ICYMI - Joint DHS/FBI Statement on Reports of Drones in New Jersey

On Thursday, the FBI and DHS jointly issued a statement on reported drone sightings in New Jersey: “We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus. The FBI, DHS and our federal partners, in close coordination with the New Jersey State Police, continue to deploy personnel and technology to investigate this situation and confirm whether the reported drone flights are actually drones or are instead manned aircraft or otherwise inaccurate sightings.

“Historically, we have experienced cases of mistaken identity, where reported drones are, in fact, manned aircraft or facilities. We are supporting local law enforcement in New Jersey with numerous detection methods but have not corroborated any of the reported visual sightings with electronic detection. To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully. There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted air space. 

“We take seriously the threat that can be posed by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), which is why law enforcement and other agencies continue to support New Jersey and investigate the reports. To be clear, they have uncovered no such malicious activity or intent at this stage. While there is no known malicious activity occurring in New Jersey, the reported sightings there do, however, highlight the insufficiency of current authorities."

The Mayor of Kinnelon Borough, who attended a briefing with the Governor along with other political figures posted the following on their social media,"Mayor Freda's message: I was invited to a meeting today in Trenton with all the mayors in New Jersey, the Colonel of the New Jersey State Police, the Director of Homeland Security, and Governor Murphy's staff. The meeting's objective was to address recent nighttime drone sightings in our area and throughout New Jersey. Unfortunately, the authorities have not obtained any leads or information about these drones. Although they believe there are currently no threats, residents should stay vigilant and report any citing to the FBI. To hopefully identify the drones, a 400-pound camera equipped with a heat sensor and radar will be deployed startingtonight. I strongly believe that Governor Murphy should have been at our meeting and definitely needs to step up and be more proactive in addressing this situation. Below is the information I received, which I am sharing with you. Any updates I received I will forward to everyone. "

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