As the NJ drone 'crisis' seems to fade, we need facts
By: State Senator John McLeon
Guest columnist
Your Turn
..... It's a mystery that has captured the nightly attention of our neighbors and pumped the 24/7 news cycle with speculation and few real answers. Residents have reported dozens of mysterious aircraft sightings in the skies above New Jersey for weeks. the images have fueled social-media hysteria. Is the Garden State the battleground for the War of the Worlds, or is this the latest in a long line of New Jersey lore?
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The federal government's delayed reaction has created a crisis of confidence in an already cynical population and must be remedied by decisive action. Days after federal officials downplayed reports about the mysterious nighttime drone sightings, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed in an interview with ABC News that at least some of the sightings are real drones. The U.S. government is taking action, he said.
..... In a letter to the Biden administration, Governor Phil Murphy asked for more resources for the investigation. He wrote that members of state and local law enforcement are "hamstrung" by existing laws and policies in their effort to counteract the nefarious activity of unmanned aircraft, successfully.
..... The endless stream of misinformation is drowning out what little we do know. Lawmakers aren't helping us determine fact form fiction. What a New Jersey congressman told Fox News that the squadrons of drones were launched form an Iranian "mother ship" operating off the East Coast, citing confidential information from "high sources," he wasn't fact-checked, (My high sources tell me it;s Santa Claus testing new delivery techniques.) The public must shot down, so to speak, the conspiracy theories and misinformation begin fed to us by politicians in the media and reverberating in an endless stream of social media echo chambers. We need answers, yes. And we also need common sense. Misinformation is a recurring feature in American life, and we must do all we can to combat it.
..... John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, recently told reporters that some of the ominous lights in the night sky are manned aircraft being operated lawfully and that there is no evidence that the flying objects pose a national security or public safety threat. But the federal government must work harder, deploy more resources, and stop brushing off claims that the drone mystery is just that.
..... Whatever legitimate explanation is to come, we need to trust the institutions cerated with their unique experts. Invariably, if the answer is something less than sensational speculation, the truth will be ignored, and the misinformation will continue. That is genuinely dangerous. Facts have to matter and must be the basis of the truths we are entitled to know.
..... State Senator John McKeon, a Democrat, represents New Jersey's 27th Legislative District.