National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN on Monday that drones recently seen over New Jersey and other East Coast states are not threatening and “represent legal, legal, commercial ”. [and] Amateur drones—even law enforcement drones.
When first asked Communication 360 When anchor John Berman talked about whether drones posed any threat, Kirby was clear.
“The answer is no. We do not recommend that seeing these drones and these aircraft flying poses any risk to national security or public safety.
“I want to remind people that there are millions of drones regularly flying over the United States, and thousands of them are registered with the FAA. Many of them are doing very good things for public safety and the public interest. Work, such as law enforcement drones, commercial drones, to date. [there is] There is no sense and no indication that any such activity would pose a risk to national security or public safety.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas similarly suggested in an ABC interview on Sunday that the increase in drone sightings may be due to the Federal Aviation Administration allowing drones to fly at night last year. .
Kirby continued: “Our assessment after day after day of forensic analysis, detection work, and review of tips received is that these drones represent legal, legal, commercial, hobbyist drones, Even law enforcement drones.
Berman followed suit. “You can’t be that outrageous because you’ve figured it all out. What haven’t you figured out yet?
“Well, we still have probably – I don’t know – about 100 tips, and we’re still trying to triangulate the 5,000 or so tips and sightings that the FBI is looking at,” he said. “They did narrow it down to around 100, but they still need to examine possibilities that we can’t rule out… As more tips come out, I think that number could go up. So we’ll just see where we are.”
Kirby concluded: “I can’t rule out the fact that we may have uncovered some kind of illegal or criminal activity, some kind of nefarious activity. All I can do is tell you that we don’t see that yet.
Prior to Kirby’s appearance, the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, FAA and Department of Defense issued a joint statement saying: “After carefully examining technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess the sightings to date. Incidents include legitimate commercial, amateur and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and stars being misreported as drones.
The statement reiterated Kirby’s comments, saying the groups “have not identified anything unusual and have not assessed activity to date that poses a national security or public safety risk to the civilian airspace of New Jersey or other Northeastern states.”
However, officials do recognize community concerns over the large number of sightings. “We continue to support state and local authorities with advanced detection technology and law enforcement support,” the statement responded. “We urge Congress to enact anti-drone legislation when it reconvenes to expand and expand existing anti-drone authorities. , to identify and mitigate any threats that may arise.”
