No threat from New Jersey drone sightings, White House calls for expanded Counter-Drone Laws

Dec 13, 2024

Washington DC, (USA), December 13 (ANI): On December 12, John Kirby, the White House’s national security communications adviser commented on the mysterious New Jersey drone sightings and said that the U.S. government has no evidence that drone sightings reported in New Jersey pose a national security or a public safety threat. Speaking at a press briefing, Kirby said the drone sightings highlight an oversight gap, and urged Congress to pass legislation to expand drone authorities. He said, “We 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. The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are investigating these sightings, and they're working closely with state and local law enforcement to provide resources using numerous detection methods to better understand their origin, using very sophisticated electronic detection technologies provided by federal authorities we have not been able to, and neither have state or local law enforcement authorities, corroborate any of the reported visual sightings. That said, we certainly take seriously the threat that can be posed by unmanned aircraft systems, which is why law enforcement and other agencies continue to support New Jersey and investigate the reports, even though they have uncovered no malicious activity or intent at this particular stage. While there is no known malicious activity occurring, the reported sightings there do, however, highlight a gap in authorities. And so we urge Congress to pass important legislation that will extend and expand existing counter drone authorities so that we are better prepared to identify and mitigate any potential threats to airports or other critical infrastructure and so that state and local authorities are provided all the tools that they need to respond to such threats as well."