Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Images: Getty Images
For weeks, New Jersey residents have spotted mysterious drones in the night sky throughout the state. Some New Yorkers and Pennsylvanians have seen them, too, with new reports emerging from around La Guardia Airport last week. These sightings have confounded local and federal authorities, who have been unable to determine the drones’ origins or their purpose. Here’s what we know about the ongoing mystery.
Accounts and videos of drones began to emerge on social media in mid-November. The bulk of the initial sightings came from Morris County in North Jersey. One video, shared on X on November 19, was reportedly taken in Madison, New Jersey:
On November 19, Morris County officials confirmed that drone activity had been observed by law enforcement and said in a statement that local authorities “will continue to coordinate, monitor, and investigate the drone activity” alongside their state and federal partners.
Since mid-November, aircrafts have been spotted across northern and central New Jersey in Bergen, Sussex, and Somerset Counties, according to the Bergen Record. In response, the Federal Aviation Administration has further restricted the airspace over Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, banning drone flights over the Somerset County property that is a frequent stop of President-elect Donald Trump.
The U.S. Coast Guard has even reported sightings of the drones in Ocean County with Lieutenant Luke Pinneo telling the Associated Press “that multiple low-altitude aircraft were observed in vicinity of one of our vessels near Island Beach State Park.”
The New York Daily News reports that police received several unconfirmed reports of drone sightings in the city on Thursday, including in the Bronx and Far Rockaway, as well as around La Guardia Airport. The city’s Emergency Management Department issued a statement saying the agency was aware of the unconfirmed reports. “We have not received any official reports of drone activity at this time,” the statement read. “NYCEM is monitoring the situation and working with relevant agencies to ensure the safety of all New Yorkers.”
The Staten Island Advance reports that drones have been spotted in Staten Island, hovering over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, which connects the borough to Brooklyn. An X user who claimed to be in Bay Ridge shared videos of the reported drones last Sunday, writing, “Drones are officially in Brooklyn!”
Governor Kathy Hochul acknowledged the drone reports in New York on social media Friday. “We know New Yorkers have spotted drones in the air this week & we are investigating,” she said, adding that the state is working with its federal partners in the FBI and Homeland Security.
WPVI, a local Philadelphia ABC affiliate, has received reports of drones in neighboring Delaware County as well as in the city’s Mayfair area. On Friday, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan wrote on social media that he personally witnessed “what appeared to be dozens of large drones” above his home in Davidsonville, Maryland, sharing his own video. Hogan denounced the “complete lack of transparency and the dismissive attitude of the federal government.”
The reports initially sparked speculation that the drones could’ve originated nearby from the Picatinny Arsenal, a local military research base. But the base denied any connection on Tuesday, while acknowledging that there have been 11 confirmed sightings over the facility since November 13. “While the source and cause of these aircraft operating in our area remain unknown, we can confirm that they are not the result of any Picatinny Arsenal–related activities,” base commander Lieutenant Colonel Craig Bonham II said, per the Morristown Daily Record. The FAA has restricted drone flights over the base’s airspace following the reports.
Despite the denial, some experts theorize that the military could be involved. Clint Emerson, a former Navy SEAL and security-firm owner, told the New York Post that the drones could potentially be a military project that’s kept so secret only a scant few are aware it exists. “That’s why the government’s like, ‘We don’t know.’ They’re being truthful,” he told the outlet.
New Jersey representative Jeff Van Drew, a Republican, floated a theory on Wednesday on Fox News, citing unnamed “very high sources” that the drones hail from a foreign adversary. “Iran launched a mothership probably about a month ago that contains these drones. That mothership, I’m going to tell you the deal, it’s off the East Coast of the United States of America. They’ve launched drones,” he said.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon rebutted that theory, saying that there’s “no truth” to Van Drew’s claims but also confirmed that the drones are not from the U.S. military. “At this time, we have no evidence that these activities are coming from a foreign entity or the work of an adversary,” said deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh. “We’re gonna continue to monitor what is happening, but at no point were our installations threatened when this activity was occurring.”
Van Drew is also calling for the drones to be shot down, citing security concerns. Last year, the Defense Department shot down a Chinese spy balloon after it traveled through North American airspace for several days. New Jersey governor Phil Murphy addressed the idea during a radio interview on Wednesday, saying that the call ultimately lies with the federal government. “The Feds have that authority, and I’d like to see them play a more robust role. I wouldn’t be opposed to that. Let me put it that way,” he said.
On Thursday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby agreed with most of his federal colleagues, saying “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.”
However, Kirby suggested that the aircrafts being spotted might not be drones at all. “It appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully,” he said.
Though it’s unclear if there’s any relation, the reports are reminiscent of recent sightings around Virginia. In October, The Wall Street Journal reported that several drones were spotted around the Langley Air Force Base over a span of 17 days.
In December 2018, Gatwick Airport in London was forced to cancel flights for several days after multiple reported drone sightings near the airport runway. Despite some initial arrests that were later cleared, no one was ever officially implicated in the incident, and there are even some who dispute that a drone was actually involved. According to the Independent, the brief closure cost 50 million pounds related to passenger assistance and lost revenue.
On Monday, Governor Murphy told reporters that the drones don’t appear to pose a threat but noted that 49 reports had come in just the previous day. “This is something we’re taking deadly seriously. I don’t blame people for being frustrated,” he said, per the Associated Press. That same day, 21 mayors in the state sent Murphy a letter calling for a full investigation into the drones’ origins, ABC News reports.
On Tuesday, New Jersey senator Cory Booker sent a letter to Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, FBI director Christopher Wray, and Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, stressing a need to keep the public informed about their investigations into the aircrafts. “I recognize the need to maintain operational security of ongoing investigations and that this situation requires complex interagency coordination,” he wrote. “However, there is a growing sense of uncertainty and urgency across the state — from constituents and local officials alike — despite assurances that the drones pose no known threats to public safety.”
New Jersey assemblymember Dawn Fantasia posted a lengthy thread on social media on Wednesday following a briefing from state police on the drones. Per her notes, the drones operate “in a coordinated manner” and appear to avoid detection from radio frequencies and helicopters. Fantasia said authorities are still unclear on where the aircrafts originate from and land. “We know nothing. PERIOD. To state that there is no known or credible threat is incredibly misleading, and I informed all officials of that sentiment,” she wrote.
New Jersey senator Andy Kim joined local police Thursday night in an attempt to spot drones, traveling to Round River Reservoir and other locations in Hunterdon County and sharing videos of what he saw.
On Saturday, Kim followed up in an X thread that though he had not received any feedback from the federal government offering an explanation, “I was with the help of civilian pilots and others able to do deeper analysis and concluded that most of the possible drone sightings that were pointed out to me were almost certainly planes.”
Also on Thursday night, the Ocean County Sheriff’s office sent up its own drone in an attempt to track a swarm of drones which a local cop on the Jersey Shore saw coming in off the ocean, but the drones easily evaded it. Sheriff Michael Mastronardy told NewsNation that “We contacted the Coast Guard, at which point the Coast Guard went out with their boat and they reported seeing 13 (drones) following their boat. And then the Coast Guard also advised that they went over them about 300 feet and had a wingspan of about eight feet.”
Last week, the FBI’s Newark field office, the New Jersey State Police, and the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness said in a statement that they were officially seeking any information on the drone sightings, and that the agency has reports from both law enforcement and members of the public “dating back several weeks.” The bureau asks that anyone with relevant information call 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit their tip online at tips.fbi.gov.
But the agency has been unable to shed any additional light on the phenomenon during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Tuesday. Robert W. Wheeler Jr., assistant director of the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group, was asked about the ongoing situation in New Jersey and whether there was any risk to the public. “There is nothing that is known that would lead me to say that, but we just don’t know, and that’s the concerning part,” he said, per PIX11. Gothamist reports that the federal government is sending New Jersey “drone-specific radar technology” to use in their inquiries surrounding the aircrafts.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a joint statement Thursday, writing that they “have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.”
On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas insisted that the government was taking the matter seriously. “There’s no question that people are seeing drones,” he said on ABC’s This Week. “I want to assure the American public that we in the federal government have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings.”
This post has been updated.
