Concern grows over mysterious drone sightings along US east coast

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Multiple sightings of aerial objects after sundown have sparked concern along the US east coast and widespread anger that the federal government is not treating the issue seriously. 

Authorities in New Jersey have since last month been flooded with reports of drones dotting the night sky, sometimes in groups and without any apparent purpose, above the most densely populated state in the country. 

Officials have tried to calm the public but have not offered any explanation for the phenomena.

“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 and US Homeland Security department said this week. 

The reassurances are doing little to assuage fears over the flying machines, whose owners and home base remain a mystery.

“It’s quite disturbing, in all honesty, for our officials to expect us to believe that they don’t know what’s going on. We could shoot a missile down 5,000 miles away, but we can’t determine where these drones are originating from?” said James Dodd, mayor of the town of Dover, New Jersey. 

Dover is down the road from Picatinny Arsenal, a US military installation. The Federal Aviation Administration imposed temporary flight restrictions on unmanned flights over the site last month, citing “special security reasons”. Similar restrictions were declared this month for the area around President-elect Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. 

No such restrictions have been imposed elsewhere in the state, even as drone sightings pour in. 

Dodd was among the New Jersey mayors invited to a briefing hosted by New Jersey state police this week. He said he left frustrated by what he considered to be scant information on a serious issue. 

He posted on his town’s website a question-and-answer document he received from the Homeland Security department. “At this time, it is unclear who is operating the drones,” the document said. 

Drone reports have been spreading up and down the eastern seaboard. Larry Hogan, the former governor of Maryland, wrote on social media that he had witnessed “what appeared to be dozens of large drones in the sky” above his home for about 45 minutes on Thursday night.

“Like many who have observed these drones, I do not know if this increasing activity over our skies is a threat to public safety or national security. But the public is growing increasingly concerned and frustrated with the complete lack of transparency and the dismissive attitude of the federal government,” Hogan wrote. He posted video of what he said were the aircraft. 

New York governor Kathy Hochul said on Friday that the state was investigating drone sightings in her state, in co-operation with federal authorities. 

Federal regulations place few limits on civilian drone use, said Mary-Lou Smulders, chief marketing officer of Dedrone, a company which helps public safety agencies detect drones. Violations include flying too close to airports and sensitive sites such as nuclear power plants and surpassing 400ft in altitude. 

Even then, the rules are commonly flouted. Dedrone’s sensors have recorded more than 1.1mn violations so far this year. 

State and local police are not authorised to intercept drones, Smulders said. Those powers are only granted to four federal departments under certain circumstances, making it difficult to crack down on violators. 

Federal authorities said they had not uncovered any malicious activity related to the flights in New Jersey. “It’s probably some people who think it’s funny that they’re able to create this freak-out,” Smulders speculated. “What . . . purpose would there be for flying around at night? Not a lot.” 

The FBI doubted whether most of the observations were drones at all. “To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully,” its statement with the Homeland Security department said.

New Jersey, sandwiched between New York City and Philadelphia, contains some of the busiest airspace in North America. 

The unresolved concerns have led to increasingly urgent calls for action. This week Republican New Jersey congressman Jeff Van Drew suggested the flights were taking off from an “Iranian drone mother ship” in the Atlantic. 

Trump weighed in on Friday, posting on his social media platform that the government should be more forthcoming or shoot the aircraft down. 

US officials have said they do not assess that the drone activity is connected to any foreign actors or adversaries. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh on Wednesday said no Iranian ship was launching drones towards the US. 

Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz in Washington