Residents of New Jersey are equally intrigued and worried about the mysterious odd lights in the sky at night, which are believed to be drone sightings, in the past month. With no official explanations, politicians and even President-elect Donald Trump himself are wondering about these mysterious lights.
After New Jersey, these mysterious lights, are now hovering over New York and Maryland, and no explanation on what it is or who is behind these mysterious ‘drones’ flying, or whether those are drones or not. Residents in other states such as Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia California, and Ohio too have reported these mysterious sightings.
Though the federal authorities have tried to reassure the locals that the sighting does not look nefarious, the unexplainable sightings are a growing concern. In a joint statement on Dec. 12, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said, “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. Historically, we have experienced cases of mistaken identity, where reported drones are, in fact, manned aircraft or facilities. 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.”
President-elect Donald Trump too has demanded the government to solve the mystery. “Mystery Drone sightings all over the Country. Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge. I don’t think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!” Trump said on Truth Social on Friday.
Back on November 22, the FAA implemented a temporary flight restriction for drones over Trump’s National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
The drone activity has also prompted New York’s Stewart International Airport to temporarily close its runways for about an hour on Friday night. The Wright-Patterson Air Force base in Dayton too was shut down for hours this weekend because of the sightings. The base confirmed closing its airspace for hours on Friday night and early Saturday.
With little information on the ‘drone sightings’, and growing concern among locals, the Morris County Commissioners issued a statement on Dec. 13 saying, “The Morris County Board of County Commissioners is calling on the federal government to marshal all federal resources at its disposal, including the military, to end the unauthorized flight of drones over our county and other parts of New Jersey.” The County said that ‘this to be a matter of national security’ and the federal government must identify the source of this incursion, and be completely transparent about what is happening, put an end to the drones.
While the fear of the unknown continues, people are coming up with bizarre theories and explanations one can imagine. Former NFL kicker Lawrence Tynes, in an X post, said, “The drones in New Jersey can easily be explained. Teams are clearly spying on the Jets and Giants practices which is why they have struggled this season.”
New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van wrote on X that the safety of Americans is at risk, “First, a Chinese spy balloon drifted across U.S. airspace for a week. Now, unidentified drones are flying over New Jersey, avoiding radar detection. Gaps in our airspace are being exploited, and because of it, the safety of Americans is at risk.”
Senator Andy Kim went out on drone patrol with the local police, and in a post on X said, “After going out with police to observe reports of possible drones, I was with the help of civilian pilots and others able to do deeper analysis and concluded that most of the possible drone sightings that were pointed out to me were almost certainly planes. While not receiving any feedback/info from federal officials, I reached out to civilian aviators/others for analysis. I used public flight tracking tools to recreate the conditions of my time out. For instance I was at Round Valley Reservoir at 9:20pm and shot this video. While I didn’t observe a plane in the flight tracker at that moment that night, I was able to pull up more detailed flight data subsequently and spotted this one small plane taking the path of what was pointed out to me the other night as a possible drone flying near us.” He also criticized the federal government for not solving the mystery.
In a post on X on Dec. 14, the New York State Police said that they received “numerous reports of drone sightings over the past 24 hours.” They added, “We have no evidence at this time that any of the reported sightings pose a public safety threat.”
Republican state Sen. Tony Hwang (R-Fairfield) and former Chairman of the Public Safety & Security Committee, in a statement, expressed that, “It’s very unsettling to public safety and security, both here in Fairfield and elsewhere. I agree with U.S. Sen. Blumenthal, who advocates for shooting drones down, if necessary, to get answers and accountability.”
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Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Maura Healey said that the she is ‘aware’ of the drone sightings. “I’m aware of a growing number of drone sightings across Massachusetts and we’re monitoring the situation closely. @MassStatePolice is working together with local and federal partners, and they’re prepared to support federal authorities with jurisdiction over airspace,” she said in a statement posted on X.
