Mystery NJ drone flights baffle FBI
Agency to Congress: 'We just don;t know'
By: William Westhoven
Morristown Daily Record
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... As reports of mysterious drone flights continue in New Jersey, local officials have expressed "pure frustration" about the of updates from the FBI and other federal agencies about their investigations.
.....
In Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, [12/10/2024] some members of Congress were equally frustrated by an FBI official who repeatedly told them the bureau had not yet identified an individual or group that may be responsible for the deluge of drone sightings that have gained a national spotlight while fraying nerves in the Garden State.
..... At the hearing, U.S. Representative Tony Gonzalez, R-Texas, asked "You're telling me we don't know what the hell these drones in New jersey are?"
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Robert Wheeler Jr., assistant director of the Critical Incident Response Group for the FBI, replied, "That's correct."
..... "That's crazy," Gonzales replied. "That's madness.
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Wheeler, along with representatives of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and the Department of Justice, were called to testify before the Department of Homeland Security's subcommittees on Counter-terrorism, Law Enforcement and Intelligence, and Transpiration and Maritime Security.
..... The discussion took a broader view, focused on the threat of unmanned aircraft systems - mostly known as drones - to border security and counter-terrorism as the use of drones increase.
..... But the topic of New jersey's continuing after-dark mystery kept coming back to the forefront of the conversation.
..... Another Texas congressman, Representative August Pfluger, who chaired the hearing, stated, "The threat is real" and opened the questioning by saying: "Let's start with current events. What is going on in New Jersey?"
..... "the bureau is actively investigating the unexplained sighting of drone activity over that part of New Jersey, including proximity to sensitive sites and areas of concern," Wheeler responded. "We do not attribute that to an individual or group yet. I don't have an answer of who's responsible, one r more people that are responsible, but we're actively investigation.
..... Wheeler said officials are working with local and state authorities on the investigation and had received more than 3,000 sighting reports from the public since establishing a tip line last week [12/06/2024] for people to call in. But so far, they have not found a break in this case.
..... "Is the public at risk? Is public safety at risk?" Pfluger asked. "ARE we concerned there are nefarious intentions that could cause either an actual security or public safety incident?"
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"There's nothing that is known that would lead me to say that," Wheeler said. "But we just don't know. And that's the concerning part of it."
..... Representative Nicole Malliotakis, who represents New York's 11th District in Staten Island and Brooklyn, said her constituents have reported drone sightings over a power plant and the Verrazano Bridge, which is within the vicinity of the historic Fort Wadsworth U.S Cost Guard base and Fort Hamilton, a U.S. army instillation in Brooklyn.
..... "They are flying over sensitive infrastructure, she said, "and the fact that we don't know what they are, or who's behind them, or what they;'re doing is very concerning to me, particularly in a post-Chinese spy-balloon world."
..... "You say there's no known threat, but is there still a possibility of there being a threat?" Malliotakis continued. "At the end of the day, that's what my constituents want to know."
..... "It concerns me we don't know the answer to your question yet,' Wheller said.
50 drones off Jersey Shore?
..... Representative Chris Smith, the longest-tenured member of Congress from New Jersey, said he was on the beach Monday [12/09/2024] at Island Beach State Park with Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy.
.... "One of his officers two nights ago saw 50 drones come in off the ocean, right there," Smith said. "We had a number of other people there including a commending officer from the Coast Guard who said one of their 47-foot lifeboats was followed by between 12 and 30 of these drones, right behind them."
..... He asked the witnesses at the hearing to enlist the help of the Department of defense. "Let's go get the DOD capability and find out, put to rest the question, who is it? We can bring one down tomorrow. They're coming in every day."
..... "Sometimes i feel like I'm in the "Twilight Zone' up here," Gonzalez said.