In a press briefing on Thursday evening, the Pentagon acknowledged reports of large unidentified drones flying over parts of New Jersey and other states in the northeast and said there was no evidence they originate from a foreign entity, but neither were they US military drones.
Residents and law enforcement officials in the affected areas have reported several sightings of fixed wing flying units estimated to be about four feet wide, while others have been reported as being the size of a large car.
The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) reports the sightings have been occurring since at least November, close to residential areas, highways, railroads, reservoirs and power lines.
Who owns the mystery drones?
While both the New Jersey governor and the White House itself have stressed there is no reason to believe these drones are a threat, the question of who owns them and what they’re attempting to achieve is a pressing one.
Staten Island borough president Vito Fossella has contacted both the Federal Aviation Administration and the FBI in connection with the mystery drones, after witnesses spied them above Staten Island’s Howland Hook Marine Terminal container port facility and the West Shore.
“It is odd and quite bizarre that nobody can figure out who is flying these drones, where they are coming from, and their purpose,” Fossella wrote in a letter to both agencies on December 5.
Fossella also references a serious car accident that occurred in Branchburg, NJ, that reportedly required a medical air evacuation.
“… [T]he presence of these drones prevented a medevac helicopter from being able to transport a seriously injured patient to the hospital,” Fossella alleged.
“We hope that such an investigation may shed light on what these drones are doing, where they are coming from and how to mitigate the risks they may pose on public safety.”
Security analysts raise alarm
Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said the government was continuing to monitor the situation.
“At this time, we have no evidence that these activities are coming from a foreign adversary,” she said.
“We’re going to continue to monitor what is happening but at no point were our installations threatened when this activity was occurring.”
NBC News interviewed retired four-star general Barry McCaffrey last week, who described the mystery drones as a “significant threat to US national security”.
“When you see something of this capacity, you wonder why it would be needed [and] what they are doing. It implies a heavy payload,” McCaffrey said.
While the drones have made no overtly threatening actions thus far, officials are understandably focused on identifying their operators.
“What concerns us mostly is that, at this point, no one has seen any of these units taking off or landing,” Ocean County sheriff Michael Mastronardy said to NBC News.
“Right now, we just want to identify what it is.”