Mysterious drones have been spotted flying over New Jersey and New York. The first sightings were reported in mid-November and have grown since. Citizens and local governments have been frantic to know the origins and intentions of these drones.
Drone sightings have caused a large amount of public dismay, with citizens fearing for their safety, even causing runways at New York’s Stewart Airfield to shut down.
A statement released by the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) claimed that the unmanned aircrafts are a “combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones.”
While the FBI and FAA have asserted that the drones don’t seem to pose a security threat, they’re unable to say with complete certainty whether some of these drones are committing unlawful acts or not. Locals have been unsatisfied with the response made by the federal government as many questions remain as to where this influx of drones is coming from.
Local officials are agitated about how they’re unable to take down some of these drones to unravel their intentions, with some residents taking it into their own hands to find out the intentions of the drones. Several videos have been posted to social media sites of citizens firing firearms at the sky in an attempt to take down the drones.
In early December, the FAA placed restrictions on unmanned aircraft flight over various New Jersey towns and several New York airports to tame the reports. Many of these were set to last for only a couple of weeks, with many more restrictions being lifted as time went on.
Reports have slowed down since their inception in November, but the amount of drones is still at an unusual amount. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to reveal the true plans behind these drones early in his administration, adding that “it’s ridiculous that they’re not telling you about what’s going on with the drones.”
New Jersey natives and public officials are hopeful that the intentions of these drones will be revealed in due time.