• Drone sightings across the US have captivated many Americans and sparked widespread speculation.
• The sightings have also put a spotlight on airspace management strategies in the US.
• Experts say the focus should be on improved regulation and countermeasures instead of hysteria.

A recent wave of mysterious drone sightings across the US has, to a certain extent, kick-started a long-overdue discussion on drone technology and airspace management.

These drone sightings have captured national attention, and the public is now paying more attention to drone activity near US military bases. Federal agencies are talking to the public about drone issues. And there's more public discussion of congressional legislation to boost federal authority as the government says it's hamstrung in its ability to respond to drone threats.

"There's a fundamental notion that drones present a very, very new expanded type of threat," Doug Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, told Business Insider, noting that the US largely lacks "the tactics and the procedures to deal with this."

Birkey said many people are "overplaying" the mystery behind the latest drone sightings. But the resulting buzz is driving conversations about counterstrategies and systems that "should have happened a long time ago."

Officials from the White House, FBI, DHS, DoD, and the FAA have urged Congress to "enact counter-UAS legislation when it reconvenes that would help extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities to identify and mitigate any threat that may emerge." This has been a recurring topic in press briefings in recent weeks.

"The good news is that technology largely exists" to address the challenges presented by drone tech, Birkey said. "We just have to get serious about going after it and then having the procedures down to be smart about it."

The latest drone drama

In mid-November, unidentified aircraft were first seen flying over New Jersey. They drew national attention as reported sightings extended to Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York, among other states, this month.

It wasn't until worry and wild speculation about the drones reached a fever pitch that agencies began a more organized effort to communicate. In the initial absence, others filled the void with conspiracy theories, a major one being that the drones were launched from an Iranian drone mothership off the US East Coast.

The federal government has shot many of these assertions down, saying they're not of foreign origin and not a threat.

The White House, FBI, Homeland Security, Pentagon, and FAA have said that all the evidence available indicates the drone sightings are a mixture of "lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones."

Though not nefarious, US officials said they "recognize the concern among many communities" and the "irresponsible" nature of the drone activity near restricted airspace and infrastructure, including military bases and civilian airports.

Things have "sort of moved to a point of hysteria," said Stacie Pettyjohn, the director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security. She said that "the public has gotten really agitated because of the perceived novelty of drones or the danger associated with them."

She said "people seeing drones everywhere" are "starting to conflate just normal air traffic and anything in the sky and assuming that something nefarious or strange is happening."

But even as the government has attempted to quell concerns, skepticism remains, leading some to push for greater clarity on this issue so that drones can be discussed rationally.

William Austin, a drone expert and president of Warren County Community College, said the federal government needs to be clear with the public in this situation.

He wrote in a recent op-ed that "the public needs clear, authoritative communication: there is no credible evidence of large drones operating over New Jersey,"

Austin argued in his article that "the drone industry has too much to offer — cutting-edge technology, job creation, and life-saving applications — to be derailed by myths." He said, "We need facts, not speculation."

Drones are becoming prolific

Surging interest and investment in new drone tech have catalyzed rapid advancements, transforming the technology at an unprecedented pace in recent years.

Increasing competition in the global market is making drones more accessible, affordable, and user-friendly, expanding their use beyond traditional military and defense applications to sectors like agriculture, logistics, and recreation.

"It's part of the changing technological landscape that extends beyond just the military," Pettyjohn said. "It's not just the realm of the government anymore to have really sophisticated capabilities. It's just part of everyday society."

Commercial and civilian drones only began to emerge in the early 2000s, leaving the general public largely unaccustomed to encountering them in their daily lives.

The high-profile Chinese spy balloon incident last year that ended with it being shot down by a US fighter jet spotlighted aerial surveillance as a potential threat to public safety and national security. Terrorist and insurgent operations, as well as the widespread use of drone warfare in Ukraine, have also heightened fears regarding their possible weaponization.

And there are real risks, regardless of whether drone activity is malicious. As drone technology proliferates further, activities around military bases and airfields are becoming a "huge problem" for the US, Mark Cancian, a defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a retired US Marine Corps colonel, recently told BI.

A US military base in Ohio briefly closed its airspace after small drones were spotted in the area, and the runways at a New York airport were also briefly shut down due to nearby drone activity.

Sociologist and New York Times columnist Zeynep Tufekci wrote that the hysteria and drama of the recent drone situation aside, "unauthorized drones are a problem, and there does need to be better regulation and technology to deal with them. Let's hear about that, then, rather than this mindless dangerous panic."

The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily banned drones over parts of New Jersey yesterday and said "the United States government may use deadly force against" airborne aircraft "if it is determined that the aircraft poses an imminent security threat."

The FAA issued 22 orders imposing "temporary flight restrictions for special security reasons" until January 17, 2025. "At the request of federal security partners, the FAA published 22 Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) prohibiting drone flights over critical New Jersey infrastructure," an FAA statement said.

Each NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) affects a specific area. "No UAS [Unmanned Aircraft System] operations are authorized in the areas covered by this NOTAM" unless they have clearance for specific operations, the FAA said. Allowed operations include support for national defense, law enforcement, firefighting, and commercial operations "with a valid statement of work."

Read full article

Comments

© Getty Images | Richard Newstead

Some insist these drones are piloted by intergalactic beings. Others claim they're regular airplanes. But who can say for sure?

• The FAA banned drone flights across wide swaths of New Jersey.
• Thousands of reports of drone sightings have sparked concerns among residents and local officials.
• Federal officials have repeatedly said most of the sightings were crewed aircraft operating legally.

The Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily banned drones from flying over most of New Jersey.

The restrictions, which are in effect until January 17, affect more than 22 communities across the Garden State and prevent drones from flying within 1 nautical mile of the restricted areas.

"At the request of federal security partners, the FAA published 22 Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) prohibiting drone flights over critical New Jersey infrastructure," the agency told Business Insider.

The news comes after thousands of reports of "mystery drones" over the US East Coast for the past month have sparked concern from locals and lawmakers.

Officials have repeatedly said most of the drone sightings are lawfully operated crewed aircraft.

Incidents of lasers being pointed at aircraft have also increased. The FAA said the number of lasers pointed at planes over New Jersey increased 269% in December compared with the same month last year.

"Misidentification often occurs when UAS are mistaken for more familiar objects such as manned aircraft, low-orbit satellites, or celestial bodies like planets or stars," the FBI said Monday in a statement, referring to unmanned aircraft systems.

There are over 1 million legally registered drones in the US. Federal regulations already prohibit drones from operating too close to an airport or flying higher than 400 feet without authorization.

DJI and Autel Robotics have one year to convince skeptical national security agencies that their equipment doesn't pose a threat to the U.S.

• The FAA and FBI want people to stop pointing lasers at what they think are drones in the sky.
• The agencies have received a big spike in reports of pilots affected by lasers over New Jersey.
• Complaints have nearly tripled this month compared to last December, the FAA said.

US authorities want people to know they shouldn't point lasers at what they think are "mystery drones" in the sky.

The Federal Aviation Administration told multiple news outlets on Wednesday that complaints of laser strikes on crewed planes over New Jersey have jumped 269% in recent weeks compared to the same period last year.

Per Reuters, the agency received 59 reports of people aiming lasers at planes in the first half of December, up from eight in the same period of 2023.

The administration also said it had received "dozens of new laser reports from pilots" over the New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania areas.

The FAA told CNN that pilots across the entire US cumulatively report about 30 laser strikes on a typical night. But on Tuesday night alone, the number of reported strikes reached 123 nationwide, the administration told the outlet.

Even if the laser's target isn't a plane, it's illegal under US federal law to point a laser or shoot a firearm at a drone.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Newark, New Jersey also said on Monday that it was receiving more reports of pilots "being hit in the eyes" because people thought they were pointing lasers at drones.

The FBI added that local authorities have been out every night for several weeks to track down "operators acting illegally," saying the consequences of shining lasers at crewed aircraft could be deadly.

"Misidentification often occurs when UAS are mistaken for more familiar objects such as manned aircraft, low-orbit satellites, or celestial bodies like planets or stars," the FBI's Monday statement said, referring to unmanned aircraft systems.

The government warnings come as residents along the East Coast have reported seeing "mystery drones" in the sky, triggering conspiracy theories that the unknown objects are being used for nefarious or secret purposes.

The Pentagon and other federal agencies said these sightings likely aren't a threat, and that out of 5,000 drone sightings reported in recent weeks, only 100 warranted investigations.

Over a million drones are legally registered in the US, and officials say the sightings could involve commercial drones, hobbyist drones, or law enforcement drones.

• Wing and DoorDash launched drone deliveries from malls in Dallas-Fort Worth this week.
• The launch came as drone sightings have been reported around the US, including in Texas.
• Wing said its drones operate during the day and have been in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since 2021.

Wing and DoorDash launched drone deliveries from some local malls in Dallas-Forth Worth, Texas this week, just as mysterious drone sightings keep getting reported on the East Coast — and even in the Lone Star state.

Wing, which is owned by Alphabet, Google's parent company, said in a statement the company was partnering with DoorDash and Brookfield Properties to deliver goods from two local shopping malls in a "first-of-its-kind service."

The company said customers can order delivers from more than 50 stores. When checking out via DoorDash customers can choose to have the product delivered by drone, which can be as fast as 15 minutes. The drones can fly 65 mph at a cruising height of around 150 feet.

Wing drones have made more than 400,000 commercial deliveries worldwide since 2019. Wing and DoorDash have previously provided drone delivery services in Melbourne, Australia and Christiansburg, Virginia. Wing has also previously partnered with Walgreens and Walmart for drone deliveries in the Dallas-Fort Worth areas.

The launch of deliveries from malls comes at a time of heightened awareness and concern about drones. Since mid-November, US authorities have received thousands of reports of mystery drones on the East Coast, primarily in New Jersey, The White House has said only about 100 required further investigation, and that the drones do not pose a threat.

In a statement to Business Insider, a Wing spokesperson said its drones have been operating around Dallas-Forth Worth since 2021 and that the company has done extensive community outreach in the area.

"We always inform the community and work closely with local officials before launching a service," the statement said, adding, "There is no connection between our operations and the recent sightings in New Jersey."

The spokesperson said the company, which in the US operates drones in Texas, Virginia, and at a test facility in California, complies with all regulations and that the drones only operate in approved areas.

"Wing also complies with the FAA's requirements for the remote identification of unmanned aircraft to ensure transparency of our flights so that others, including law enforcement, know when and where we are flying," the statement said, adding, "We do not operate at night."

DoorDash did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

The White House has said the reported sightings on the East Coast, which have primarily been at night, have included a mix of commercial, hobbyist, and law enforcement drones. Some of the reported sightings have actually been commercial aircraft and even stars that citizens have mistaken for drones.

A day before Wing and DoorDash announced their new drone deliveries in Dallas-Fort Worth, drone sightings were reported in the area.

Police in White Settlement, located west of Fort Worth, said officials were investigating after multiple drones were spotted flying over local neighborhoods in the city, which hosts the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth.

Christopher Cook, the White Settlement police chief, said Wednesday in a post on X the department was working with federal officials, including the FBI, "out of an abundance of caution."

"While we do not believe there were any immediate threats related to last night's activities, it is concerning due to operating in "NO FLY ZONES" near federal and military properties," Cook said.

Nearly one year after mysterious drones hovered near a top-secret military base in Virginia for 17 days, Sen. Tim Kaine says he is "very frustrated" with "so many unanswered questions" that remain. 

The Virginia Democrat said his state delegation will get a classified briefing on the situation Thursday. 

For more than two weeks in December 2023, the mystery drones flew into restricted airspace over the installation, home to key national security sites and the F-22 Raptor stealth fighters. 

The Pentagon has said little about the incidents other than to confirm they occurred after a Wall Street Journal report in October. If officials know where the drones came from or what they were doing, they haven’t shared it with Congress. 

RENEWAL OF COUNTER-DRONE AUTHORITY, CHINA CRACKDOWNS IN LAST-MINUTE GOVERNMENT FUNDING EXTENSION

"We're kind of at the year anniversary of these incursions at Langley. And I'm very frustrated with the fact that there's still so many unanswered questions," Kaine told Fox News Digital. 

Lack of a standard protocol for such incursions left Langley officials unsure of what to do, other than allow the 20-foot drones to hover near their classified sites. 

As defense-minded lawmakers sought more answers, Langley officials referred them to the FBI, who referred them to Northern Command, who referred them to local law enforcement, one congressional source said. 

"I'm going to keep pushing the federal agencies to get their act together and have a clear agency that's responsible for answering rather than all pointing their fingers at each other and telling us that you got to go to some other agency to get an answer," said Kaine. 

The drones over Langley "don’t appear to be armed, but they are there for at least surveillance purposes. And they interrupted training exercises at Langley."

And during the recent drone phenomenon in New Jersey, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have been spotted near Picatinny Arsenal and over President-elect Trump's golf club in Bedminster. Trump said he canceled a trip to his golf club due to the drone sightings. 

Drone incursions at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio prompted the base to close its airspace Friday night, and UAS sightings have occurred at U.S. military bases in the United Kingdom and Germany. 

A spending bill that must pass before the end of the week includes a reauthorization of the government's counter-drone authorities. But it is a simple reauthorization of a program many drone experts say is outdated. National security-minded lawmakers and experts have implored Congress to take up legislation that would grant the government greater detection capabilities and give state and local law enforcement the authority to deal with unauthorized drones. 

U.S. capabilities offer many different ways to take down a drone, including shooting them, zapping them with heat lasers and jamming the frequencies so they stop working and fall out of the sky.

Whether Congress needs to change laws is a point of contention, but one thing that is clear is incursions like the one at Langley prompt confusion over legal authority. 

"This is a little bit of a problem of too many cooks. And it's not clear who is the chef," said Kaine. "The FAA is looking at it. The FBI is looking at it. DOD looking at it.

PLANES, STARS AND HOBBYISTS: LAWMAKERS INSIST NOTHING ‘NEFARIOUS’ IS HAPPENING IN NJ SKIES

"This is a lot clearer if there's a drone incursion over a base in a war zone like Syria, for example, or Iraq at a base where U.S. military personnel are positioned. The authorities to knock these drones down in that setting are much clearer than if there's a drone incursion over a base on domestic soil. OK, not going to drone down over the city of Hampton, where the debris might fall into neighborhoods. The authorities on that aren't so clear." 

When drones encroach near bases overseas, the rules of engagement give service members more leeway to engage with them. 

However, U.S. law does not allow the military to shoot down drones near its bases unless they pose an imminent threat. While Langley has the authority to protect its coastal base, the Coast Guard has the authority to protect the waters and the Federal Aviation Administration has authority over U.S. airspace, some of the most congested with commercial airliners in the world. 

Last week, a Chinese national was charged with flying an unauthorized drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. In October, Chinese national Fengyun Shi was sentenced to six months in prison for capturing drone footage over Huntington Ingalls Industries Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia, 10 miles from Langley Air Force Base. 

Two months prior to Langley, in October 2023, five drones flew over the Energy Department’s Nevada National Security Site, which is used for nuclear weapons experiments. U.S. authorities were not sure who was behind those drones either. 

A Chinese surveillance balloon traversed over the U.S. for a week last year before the Air Force shot it down off the coast. 

The U.S. Air Force’s Plant 42 in California, home to highly classified aerospace development, has also seen a slew of unidentified drone incursions in 2024, prompting flight restrictions around the site. 

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., blocked a Senate bill Wednesday that would have authorized resources for state and local authorities to track drones that have mystified residents across New Jersey and the Northeast in recent weeks. 

Paul objected to the passage of the bill, citing his long-standing concerns over expanding governmental powers. 

"This body must not rush to grant sweeping surveillance powers without proper consideration and debate by the committees of jurisdiction," he said.

'DRONE' SIGHTINGS IN THE NORTHEAST SPARK 'UNFOUNDED' PANIC, SAYS EXPERT

Paul said the bill would "expand federal authority to intercept communications and disrupt drone activity – powers that raise serious concerns for Americans' privacy, civil liberties, and Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted search and seizure."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sought to speed a bipartisan bill through the Senate by seeking unanimous consent on the floor before it was blocked by Paul. 

"The people in New York and New Jersey have a lot of questions, and they’re not getting good enough answers," said Schumer. "The utter confusion surrounding these drone sightings shows that the feds can’t respond all on their own."

NJ DRONE SIGHTINGS COULD BE A ‘CLASSIFIED EXERCISE’: FORMER CIA OFFICER

In addition to giving local authorities the ability to track drones, the proposed legislation would expand some federal agencies’ authority to start a pilot program to allow states and local authorities to disrupt, disable or seize a drone without prior consent of the operator.

The drone sightings across the Northeast have worried some local and state officials, but the Biden administration has said the drones don’t appear to be a sign of foreign interference or a public safety threat.

However, they have not determined who is responsible for them. 

President-elect Trump last week called for the administration to release information on the drones or shoot them down. Paul, who has often called for limiting governmental powers, said he objected to the bill because it wasn't clear that urgent action was needed. 

"We're being told that this legislation is urgent, that it is needed to address an imminent drone threat," he said. "Yet the government itself admits no such threat exists."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

• The US military has confirmed recent drone activity around bases in New Jersey.
• The Pentagon said this week that it sent counter-drone technology to two installations.
• One of these systems has been identified as the Dronebuster, a hand-held electronic warfare tool.

The Pentagon is arming two military installations in New Jersey with counter-drone technology, giving them extra tools to better defend their airspace from any unauthorized drone incursions. One of the systems the Pentagon mentioned by name is the Dronebuster.

The US military confirmed drone sightings at Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle this month, as well as multiple sightings at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, with drones at one point forcing the base to close its airspace. A spokesperson for the Joint Staff said last weekend that drone activities over bases are not a new issue but criticized some of the recent incidents as "irresponsible."

Amid recent drone drama, there have been repeated calls to shoot down unidentified aircraft, particularly those near military bases.

The Pentagon said this week that "if a determination is made that unauthorized drones are conducting any malign or malicious activity, commanders are authorized to take appropriate action to mitigate and counter these unmanned systems," but the military is not going to be engaging anything kinetically, a spokesperson added, unless it is a "clear and present danger."

Military bases have some existing capabilities to deal with drone incursions, but the Pentagon acknowledged that sending more technology will help them mitigate potential threats.

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said that the military is providing "active and passive detection capabilities" and "counter-drone capabilities" to Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Ryder identified one of these tools as the Dronebuster, a newer piece of counter-drone tech that "employs non-kinetic means to interrupt drone signals" and affects the aircraft's ability to operate. Picatinny did not confirm any of the specific systems it is obtaining but said that it is "strengthening its counter-UAS capabilities to detect and mitigate drone incursions." BI was unable to reach Naval Weapons Station Earle.

The Dronebuster device is a hand-held electronic warfare system developed by the American company Flex Force. When a user points the lightweight device that first came online in 2016 at a drone, the weapon emits a signal that cuts the connection between the drone and its operator. It's in use with various military services.

The US Army trains service members to counter drones using the Dronebuster in tandem with a Smart Shooter system — a rifle with a special optic that tracks the drone, calculates its trajectory, and tells the user when they have a good chance of hitting it with a bullet. BI observed this training firsthand at the Joint C-sUAS (Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft System) University, or JCU, which is a new US Army initiative based at Fort Sill.

Beyond the US military, security personnel and first responders can also use the Dronebuster as a portable jammer system when facing a threat. The radio frequency jammer has evolved over the years, becoming several times more powerful than the earlier models and more rugged for a range of counter-drone operations.

Ryder said that the device is "a methodology that we have that is able to essentially bring drones down non-kinetically should we need to do that."

For the military, maintaining a robust counter-drone capability is becoming essential as drone technology becomes more prolific. The low cost of these systems makes them readily available for hobbyists and malign actors alike. Terrorists and insurgencies have weaponized small drones in Middle East combat, and in the Ukraine war, cheap, off-the-shelf hobby-style drones easily bought for a few hundred dollars are engaging in everything from surveillance to precision strike.

Drone activity over and around US bases has long been an issue for the military and is not limited to the New Jersey and Ohio incidents.

In recent weeks, suspected drones have also been spotted at US bases overseas. Such activity presents a growing problem for the military, as drones can spy on its assets, like aircraft, or hazard its operations. As drone usage continues to proliferate, the Pentagon is seeking out ways to better its approach to countering unmanned systems.

"I think we've all recognized the fact that unmanned systems are here to stay," Ryder said this week. "They're a part of modern warfare, and whether it's here in the homeland or overseas, we want to make sure that we're doing due diligence to protect our forces and protect our equities from a national security standpoint."

It can be a challenge to respond stateside, though.

"When we're here in the homeland, the authorities that the US military has to detect and track these kinds of things is much different than it would be if we were in a combat zone. In other words, the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities that we can employ outside the United States are much different, for very good reasons," Ryder said.

The drone activity at Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle comes amid a flurry of reported drone sightings across the East Coast over the past few weeks. A range of federal agencies have determined that the sightings are not nefarious, despite speculation to the contrary, and include commercial drones, hobbyist drones, law enforcement drones, manned aircraft, helicopters, and even stars.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Monday that "we have not identified anything anomalous or any national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the Northeast." The FBI, Homeland Security, and Department of Defense have argued the same.

Congress is set to pass legislation to avert a government shutdown that will reauthorize the government’s ability to intercept and track unauthorized drones and crack down on U.S. investment in China.

The 1,500+ page continuing resolution (CR), which will fund the government until March 14, includes a provision reauthorizing a Department of Homeland Security program allowing agencies to coordinate and counter threats from drones. That authority, passed in 2018, was set to expire Friday – at a time when concerns about drone incursions are at an all-time high. 

However, it is a simple reauthorization of a program many drone experts say is outdated. Congress has not hashed out legislation that would grant the government greater detection capabilities and give state and local law enforcement authorities to deal with unauthorized drones. 

"The security industry wants folks to know the technology is out there to identify and socially mitigate these drones," Brett Fedderson, chair of the Security Industry Association’s Counter-UAS Working Group, told Fox News Digital. 

"Congress is not enabling state and local law enforcement to actually do the work that is needed on the front lines, regardless of the fact that the FBI, DHS, DOJ have all come to Congress several times and said they cannot do the job effectively, that they need to be able to be supported by state and local law enforcement."

PLANES, STARS AND HOBBYISTS: LAWMAKERS INSIST NOTHING ‘NEFARIOUS’ IS HAPPENING IN NJ SKIES

"We are worried that a drone catastrophe is going to be the motivation for them to sit down at the table and actually vote on something to push the authorities out." 

A drone phenomenon that started in New Jersey a month ago has since led to 6,000 tips being called in to the FBI. Umanned aerial systems (UAS) have since been reported flying near military bases like Picatinny Arsenal. 

"The idea of drone detection needs to be reformed," said Ryan Gury, CEO of military drone manufacturer PDW. "We need radar instead of listening to radio waves… an active approach where we have radar stations and camera stations set up like cell towers to detect things like drones."

"There’s no stopping the power of small drones. We need to be ready. This is just a small glimpse into our future." 

Also included in the CR is a provision that was left out of the NDAA and would prevent the U.S. from investing in the development of military technologies.

The rule prohibits U.S. financing of some China-based ventures and requires Americans to notify the government of their involvement in others. 

It restricts and monitors U.S. investments in artificial intelligence, computer chips and quantum computing, all of which have a dual use in the defense and commercial sectors. 

NJ DRONE INCIDENTS SPUR GOVERNMENT PUSH FOR MORE COUNTER-DRONE POWERS AS CURRENT AUTHORITIES SET TO EXPIRE

The rule seeks to limit the access "countries of concern," like China, including the Hong Kong and Macao regions, have to U.S. dollars to fund the development of high-level technologies like next-generation missile systems and fighter jets they could then use for their own military. It is set to take effect Jan. 2.  

Lawmakers have criticized financial institutions for pouring billions of dollars from U.S. investors into Chinese stocks of companies the U.S. believes the CCP is using to build up China’s military. 

The legislation codifies a recent Treasury Department rule restricting outbound investment in China and expands on it, including a requirement to investigate the national security risks posed by Chinese-made consumer routers and modems and implement reviews of Chinese real estate purchases near sensitive sites like military installations. 

It would also require the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to publish every company that holds an FCC license and is owned or partially owned by adversarial governments like China.

The CR, released Tuesday night, is a short-term extension of government funding at 2024 levels intended to give lawmakers more time to agree on funding for the rest of 2025. It is the second such extension since FY 2024 ended on Sept. 30.

It must pass the GOP-controlled House and Democrat-controlled Senate by Friday and hit President Biden’s desk by midnight that day to avoid a partial government shutdown. It is expected to pass both chambers, despite grumblings from both chambers, particularly among conservatives who want to cut costs in the 2025 budget. 

Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Wednesday rebuffed the Biden-Harris administration's response to recent drone sightings in New Jersey, decrying how federal authorities have given no clear answers to Congress on their origin. 

In a Fox News appearance, Johnson agreed that the White House, and more broadly the U.S. government, does not seem concerned about the increased sightings in New Jersey and elsewhere 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 said. 

Johnson said he set up a meeting last week with officials from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, and "the answers are not forthcoming."

TRUMP SAYS THE GOVERNMENT 'KNOWS WHAT IS HAPPENING' WITH MYSTERIOUS DRONES

"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. "We are digging in further to get the answers, and we're demanding that the administration do its job. We gotta protect Americans, protect our intelligence, of course, and our data and everything else. We're going to get down to the bottom of it, but we don't have the answers yet."

Johnson referenced how Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC News on Monday that there are thousands of drones flown every day in the U.S., and that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in September 2023 "changed the rules so that drones could fly at night, and that may be one of the reasons why now people are seeing more drones than they did before, especially from dawn until dusk." 

Mayorkas also said it was "critical" for Congress to expand authorities for state and local agencies to counter drone activity "under federal supervision." 

Johnson reacted to President Biden telling reporters at the White House on Tuesday that there was "nothing nefarious" happening with the drones, and that so far, there has been "no sense of danger."

"This is why we need Donald J. Trump back in the White House to bring steady hands at the wheel and a strong commander-in-chief," Johnson said. "He would have already had the answers, he would have already delivered to the American people and certainly to members of Congress. So leadership matters. That's why he got the mandate. That's why the American people can't wait for the America First agenda to start, and we can't wait either."

Federal authorities said Monday evening that the reported drone sightings have been identified as legal commercial drones, hobbyist drones and law enforcement drones, as well as manned aircraft, helicopters and even stars. Officials said that assessment was based on technical data and tips.

The House Intelligence Committee grilled federal law enforcement and intelligence officials about the drones during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., told CNN. 

Authorities told the panel there still is no evidence of public safety or national security threats, Himes said.

Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday that drone-detection equipment supplied by the federal government has yielded little new information. He declined to describe the equipment, except to say it was powerful and could even disable the drones, though he said that is not legal on U.S. soil. Murphy urged Congress to give states more authority to deal with the drones.

TRUMP TALKS MYSTERY DRONES, TIKTOK BAN, RFK JR. AND MORE IN HOUR-LONG PRESS CONFERENCE

Meanwhile, the FBI and New Jersey state police warned against pointing lasers at suspected drones, because aircraft pilots are being hit in the eyes more often. Authorities also said they are concerned people might fire weapons at manned aircraft that they have mistaken for drones.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday that the federal government has yet to identify any public safety or national security risks from any of the reported drone sightings in the northeast, saying officials believe they were lawfully flown drones, planes or stars.

"There are more than 1 million drones that are lawfully registered with the Federal Aviation Administration here in the United States," Kirby said. "And there are thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones that are lawfully in the sky on any given day. That is the ecosystem that we are dealing with."

The federal government has deployed personnel and advanced technology to investigate the reports in New Jersey and other states, and is evaluating each tip reported by citizens, he said.

About 100 of the more than 5,000 drone sightings reported to the FBI in recent weeks were deemed credible enough to warrant more investigation, according to a joint statement by DHS, FBI, FAA and the Department of Defense. 

Speculation has raged online, with some expressing concerns that the drones could be part of a nefarious plot by foreign agents.

Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said it Is unlikely the drones are engaged in intelligence gathering, given how loud and bright they are. He repeated Tuesday that the drones being reported are not being operated by the Department of Defense. When asked whether military contractors might be operating drones in the New Jersey area, Ryder rebuffed the notion, saying there are "no military operations, no military drone or experiment operations in this corridor."

Ryder said additional drone-detecting technology was being moved to some military installations, including the Picatinny Arsenal and at Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey, where drones also have been reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

If you are wondering what to think of the New Jersey mystery drone situation, it is this: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhHhhhhhHHHHHHhhH. 

Last week, I wrote at length that the mystery drones in New Jersey are almost definitely a mass delusion caused by a bunch of people who don’t know what they’re talking about looking at the sky and reporting manned aircraft and hobbyist drones as being something anomalous. I said this because we have seen this pattern of drone reports before, and this is exactly what has happened in those instances. Monday evening, a group of federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department of Defense issued a joint statement telling everyone to please calm down. 

“Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include 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,” the statement reads. “We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast.”

And yet the New Jersey drone story will not go away and has only gotten worse. Opportunistic politicians are stoking mass panic to cynically raise their profile and to get themselves booked on national cable news channels and perpetuate the panic cycle. The fact that the government is telling people there is no conspiracy is, to a certain set of politicians, itself a conspiracy. 

Thanks to @lauraingle and @NewsNation for helping us to voice our concerns re: what the federal government won’t accurately acknowledge: drones are invading New Jersey skies, and their silence speaks volumes. Are we on our own here? #SkySpies #FederalFailure #NoResponseNoTrust… pic.twitter.com/SZDKGHqjnL

— Dawn Fantasia (@DawnFantasia_NJ) December 15, 2024

All of this has become a no-win clusterfuck for everyone except the attention seeking grifters within the government who are themselves railing against the government to focus attention on themselves. To these people, government inaction is unacceptable, and government actions and explanations cannot be trusted. Meanwhile, regular-ass-people on the internet have debunked many viral images and videos of “drones” by cross-referencing them with known flight patterns of actual planes or have been able to identify what the “mystery” drones are by comparing lights on the “drones” to lights on known models of manned aircraft. 

WTF Is Going on With the New Jersey Mystery Drones? Maybe Mass Panic Over Nothing

The New Jersey drone situation is very interesting. We’ve also seen this story before.

404 MediaJason Koebler

This has led to predictable outcomes such as random people in New Jersey shining laser pointers and (possibly shooting guns?) at passenger planes, which is very dangerous.

It is impossible to keep up with every Politician Who Should Know Better who has said something stupid, but Rolling Stone and Defector both have worthwhile rundowns of what has been going on the last few days. 

We have reached Marjorie Taylor Green-is-personally-threatening-to-shoot-down-the-drones levels of insanity. Former Maryland governor and failed Senate candidate Larry Hogan tweeted a viral picture of Orion’s Belt and called it a drone. January 6 attendee, QAnon booster, and Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano, who can regularly be relied on to make any crisis worse by contributing his dumbassery, tweeted an image of TIE Fighter replica from Star Wars that has been regularly used in memes for nearly two years and said “It is inconceivable that the federal government has no answers nor has taken any action to get to the bottom of the unidentified drones.” He got Community Noted, then followed this up with a post saying this was a joke and used it as a commentary on the modern state of journalism. 

A couple of nights ago we were out on Long Beach Island to film a video about the drone invasion over New Jersey. While we were filming two drones flew just a few hundred feet over our heads!

Governor Murphy has failed the people of New Jersey once again. The residents of New… pic.twitter.com/M9p5ZbUTeT

— Bill Spadea (@BillSpadea) December 15, 2024

Local politicians who fashion themselves as more seriously trying to help the people of New Jersey have also found themselves regularly getting booked on national cable TV shows and their tweets regularly going viral; Dawn Fantasia, a New Jersey assemblywoman who rose to prominence in the state as a principal running against the general concept of Woke, has done interviews on Fox, CNN, and News Nation. Kristen Cobo of Moms for Liberty, which is most famous for pushing schools to ban books and demonize LGBTQ+ students, filmed “approximately 8 suspected drones,” then talked about it in an interview on News Nation. New Jersey State Senator Douglas Steinhardt has said on CNN that the idea that these are manned aircraft is “insulting” and that we must “combat Washington DC gaslighting.” Gubernatorial candidate and AM talk radio host Bill Spadea bravely filmed a video on the side of the road that included drones and suggested that it “might be a foreign government” and suggested they should be shot down.

It is easy to look at social media posts from these folks and to roll one’s eyes and move on. As a reporter and someone who has covered drones endlessly I also find all of this absurdity kind of fun and a welcome distraction from all the other dystopian stuff we report on. But I know many people who live in New Jersey and have family there, and all of this is causing some level of undue panic. 

The FBI field office in Newark urged New Jersey residents this week not to shoot down drones or point lasers at manned aircraft, taking to social media to warn against the dangerous — and possibly deadly — activity, which comes amid an uptick in reported drone sightings along the U.S. East Coast.

The drone sightings have prompted a collective sense of panic among residents, who have taken to social media to share photos and videos of believed drones captured in the darkened U.S. skies. The shared sense of fear-mongering has also prompted some vigilante-like responses, with some social media users documenting efforts to take matters into their own hands, including via laser beam. 

In the statement, released by the FBI and New Jersey State Police, authorities expressly warned against such activities, citing an increase in pilots of manned aircraft in the area who have been hit in the eyes with lasers after being misidentified as a drone by someone on the ground. 

'DRONE' SIGHTINGS IN THE NORTHEAST SPARK 'UNFOUNDED' PANIC, SAYS EXPERT

Officials said there is also a concern that people on the ground could also mistakenly fire weapons at what they believe to be an Unmanned Aircraft Systems, or UAS, but is in fact a manned aircraft.

"FBI Newark, NJSP, and dozens of other agencies and law enforcement partners have been out every night for several weeks to legally track down operators acting illegally or with nefarious intent and using every available tool and piece of equipment to find the answers the public is seeking," the authorities said in the statement. "However, there could be dangerous and possibly deadly consequences if manned aircraft are targeted mistakenly as UAS."

They also noted how easy it can be for an individual on the ground to mistake a manned aircraft for a UAS. 

"Misidentification often occurs when UAS are mistaken for more familiar objects such as manned aircraft, low-orbit satellites, or celestial bodies like planets or stars," they said. 

"To improve accuracy and prevent false sightings, a variety of tools and techniques can be used to assist with the visual identification of suspected UAS. Accurate identification is critical for maintaining safety and ensuring appropriate responses to UAS activity."

MORE THAN 20 DAYS INTO PHENOMENON, PENTAGON STILL HAS NO ANSWERS ABOUT ORIGINS OF MYSTERIOUS NJ DRONES

The statement from the FBI field office and state police comes as New Jersey residents and lawmakers have voiced frustrations about the uptick in drone sightings and what they view as a lack of answers they have been given by the federal government in response.

Still, U.S. officials have sought to emphasize that the aircraft in question are not, in fact, a national security threat. Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, stressed to reporters during a briefing Tuesday that the drones are any sort of government asset, and ruled out the notion that they were any part of "experimental program" being tested by the U.S.

In a joint statement Monday, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense said that, while they "recognize the concern" from the general public, there is no evidence that the drones are "anomalous" or a threat to public safety or to U.S. national security.

Separately, senior officials from the CIA, FBI, and DOD traveled to Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon to brief lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee on the uptick in drone sightings.

It is unclear, however, how far these efforts have gone to thwart the rise in public concerns.

The FBI said Monday that it has received more than 5,000 reports of alleged drone sightings in the last "few weeks" — reflecting the rise in panic from some residents, including many who have taken to social media to document their sightings on social media. 

Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, R-Conn., used an interview on "Fox News Sunday" to call on more federal agencies — including the Federal Aviation Administration — to share more information about the drone sightings with the public.

"The FAA in particular, which is the agency of jurisdiction through the domestic skies, ought to be out Saturday morning saying, ‘Let’s show you a picture at the number of aircraft, commercial and private and military, that go over New Jersey in any 24-hour period,’" Himes said.

"Just putting information out there to fill that vacuum would be helpful," he added.

Lawmakers exiting a classified briefing with U.S. intelligence officials insisted they received assurances nothing "nefarious" is going on with the recent uptick in drone sightings in New Jersey. 

On Tuesday, U.S. officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of Homeland Security and Defense Department privately briefed members of the House Intelligence Committee in an effort to assuage growing fears over sightings of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and fresh calls for federal action.

"There's no evidence that anybody acted unlawfully here, or that any of these drones, in as much as the authorities know anything about them, are associated with anybody with malign intent," Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., ranking member of the committee, told reporters after the briefing.

"I don't think we have any reason to believe that they are hiding information. And, again, we asked an extraordinarily detailed series of questions of 28 people over a period of three hours." 

'DRONE' SIGHTINGS IN THE NORTHEAST SPARK 'UNFOUNDED' PANIC, SAYS EXPERT

But the uptick in alleged drone sightings along the East Coast has touched off panicked calls for an investigation from residents and state lawmakers. The FBI has received more than 6,000 tips from the public on mysterious drone sightings. 

One theory can definitively be ruled out, according to Himes. The drones are not the work of a classified government operation, he said. 

"We asked this question over and over and over again," he said, "They are not [linked to the U.S. government]. We were assured." 

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder stressed to reporters that the drones seen along the East Coast are not a DOD asset.  

Instead, the running theory among U.S. officials seems to be that there is no one reason behind the phenomenon, and many of the sightings called in to law enforcement are planes, helicopters or hobbyist drones operating lawfully. 

"There is no evident threat coming from any place. These are just traditional planes, drones, stars, private planes — all the things that are typically in our skies," said Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.

Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican and outspoken critic of the Biden administration’s response to the drones, told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday he plans to introduce legislation as early as this week that would allow state police to better handle the drone threat, including tracking the unmanned aircraft and, if necessary, taking them down.

But Smith said Tuesday he sees the bill as a "very real extension of a capability that is needed right now" in the U.S. defense space.

"There's more vulnerability here that anyone wants to accept, but we need to take action — decisive action," Smith said.

On Friday, government agencies will lose their counter-drone authority without an FAA reauthorization from Congress. An extension of that authority is expected to be included in spending legislation to keep the government open, but security-minded lawmakers are pushing for more extensive reform to grant state and local law enforcement the authority to intercept and identify drones and equip them with radar detection capabilities.

"We got a lot of answers. Quite frankly, the technology of drones has outpaced the law," said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill. "We have to work in a bipartisan manner to plug some holes within the law in terms of who is allowed to operate drones in what manner and how do you disable or deal with drones in improper airspace."

NJ DRONE SIGHTINGS COULD BE A ‘CLASSIFIED EXERCISE’: FORMER CIA OFFICER

On Monday, the DHS, FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Pentagon issued a joint statement noting that, while they "recognize the concern" from the public, there is no evidence that the drones are "anomalous" or a threat to national security.

The drone complaints began pouring in last month in New Jersey, where witnesses and residents first began reporting drone sightings off of coastal areas, including off of Cape May, a scenic town roughly 50 miles south of Atlantic City along the Jersey Shore. 

More recently, lawmakers in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland have reported new drone sightings in their home states, with some witnesses claiming the aircraft in question have been the "size of cars" or seen flying above sensitive infrastructure or in restricted airspace. 

Krishnamoorthi insisted he was "satisfied" with the answers he got from the briefing, but the government needs to do more to assuage the concerns of the public. 

"The public needs to see for themselves what these government officials have concluded and the technology that's been used." 

The planet has a not-so-proud tradition of getting scared about what it sees among the stars.

• Mysterious drones, first seen in New Jersey and now around the US, have everyone talking.
• We're probably not all about to get sucked up by a spaceship — but it's fun to wonder!
• The mystery is bringing people together from across the political spectrum in a true online moment.

Lots of people have one conspiracy theory they kind of believe in. Ideally, this is more on the mild end of things rather than something like the moon landing being faked. A little skepticism toward authority can be healthy.

Which is why the mysterious drones that have been flying over New Jersey and the Northeast — which the federal government tells us are nothing to worry about — are a perfect thread for our conspiratorial minds to pull on.

In this postelection time, the drones have united people across the political spectrum in a shared belief that something weird is going on, and these clowns in government aren't telling us the straight story.

(For the record, there is no evidence that the clowns in the government are, in fact, lying to us.)

Over on the Facebook Group "New Jersey Mystery Drones — let's solve it," which has more than 73,000 members, there's a sharp sense of disillusionment with the local and national government response. There's also a fair number of people who might not normally talk about believing in space aliens saying they think what we're seeing is space aliens.

And I think that's a beautiful thing. We needed this.

We may one day learn the Official Truth. Until then, the drones spotted over New Jersey and other places have become a perfect obsession: an unsolved mystery that has bonded communities and gotten people outside into the fresh December air.

(I would like to give a disclaimer here that I cannot say with 100% certainty that this is not a military attack from Australia as vengeance for our mockery of their Olympic breakdancer. Or that space aliens are not about to invade and harvest our organs.)

What we know about the apparent drones, so far, is that officials seem to agree that it's neither of those threats. The Pentagon has also said they're not drones from an "Iranian mothership." And other officials say what people are seeing is just regular airplanes, helicopters, or stars.

(If you want to get in on the action and check what's flying in the sky above you, flight-tracking apps can help.)

The drone mystery has been healing a wound in our divided nation. We needed something mildly silly but kind of wacky and slightly concerning to focus on collectively.

Unexplained drone activity ticks a lot of boxes of things humans love:

• Small aircraft, a favorite interest of dads.
• Being outside and staring at the night sky — activities that have bonded mankind since days of cave paintings.
• The opportunity to become an armchair expert in a field you read about in two news articles and a Wikipedia page.
• Talking to people in your medium-to-small town.
• A vague conspiracy — but mostly friendly and nice.
• Aliens????

Best of all, discussing drone sightings has been hyperlocal — and has thrived on Facebook. Outside the drone phenomenon, Facebook Groups already had become the nation's hub for suburban news. It's where people go to ask for a plumber recommendation, complain about schools, post activities — and now discuss potential extraterrestrial activity.

Getting in on the drone action

In my small town outside New York City, the local Facebook Group was buzzing about drone sightings — people were thrilled to finally get in on the action after hearing about it in New Jersey for weeks.

An offshoot group was started to discuss drone sightings in Connecticut. (It's much smaller than the New Jersey one.) A recent post showed the vibe: "No sightings yet in Norwalk." See, everyone wants in on the fun.

There's some history of silly panics in the headlines just before something big happens. A series of shark attacks — dubbed the "Summer of the Shark" — dominated the news in the late summer of 2001. Then there was the summer of clown sightings in 2016, right before Trump was elected president for the first time.

Perhaps years from now, we'll all look back at this as the funny moment where we all focused on drones right before [whatever] happened. Or, hey, maybe we'll look back on this and think: "We should've fought off the alien brainsuckers sooner!"

There's so much for middle-aged suburbanites to argue about on the internet — property taxes, politics, Luigi. But for a brief moment, we've gotten to engage in extended Fox Mulder LARP.

I hope the drones stick around a little longer.

• A US base briefly closed its airspace heading into the weekend due to heavy nearby drone activity.
• It's the latest military installation to report drone sightings nearby.
• The sightings reflect a growing challenge, but responding to the drone issue isn't easy.

A US military base in Ohio briefly closed its airspace heading into the weekend after small drones were spotted in the area, officials confirmed to Business Insider on Monday.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is the latest military installation to report drone activity in its vicinity, though, unlike some of the others, it actually interfered with operations. The development, like incidents at civilian airfields, speaks to a growing problem: a proliferation of drones that can spy on military bases or hazard their operations.

Drones, especially small quadcopters, can be easily purchased for a few hundred dollars, and as the war in Ukraine has shown, they are surprisingly versatile. In the hands of an extremist, spy or even a careless enthusiast, these systems pose a threat the Defense Department is scrambling to counter as it increasingly factors them into day-to-day operations, from battle to base security.

Drone sightings near US military bases

Within the past few weeks, there have been multiple confirmed drone sightings near two military installations in New Jersey, as well as reports of drones near US Coast Guard operations and critical infrastructure. The Department of Defense hasn't expressed great concern, saying it doesn't have evidence the drones are a threat, but it has expressed frustration over this activity. One official called the activity "irresponsible."

The development follows an unusual recent trend, with suspected drones being spotted up and down the US East Coast. In recent years, there has also been a growing trend of drone sightings and unidentified aerial phenomena near American bases, both at home and abroad.

At Wright-Patterson, small drone activity was detected around the base on Friday, leading the airfield management team to close the airspace into early Saturday over "aviation safety concerns," an Air Force spokesperson told BI.

Wright-Patterson hosts the Air Force Research Laboratory, the 655th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing, and the 445th Airlift Wing, as well as other units. The base and its two lengthy runways make it a key installation for the US military.

The Air Force spokesperson said that, in general, depending on the facility, there could be many military aircraft taking off and landing. Some of the sites also host sensitive assets, making it a risk for operators to fly small drones in the vicinity. Drones don't have to be malign to be a problem.

"To date, installation leaders have determined that none of the incursions impacted base residents, facilities, or assets," Bob Purtiman, the chief of public affairs for Wright-Patterson, told BI.

"We are taking all appropriate measures to safeguard Wright-Patterson and its residents. Our units continue to monitor the airspace and are working with local authorities to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities, and assets," he added.

The War Zone, a military news site, first reported on the drone incursions at Wright-Patterson, sharing an air traffic controller recording that reported "heavy" drone activity.

The incident at Wright-Patterson followed recent drone sightings at other military installations in New Jersey: Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle. These came amid a string of reported drone activity along the East Coast over the past month.

A growing problem

A Joint Staff spokesperson told reporters on Saturday the New Jersey sightings are "not a new issue for us. We've had to deal with drone incursions over our bases for quite a time now."

There have been a number of sightings of suspected drones and other unidentified flying objects around important military installations in recent years. Just last week, for instance, drones were reportedly spotted above an American base in Germany. Some have been spotted near US operations in the UK, as well as a base in Virginia, among other stateside locations.

The threat levels vary. Drones are readily available to both malign actors and harmless hobbyists alike. The challenge is that it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish which it is, and drones lower the barrier for entry on aerial surveillance and more.

"This has become a huge problem for both military and civilian airfields and will get worse as drone usage proliferates further," Mark Cancian, a defense expert and retired US Marine Corps colonel, told BI. "It certainly has national security implications as many drones fly over sensitive military facilities like Wright-Patterson."

With drones flying near civilian airports, Cancian, now a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that such activity could be a safety hazard and interfere with the flow of operations. This can be a huge disruption at a major airport with nationwide effects.

Amid the recent East Coast drone drama, runway operations at a New York airport were briefly shut down. And over the weekend, there was also a "hazardous drone operation" incident near a Boston airport.

"For military airfields, the greater concern is espionage and improper disclosure of sensitive information," Cancian said, but "safety and disruption of operations are also important."

The Pentagon recognizes the risks posed by growing drone usage and is seeking out ways to better its approach to counter unmanned systems, as a new counter-drone strategy shows.

"If a determination is made that unauthorized drones are conducting any malign or malicious activity," Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Monday, "commanders are authorized to take appropriate action to mitigate and counter these unmanned systems."

But in the US, as the Joint Staff spokesperson said, the military is limited in what it can do beyond the walls of its bases. It doesn't enjoy the same freedom of operation in the US that it has at some bases overseas. It can't simply open fire, especially near civilian areas. Ryder indicated something has to be a "clear and present danger" before it comes to that.

Officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security also said during Saturday's call that they are similarly limited in their ability to respond to reported drone sightings. They urged Congress to pass legislation that would expand federal agencies' counter-drone authorities.

"The challenge for airspace management is how to deter or defeat such incursions without endangering the surrounding civilian communities or legitimate air traffic. That rules out everything kinetic," Cancian said.

"Electronic interference or, in extremis, some laser system might be the solution. Those are just now being fielded in the military," he added. "It would be years before they are widely available to military and civilian facilities."

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced Monday that he will move to advance drone legislation this week that will give local officials more authority to respond to the growing concerns of drone sightings.

Reports of drones flying over New Jersey and New York, particularly near military research facilities and Trump’s Bedminster golf course, have prompted lawmakers to press the Biden administration for more transparency when it comes to who is flying the suspected unmanned aircraft and why the government is not doing anything about them.

Schumer has called on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to "quickly deploy" any drone-detecting tools that are available to help New York and New Jersey deal with the mysterious drone sightings that started a few weeks ago.

"This week, I will also come to the floor of the Senate to seek passage of legislation that will give local officials greater authority to swiftly respond to these sightings," Schumer said while speaking on the Senate floor on Monday. "The reports of the past few weeks have ignited immense anxiety and confusion for millions of people living across the Northeast. Thankfully, there is no reason to believe these drone sightings pose a national security threat, but even so they can be disruptive if they fly over restricted airspace particularly near airports or bases."

SCHUMER REQUESTS 360-DEGREE RADAR SYSTEM FOR NY, NJ TO DETECT DRONES

He continued, saying there was no shortage of reports of possible drone activity, yet there are few answers being provided about where some of the drones originated from and who was operating them.

Local officials lack the resources and authority to find the underlying cause of the matter, Schumer added.

NJ DRONE SIGHTINGS COULD BE A ‘CLASSIFIED EXERCISE’: FORMER CIA OFFICER

Along with seeking the Senate’s help in passing the legislation, Schumer also urged the DHS to take all necessary action to deploy as many drone-detecting resources as possible.

One of those technologies is the Robin Radar System, which, according to its website, notes "bird, bat, or drone, our 360° radar systems log thousands of observations, scanning every second to track and classify with precision."

DRONE MYSTERY CONTINUES IN NEW JERSEY AS EXPERTS OFFER NEW THEORIES ABOUT SIGHTINGS

Schumer said systems like Robin would go a long way to help local officials collect real data about where these drones are coming from.

"I want to see a flock of ROBIN-like technology systems deployed across the New York City metro area," he said. "So, we need the Department of Homeland Security to spring into action."

The House Intelligence Committee will receive a classified briefing on the drone activity on Tuesday afternoon, a source familiar with the matter told Punchbowl News. The news agency also said Biden administration officials from the FBI, Department of Defense, CIA, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence will hold the briefing.

Fox News Digital's Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.

• Ongoing drone interest has led Ring users to use the "Neighbors" forum to discuss possible sightings.
• Some users shared frustration on Reddit about the influx of posts on the app unrelated to home security.
• The unidentified sightings have been reported since mid-November across the East Coast.

The "mystery drones" over the East Coast have sparked concern from local residents, some of whom are flocking to neighborhood surveillance apps to post about the topic.

Owners of Amazon-owned Ring video doorbells have taken to the accompanying app, which sends motion alerts, to discuss the possible drone activity in the app's "Neighbors" section.

Typically, Ring's forum is used to share information about lost pets, wildlife sightings, or stolen packages — activities happening on the ground. However, some are now using the forum to discuss what's happening in the sky above their homes.

The posts have ranged from written reports of drone sightings to shared videos showing light movements in the sky and footage of plane-like objects.

"Multiple drones spotted flying over Mount Laurel in Countryside Farms just off Church road," wrote one Ring user in New Jersey earlier this month, posting footage showing an aircraft with blinking lights.

Another Ring user in Union City, New Jersey, posted footage over the weekend of lights seeming to streak across the clouds. "Looks like the old club days when they used to put lights in the sky, but these are different," the person wrote.

Other Ring users have also posted video footage online captured by their doorbell cameras, though it wasn't clear if the footage showed unidentified aircraft or simply time-lapses of the moon.

"It has become something that pops up everywhere — on my Ring sightings, on the Neighbor's function, constantly, constantly, constantly, people saying that they are seeing drones out there," said "Squawk Box" co-anchor Becky Quick on Monday.

Ring declined to comment on the forum discussions.

People on Citizen, a neighborhood safety app, joined the conversation and posted footage of suspected drones on the platform. The company behind the app encouraged its users to livestream drone-related footage "to alert the community and protect the world."

Not everyone is eager to join the discussions. Some have taken to Reddit to complain about the amount of drone talk taking place in Ring's community forum.

One Reddit user questioned if the Ring App was "the new Facebook for useless posts," and complained about the amount of drone speculation. Others echoed similar sentiments, expressing annoyance at the free-wheeling nature of the discussions and an increase in their app notifications.

"I had over 100 ring neighbor notifications last night because people thought it would be funny to troll about a (fake) helicopter flying in our area. Like over 100 troll posts… about helicopters," one user commented on the Reddit post. "I officially turned off the notifications when I woke up."

Many of the forum posts aren't showing videos captured by Ring's video doorbells but rather videos users uploaded that were captured elsewhere, such as from smartphones. And in the age of generative AI video tools and editing software, it can be difficult to tell what's real — and what the footage is actually showing.

The White House has said many of the drone sightings are likely crewed aircraft that are operating lawfully. It has also said that it doesn't believe the drone sightings are a public safety threat.

However, the FBI and Homeland Security have both said they want more authority to deal with drones. An FBI official said that the drone investigation is "limited in scope" and that pending counter-UAS legislation could expand their legal power in implementing counter methods.

Reports of the drone sightings have been ongoing across the East Coast since mid-November. The mystery has mostly been centered on New Jersey sightings, where drones have reportedly been seen above military facilities and critical infrastructure sites.