December 13, 2024
Who is behind these mysterious drones.
New Jersey Senator Andy Kim just posted multiple videos of drones he saw flying over his state last night.
No one in the government knows – or at least is saying – who’s behind them yet. But they’ve said who is not behind them.
Just because the government says they don’t believe – at this point – that these drones are being operated by a foreign adversary doesn’t’ mean that they aren’t concerning to the people who are watching them fly over their neighborhoods. Earlier this week – the spokesperson to the national security counsel said–folks shouldn’t be worried.
The Pentagon also weighed in saying they have not seen these objects flying in restricted airspace but if they start to bother military installations they will engage.
Several lawmakers have said they’ve been briefed by the FBI in a classified setting and have said after hearing that information they’re confident these drones pose no threat. The spokesperson for the national security counsel even suggested they might not be drones at all.
Well – Senator Kim begs to differ.
He said when he was out there with local new jersey law enforcement last night they were tracking airplanes through a flight tracker app. He says often times what he and the cops watched in the sky were not showing up on the flight tracker so they couldn’t be airplanes. He said what they were watching hovered or moved horizontally and switched back in the opposite direction. Planes don’t work that way.
Now – keep in mind – if these are domestic — there’s nothing illegal about flying a drone. Or flying lots of drones. You obviously cannot fly a drone in restricted airspace, or in no drone zones but if you’re following those restrictions laid out specifically by the f-a-a and your recreational drone is registered and is under 55 pounds you can absolutely, legally fly a drone up to 400 feet in the air.
But these things are being spotted in lots of spaces – not just new jersey. And local and state officials are demanding more help and resources from the federal government to track these things and deal with them. Heres’ the thing – homeland security says they don’t have enough authority to conduct counter-drone activities and the white house is urging congress to pass legislation to give more authority to the federal government to expand existing authority so the government can easily identify and mitigate drone problems especially in restricted areas or sensitive areas like around airports or other critical infrastructure.
Lawmakers say they are going to be receiving another classified briefing on these drones next week. And several have demanded the FBI and the White House be more transparent about what exactly the government knows. In fact New Jersey Representative Josh Gottheimer wrote this letter to homeland security, FBI and the FAA demanding a public briefing about what’s going on .
Speaking of the FBI — if you have video of these things – you can submit it to the FBI tip line. Just go to tips.fbi. Gov.
Read the letter from Rep. Gottheimer here.
Report a tip to the FBI here.
Watch Sen. Andy Kim’s videos here.
Read more about drone regulations from the FAA here.
