.
Sabrina Singh, the deputy Pentagon press secretary, said US military bosses do not believe the drones are being sent from “a foreign entity or adversity.”
When asked in an interview on News Nation, retired Major General John G Wharton why, if we know they are not US military drones, they’re not being shot out of the sky, he replied that while they may not be military, they could be private sector tests in support of the military.
The admission that the country’s infallible law enforcement agency is clueless to the origin of these drones, highlights the confusion that continues to build across the US. Rumors are swirling, but the truth is the authorities have no idea whether there is an individual or a group behind the activity, or whether there is any credible threat.
Threat or not, the incident has occurred at a time of increasing unease about surveillance and international relations, and artificial intelligence. Mayors in 21 towns across the north and center of New Jersey have written a joint letter to Murphy calling for statewide action.
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