Mysterious drone-like objects have been sighted flying over parts of New Jersey—and parts of New York, and Pennsylvania in recent weeks—drawing concern and confusion from residents and state officials, even prompting the FBI to investigate.
Federal officials have said that the objects do not appear to be drones and do not provide a threat to public safety, but state officials are pressing the federal government for more information.
Federal officials have said that the objects do not appear to be drones and do not provide a threat to public safety, but state officials are pressing the federal government for more information.
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00:00More drones in the sky. Rockaway, New Jersey.
00:06Pausing around, looking around.
00:11We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus.
00:21The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are investigating these sightings,
00:25and they're working closely with state and local law enforcement to provide resources using numerous detection methods to better understand their origin.
00:33Using very sophisticated electronic detection technologies provided by federal authorities,
00:40we have not been able to, and neither have state or local law enforcement authorities, corroborate any of the reported visual sightings.
00:49To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully.
00:58The United States Coast Guard is providing support to the state of New Jersey and has confirmed that there is no evidence of any foreign-based involvement from coastal vessels.
01:07And importantly, there are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted airspace.
01:14The analysis thus far, in an investigation that is ongoing, has not revealed any national security or malicious intent or criminal activity.
01:23But, Jackie, I would remind you, we're at the beginning here, not the end.
01:27There's a lot more work to be done, and we're working closely with state and local authorities to gain more information.
01:33I would argue that we're moving pretty well here with a sense of energy to try to figure out what we can do to learn more about this.
01:44We're still in the middle of an ongoing investigation, and I'm up here explaining to you and letting you know what we know so far, what we believe so far.
01:52If information comes to light that changes that characterization, then, my goodness, we'll be the first ones to let you know.
01:59But right now, there's just no indication that this is some sort of foreign malign activity or, in fact, even criminal.
02:06I want to disabuse you of any notion that we're not taking this seriously, because we are.
02:11I can also tell you that if the President, as Commander-in-Chief, believed, based on the information that he'd been given,
02:18that there was a national security threat at play here, or even a public safety threat at play here,
02:24he would issue the appropriate directives to not only law enforcement, but perhaps even the military, if that was needed.
02:31Because I think people in New York and New Jersey see drones the size of an SUV over their house every night and think that that doesn't make any sense.
02:38I certainly understand why people would be looking at this and being concerned about it.
02:42We're concerned about it, too, which is why we have the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, my goodness, looking at this.
02:48And we're taking it seriously, and we understand that people are concerned.
02:52We understand that they got questions. We got questions, too.
02:55And we're working hard to get the answers to that.
02:57What I can tell you as we sit here today, at 2.16 in the afternoon on the 12th,
03:02is we haven't seen any indication thus far that there's a public safety risk.