New Jersey drone mystery intensifies: Pentagon unable to determine the origins

New Jersey State Police headquarters was abuzz with activity as new drone sightings have been noticed. The state and local officials conducted an emergency meeting, including representatives from the Department of Homeland Security. The meeting was called to discuss the issue of large drones being spotted over central and northern New Jersey. Reportedly, a Military installation is already in the ambit of these drones flying over the skies at night.

The unknown origins of these drone sightings have complicated the matter amidst a congressman claiming they belong to Iran. He claimed a large ‘mothership’ was the base of these drones. Pentagon, however, totally rejected the claims as demands for a quick federal response grew amongst the state officials. The mysterious and unexplained sightings have prompted the officials to demand from the organization, to approach the matter with transparency.

About 4 to 180 drone sightings per night as per reports

However, where officials are at a loss to explain the happenings, a DHS handout seems to trivialize the matter a bit more. The New Jersey Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, who attended the meeting informed that About there have been about four to 180 sightings per night, operating in a most coordinated manner. She further clarified that as such these drones didn’t appear to either from DHS or just the hobbyist ones.

I just left the New Jersey State Police HQ following the briefing of New Jersey State Legislators relating to the unexplained drone sightings in New Jersey.
Might I add – @GovMurphy
was not present. My notes are organized following my take below on the situation.

1. We know… pic.twitter.com/kPnFGd5g5u

— Dawn Fantasia (@DawnFantasia_NJ) December 11, 2024

Fantasia further said “We know nothing” and to “state that there is no known or credible threat is incredibly misleading, and I informed all officials of that sentiment.”

The DHS handout which was released by Montvale Mayor Mike Ghassali says that there was no clarity regarding the drone’s origins. As the statement failed to convince the officials, Ghassali responded by “heightened my apprehensions regarding the federal government’s approach to this critical issue.”

He again stated that “the message conveyed was that there is no credible threat, yet they are flying over critical infrastructure, and their point of origin and destination remain unidentified. They will eventually find out but for now, we don’t know anything else.”

New Jersey state Sen. Holly Schepisi, stated “For the federal government to not dedicate every defense resource needed to identify the origin and purpose of these drones, in the most densely populated state in the nation is inexplicable and completely unacceptable.” She added that “[It] actually made me feel less confident in our federal government’s reaction to this issue rather than more,” while terming the DHS response as ‘abysmal.’

FBI takes charge of the investigations

Meanwhile, an FBI spokesperson said that it is doing all it can and will figure out soon about the happenings. FBI is leading the investigation to identify the drone origins in this case. Sen. John Bramnick in the backdrop of the events hs demanded the Defense Department to find out the cause and declare a limited state of emergency in the state.

In a statement, he said “The Department of Defense must investigate and until that occurs, we must shut down the airspace to drones. That would require a limited state of emergency and FAA cooperation.” FBI, meanwhile, has announced that the public could call their 800 line, or submit a tip online as they were acting on every substantive lead.

As the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has begun to impose restrictions over Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County and Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Somerset County, it has come under criticism due to its inability to locate the drones. New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew said during a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s hearing earlier Wednesday, “We have a serious problem with our aerospace. The recent sightings of unidentified drones in the state of New Jersey, my home state, is justifiably causing tremendous public concern.”

This month, the FAA said, “Safely integrating drones into the National Airspace System is a key priority for the FAA. We look into all reports of unauthorized drone operations and investigate when appropriate.” Unable to be convinced by the FAA statements, Van Drew, a congressman insisted on the authenticity of his claims that the drones were Iranian-made.

Authenticating the statement of the congressman, New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith added that an officer sighted around ‘50 drones’ coming from the ocean. He also said that they were seen in Ocean County earlier this week and apart from that, a U.S. Coast Guard commanding officer stationed in Barnegat Light stated that he saw around 12 to 30 drones following a USCG motor lifeboat.

Before making these statements, Rep. Smith also said that owing to the capability of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to destroy any unauthorized unmanned aerial vehicles, he was sure that an immediate deployment of those would take care of the incursions. In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, he made a plea to utilize all capabilities of the Defense Department to address the potential threats posed by the UAS over the state of New Jersey.

Lack of transparency as per the Warren County police

Many are worried over the prospects of a challenging security scenario emerging from the latest drone threat, including New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer. Also, the sightings have prompted Police in Warren County, New Jersey to express their frustration with the lack of transparency on the part of FBI, FAA and DHS agencies.  

Scott D. Robb, president of the Warren County Police Chief’s Association said “We are shocked by the lack of response or update from Federal and State officials. We do not agree with their response that there is no known threat to the public at this time. It is our stance that just the unidentified drone flying over us is a threat in itself.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said to the reporters that the DHS and FBI were tracking the developments closely and coordination was going on with these agencies in the matter. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has been briefed about the matter. The US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) spokesperson said that the installation was monitoring the reports of unauthorized drone flights in the vicinity of military installations in New Jersey.

The command also added that a request for any assistance was yet to come from any quarter, however, they were prepared to go for the same, should a threat to attack any DoD installation arise.