Drones latest: New Jersey airspace closes to drones as officials try to slow number of sightings

Residents of New Jersey were confused and worried when a group of mysterious drones began to be seen flying in the skies above the state starting late last month. Now residents in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Florida, California and other states are experiencing the same thing.

Over the last few weeks, local, state and federal law enforcement officials in a string of states have been collecting and investigating reports of unexplained drone sightings

A cluster of drones, seemingly commercial grade, has consistently emerged over communities and even some restricted airspaces after sunset – first in northern New Jersey and now across the country.

Ariana Baio has the story.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday that the Biden administration is not providing lawmakers with answers about the origin of drones recently spotted in the Northeast.

“Look, I’m the speaker of the House. I have the exact same frustrations that you do and all of us do. We don’t have the answers. The administration is not providing them,” Johnson told Fox News.

“They just say ‘don’t worry about it, it’s not foreign entities, there’s not a vessel offshore doing this, and they’re not collecting any data.’ OK, then what is it?” Johnson said.

“You heard Mayorkas, who no one believes, we impeached him in the House as you know, the DHS secretary, he said in an interview a couple days ago, well because they changed the regulations to allow drones to fly at night, that’s why everybody’s seeing them now. They’ve always been there. I mean, look, people are not buying the answers,” Johnson said.

Shooting down drones seen across the US could come with consequences.

“If people start shooting, things have to come down,” Jeffrey Wells, a visiting fellow at the National Security Institute at George Mason University, told The Hill.

Wells told the outlet that it was vital for the nation to address gaps between local officials and the federal government.

“Making those kind of more direct feeds to local government to inform citizens, that over your neighborhood really those are airplanes, those are helicopters, those are things that are being operated by your local utility company,” he said.

Two senior officials are hitting the nation’s response to the drones flying over US military installations.

One official told USA TODAY that the response from the Pentagon had been too passive.

The official said that unidentified drones should be zapped and put in a bag.

Federal officials are warning residents not to shoot down drones after sightings across the Northeast.

In updated guidance, the Federal Aviation Administration noted that it’s illegal under federal law to shoot at an aircraft.

“A private citizen shooting at any aircraft – including unmanned aircraft – poses a significant safety hazard. An unmanned aircraft hit by gunfire could crash, causing damage to persons or property on the ground, or it could collide with other objects in the air,” the agency warned. “Shooting at an unmanned aircraft could result in a civil penalty from the FAA and/or criminal charges from federal, state or local law enforcement.”

Law enforcement in New Jersey has been forced to warn local citizens against taking matters into their own hands and attempting to shoot down the unidentified flying objects and risking injury, according to ABC News, as the demand for answers continues to grow.

The FBI in Newark and New Jersey State Police warned that there has been an increase in pilots “being hit in the eyes with lasers because people on the ground think they see an Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).”

“We’re also concerned people will take matters into their own hands and fire a weapon at an aircraft,” FBI Newark Acting Special Agent in Charge Nelson Delgado said in a video message released on Monday.

“Not only is this act against the law, but it poses an incredible danger to the pilots and passengers on those aircraft.”

Dozens of agencies have been working to find answers and track down any operators acting “illegally or with nefarious intent”, the FBI office said.

“However, there could be dangerous and possibly deadly consequences if manned aircraft are targeted mistakenly as UAS.”

“I also think it’s very important for Congress to act,” Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey told Boston 25 News.

First, she said they need to change the law to allow states to investigate and prosecute illegal drone activity.

Secondly, Healey noted that her government would like to see better drone detection technology.

Following a classified briefing from federal officials regarding recent drone sightings on the East Coast, House Intelligence members are asking for more information.

Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the panel, explained on Tuesday that they were told any drones were not operated by the federal government and no laws were being broken by the drones.

“We have no idea who owns these drones, assuming these drones are, in fact, drones,” he told reporters, according to The Washington Times. “Again, everybody who studied this has arrived at the conclusion that most of these sightings are commercial aircraft.”