Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday issued a joint statement with other federal agencies stating no evidence has been found to show that drones sighted over the eastern United States in recent weeks pose a risk to national security or public safety. File Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI |
License PhotoDec. 17 (UPI) — Federal authorities, working with local and state officials to examine a recent flurry of mysterious drone sightings over the eastern United States, said they have not found anything to suggest the aircraft pose a threat to national security or public safety.
The joint statement, published Monday night by the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Defense, was issued amid growing public concern over thousands of drone sightings reported across the eastern United States going as far back as the week before Thanksgiving.
In the Monday statement, the federal agencies said that they have examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, finding that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones and law enforcement drones, as well as manned aircraft, helicopters and stars mistakenly reported as drones.
“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,” the agencies said.
The agencies acknowledged the concern the sightings have generated among the public but said they expect the number of sightings to increase over time as drones become more common in the United States.
More than 1 million drones are registered with the FAA, with thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones lawfully flying any given day, they said.
“We urge Congress to enact counter-UAS legislation when it reconvenes that would extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities to identify and mitigate any threat that may emerge,” it said.
On Thursday, the DHS and FBI issued a similar statement, stating there was no evidence that the drones pose a national security or public safety threat.
The White House that day reiterated that stance while highlighting that some of the sighting appeared to be not of drones but of lawfully operated manned aircraft.
