China’s state-run Global Times on Thursday marveled at the high-tech entertainments on display for this year’s Spring Festival, praising a troupe of dancing robots as evidence the Communist nation has become the world’s leading tech power.
The post China Tries to Spook U.S. with Army of Dancing Robots appeared first on Breitbart.
Police arrested three people following two drone incidents as authorities report numerous encounters with aerial operations, potentially hampering lifesaving measures as wildfires rage throughout Southern California.
As of Monday afternoon, charges had not been released. Two arrests stem from one drone incident, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.
"If you do not have business in the evacuation areas, do not go there," Luna said in a press conference on Monday. "You are infringing upon the work that our first responders need to attend to."
ESSENTIAL PHONE NUMBERS FOR LOS ANGELES-AREA RESIDENTS AND HOW YOU CAN HELP THEM
Cal Fire told Fox News Digital that the department is unable to provide details regarding the incidents, citing a lack of insight into the Federal Aviation Administration’s investigations.
The FAA directed Fox News Digital to local authorities for questions relating to the arrests.
Last week, a civilian drone struck a Super Scooper plane, leaving a "fist-sized hole" in the wing and grounding the potentially life-saving aircraft for a few days.
"We are working with our public and private sector counterparts to try to identify the operator of that drone," said Akil Davis, FBI assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles Field Office. "But since that incident, we have had [more than 10] contacts with drone operators in which we have warned and fined in previous years."
PHOTOS: FBI releases new images of damaged Super Scooper aircraft
The plane flies at low altitudes to scoop water from the ocean and douse wildfires, and is one of two aircraft on loan from Quebec.
The Super Scooper has been repaired and is expected to return to the air on Tuesday, pending approval from the FAA. Authorities originally expected the aircraft to be back in commission by Monday.
The incident has resulted in authorities warning the public to refrain from flying drones within wildfire areas. Temporary flight restrictions have been placed above the wildfire zones and federal authorities have deployed ground teams to intercept pilots violating FAA restrictions.
"The FAA has not authorized anyone unaffiliated with the Los Angeles firefighting operations to fly drones in the TFRs," the FAA said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Forty-eight privately owned drones have been detected in wildfire zones, Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief Robert Harris said during a briefing on Saturday evening.
FBI SEARCHING FOR OPERATOR OF PRIVATELY OWNED DRONE THAT PUNCHED HOLE IN CANADIAN FIREFIGHTING PLANE
The FAA has warned against the dangers of drone activity interfering with first responders. Aircraft battling wildfires often fly at low altitudes, which could result in encounters with drones, such as mid-air collisions or pilot distractions. Additionally, drones could lose connection and fall from the sky, potentially striking firefighters or civilians on the ground.
Flying a drone in a wildfire zone could force first responders to ground aircraft, resulting in delays and threatening the safety of firefighters, civilians, and structures.
"Drones are probably one of our most significant threats right now in law enforcement," Davis said.
Interfering with firefighting operations on public land is a federal crime punishable by up to 12 months in prison. The FAA can impose a civil penalty of up to $75,000 if a drone pilot interferes with wildfire suppression or law enforcement efforts when temporary flight restrictions are in place.
The FAA encourages the public to use their FAA Hotline web form to report any violations of Federal Aviation Regulations.
Fox News Digital's Alexandra Koch and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has suspended certain operations by a Texas-based drone company after a Florida boy was injured during a holiday airshow last week and had to undergo heart surgery.
The FAA confirmed to Fox News Digital that it suspended the Part 107 Waiver for Sky Elements Drones. The waiver allows drone operators to fly at night, fly over people, and operate drones outside the line of sight. Thus, with this waiver suspended, Sky Elements Drones legally cannot perform its shows.
It's not clear how long the pause will remain in place. The move came amid an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) into a Dec. 21 incident in which a malfunction occurred during an aerial light show in Lake Eola Park in downtown Orlando.
FAA ANNOUNCES TEMPORARY RESTRICTIONS ON DRONE FLIGHTS IN NEW JERSEY FOLLOWING INFLUX OF SIGHTINGS
One multiple red and green-lit drones struck a 7-year-old boy and knocked him out upon impact, his parents previously told Fox Orlando. The boy, Alexander, underwent open-heart surgery, they said.
Hundreds of drones being used as part of a nighttime aerial light show appeared to be flying into position before several started falling from the sky before slamming to the ground, according to videos posted online.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Sky Elements.
STREAM ON FOX NATION: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE DRONE KIND
Forth-Worth-based Sky Elements, known for its synchronized drone light shows and appearances on "America’s Got Talent," is now facing scrutiny as the investigation unfolds, the news outlet reported.
The NTSB told Fox News Digital that investigators were gathering information from the drone operator and the Federal Aviation Administration about the number of aircraft in the show, as well as the number that fell to the ground and into the crowd.
PENTAGON SOLVES ONE OF ITS HIGHEST-PROFILE UFO MYSTERIES
Memory cards from the drones will be sent to the NTSB recorders laboratory in Washington, D.C., for analysis, the agency said. A preliminary report is expected within 30 days of the incident, the NTSB said.
However, a final report is expected anywhere from one to two years.
An uptick in alleged drone sightings along the East Coast touched off a flurry of panicked calls for investigation on Friday from residents and state lawmakers, even as public officials stress the aircraft in question are, in fact, being flown lawfully, and a retired port authority aviation expert tells Fox News Digital that fears are overblown.
The drone complaints began pouring in last month in New Jersey, where witnesses and residents first began reporting drone sightings off of coastal areas, including off of Cape May, a scenic town located outside of Atlantic City.
More recently, lawmakers in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland have reported new alleged drone sightings in their home states, with some witnesses alleging the aircraft in question have been the "size of cars" or seen flying above sensitive infrastructure or in restricted airspace.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, told reporters on Friday he had written to President Biden to share his concerns about the fresh reports of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) sightings in New Jersey airspace, and called for more federal resources to investigate the issue.
"It has become apparent that more resources are needed to fully understand what is behind this activity," Murphy wrote in the letter.
Other lawmakers in the state have gone even further, calling for the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to join in their investigations into the unmanned aircraft, with one Garden State lawmaker urging the objects be "shot down" if necessary.
"We are literally being invaded by drones," Pequannock Mayor Ryan Herbwe told reporters on Wednesday night following a town hall meeting in New Jersey.
"We have no idea who is doing [this] and where they're coming from."
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., issued a statement on Friday citing concerns "about the potential for these unmanned aerial vehicles — many of which are as large as a car — to disrupt air traffic and, more alarmingly, to be used maliciously to threaten national security."
These remarks have added to a growing collective sense of panic — but a panic that many in the law enforcement community say is both unfounded and unnecessary.
White House national security communications adviser John Kirby sought to assuage these fears, stressing during a press briefing Thursday that there is "no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus."
Others in the law enforcement community also echoed this sentiment. Retired Port Authority Police Detective Lt. John Ryan told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday that the uptick in activity is likely due to two things.
HOMEOWNERS THREATEN TO TAKE MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS IF GOVERNMENT DOESN’T ACT
The first, he said, is that drones are a fast-evolving technology that has seen a boom in both recreational and commercial use in the U.S. in the last 10 years. Federal data on drone registration reflects this sharp uptick in use, most if not all of which is legal. As of October of this year, there were more than 790,000 drones registered with the Federal Aviation Association (FAA), and nearly 400,000 registered commercial drones.
That's "just to give you an idea" of the magnitude of the number of legal drones in the U.S., said Ryan, whose extensive police career included serving for a decade as the emergency service special operations commander at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, and then later, the chief officer of the Port Authority, whose role includes oversight of all transportation facilities, including Kennedy, LaGuardia and all other airports and ports in the area.
The second mistake, Ryan said, is that the individuals in question are asking the wrong authorities for help.
"The mistake I see people making is that they're going to the wrong agencies and asking these questions," he added.
The FAA is the federal body tasked with registering drones and other U.S. aircraft. It’s also the one tasked with monitoring recreational and commercial drone use in the U.S.
"In New Jersey, they've been asking the FBI, they've been asking the Department of Homeland Security — they've been asking everybody except the people that they should be asking," said Ryan.
The Pentagon also reiterated this view, noting that an initial assessment had shown the drones were not from another country, and were not shot down because they were not deemed a threat to national security.
Kirby echoed this sentiment on Thursday. Asked whether the U.S. would consider banning drone use in U.S. airspace, he told reporters, "I don't know that we're at a stage right now where we're considering that" as a policy option.
A New Jersey state Senator is calling on Gov. Phil Murphy to declare a state of emergency to ground all drones as a way of getting to the bottom of ongoing reports of unmanned craft swarming the Garden State in recent weeks.
State Sen. Jon Bramnick, a Republican, told "Cavuto Live" on Saturday that he also wants the FAA to join in the state of emergency as the public becomes increasingly frustrated with a lack of answers as to what is going on in the skies.
Bramnick says he has contacted Murphy about enacting a state of emergency but has not gotten a response.
DRONE MYSTERY BEFUDDLES NEW JERSEY OFFICIALS, FRUSTRATES RESIDENTS
"I've gotten silence and we met with the state police [who] have no information. Can you imagine? The Department of Defense must have some serious secret if we can't get any information on car-sized drones flying over our military bases."
A series of unidentified drone sightings near U.S. military installations and over residences have been spotted in New Jersey since mid-November, including President-elect Trump’s Bedminster golf course, which is causing alarm. Apparent drones have also been spotted in New York City, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, among other states, as well as over three US airbases in the UK.
White House national security communications adviser John Kirby has said many of the purported drone sightings are actually lawfully operated manned aircraft and that there is no evidence of a national security or public safety threat.
FORMER GOVERNOR SPOTS MYSTERY DRONES IN MARYLAND, BLASTS FEDS FOR LACK OF TRANSPARENCY
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday said the government doesn't have the authority to shoot down drones and believes reports of some sightings are cases of mistaken identity.
The apparent lack of transparency about the situation has fueled conspiracy theories and raised national security concerns that a foreign entity may be behind the mysterious sightings.
The government’s dismissal of witness reports is also irking residents who believe the government's answers are insufficient. Some have threatened to take matters into their own hands and shoot them down.
"Every time someone comes out of the top secret briefing, we get the same answer," Bramnick said. "’Well, we need more information,’ but apparently it's not a threat. Now, I don't know how they're determining that. The Defense Department must be speaking to someone because they're surely not speaking to any of the residents in New Jersey."
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"The Department of Defense has to explain why they don't know what a car-sized drone is doing, where it came from, where it's going. Is it sinister? Is there some sort of threat? Don't you think the Department of Defense should have that information? The technology is there."
Bramnick says that the state does not have the proper equipment or resources to deal with drones. He notes that the Garden State only has two state helicopters, and when one of those choppers was sent up to investigate a drone, its lights turned off and it fled.
"Now, that's an indication that the drone is not here for a good purpose, otherwise I assume somebody operating the drone would tell the state police what they're doing. That's why we have to ground all drones at this time," Bramnick added.
Drone experts have little idea what the dozens of drone sightings over New Jersey could be, but have ruled out the possibility that they might be the work of a classified government program.
They say the lack of a clear image or any residual hardware makes it difficult to make any guesses.
"Until something is found, it’s really difficult to say," said Brett Velicovich, Fox News contributor and CEO of Expert Drones. "We haven’t seen any clear images."
The drone sightings were first reported nearly a month ago – on Nov. 18 – and have been spotted every night from about dusk until around 11 p.m.
The drones are "six feet in diameter," fly in a coordinated way with their lights off and "appear to avoid detection by traditional methods," according to New Jersey state Rep. Dawn Fantasia, who relayed a briefing given by law enforcement. Reports have ranged from four to 180 sightings per night, throughout New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
With little information on their origin from law enforcement, public speculation has run wild.
Velicovich poured cold water on the idea that the drones could be part of a classified government test – one theory circulated to explain the lack of information shared with the public.
"I find it hard to believe," said Velicovich. "Maybe it started that way, and now people think everything they see is a drone . . . . I’ve seen a lot of images that look like planes.
But he said that when he worked on classified drone projects, the protocol was always to inform local police.
"There's a reason why we test stuff in Area 51 or all these remote locations, so that you don't have to cause public hysteria. And then when we would test stuff in cities, we would always, whenever we do secret exercises in cities, we would always inform the local police."
Stacie Pettyjohn, drone expert with the Center for New American Security, agreed. "They would be doing it on a military base or a testing facility. And you know, they're not overflying sort of sensitive industrial locations, like they have been in New Jersey."
Both experts agreed that what could have started off as drones may now have developed into a public panic, where everything in the air is assumed to be a drone. They said it could also be photographic drones looking to pick up images of the drone phenomenon, adding to the panic.
"People are gonna start to see what they expect to see," said Pettyjohn.
"No one has shown me a clear photograph of a drone," said Velicovich.
"Either it's just overblown right now, and everything in the air is a drone, or, you've got a lot of planes in the area that are probably trying to pick up, take photographs and detect stuff and see what's really going on."
The FBI, in a statement, suggested that many of the drone sightings had turned out to be planes.
"We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus," a joint FBI and Department of Homeland Security statement said Thursday.
"We are supporting local law enforcement in New Jersey with numerous detection methods but have not corroborated any of the reported visual sightings with electronic detection. To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully. There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted airspace."
The FBI revealed this week its budget for counter-drone technology is a mere $500,000 per year.
Earlier this week, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., said that the drones may be linked to an Iranian "mothership," a theory that prompted the Pentagon to say that it had seen no evidence the drones could have come from a U.S. adversary.
Velicovich said he "isn’t sold" that the drones are foreign in origin, but U.S. adversaries would have the capability to be behind the occurrences.
"If we go with the theory that it's foreign, China, Russia, Iran, they all have systems that can travel over large amounts of terrain, over oceans and and carry other drones with it. So that's not the difficult thing that's happening every single day right now in countries like Ukraine."
Pettyjohn assumed that the drones would need to be operated by someone within the U.S.
"I would assume that it's someone who's here locally, which may be a spy, which may be a nefarious actor, but that they're they're individuals on the ground, and it's just easier to blend in and difficult to identify who they are and where they are with these rather innocuous systems," she said.
"They can be in the air probably on the order of, like, five hours or so, or less, and a lot of them, it's way less than that. And that just means that they have to be someone probably physically here, [who] is flying them."
China expert Gordon Chang mused that the drones could be an adversary merely looking to offer a form of distraction.
If it were intended as an attack, "you wouldn't put on this big display over the course of days . . . with these very large objects and flashing lights. You're not going to advertise a drone attack on the U.S.," Chang said.
"I think that they're trying to attract our attention, distract us from something that's happening elsewhere," he said. "So, I worry about what is going on that we're not paying attention to because of the drones."
More than three weeks after dozens of mysterious drones began popping up in the New Jersey night sky, the public has still been offered no clear insight on what the phenomenon could be.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., suggested the swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles could be from an Iranian "mothership."
The Pentagon shot down his idea.
"There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there’s no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States," said Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh. She added there is "no evidence" to suggest the drones are "the work of a foreign adversary."
"We aren’t being told the truth," Van Drew responded Thursday on Fox News. "They are dealing with the American public like we’re stupid."
While the Pentagon maintains that the drones are not foreign, the FBI has admitted it is "concerned" about how little the agency knows about them.
Asked if Americans are "at risk," Robert Wheeler, FBI assistant director of the Critical Incident Response Group, told Congress on Tuesday: "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."
Asked on Thursday if they'd learned anything since then, the FBI suggested to Fox News Digital the phenomenon might not actually be drones.
"We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus. The FBI, DHS (Department of Homeland Security) and our federal partners, in close coordination with the New Jersey State Police, continue to deploy personnel and technology to investigate this situation and confirm whether the reported drone flights are actually drones or are instead manned aircraft or otherwise inaccurate sightings," a spokesperson said.
"We are supporting local law enforcement in New Jersey with numerous detection methods but have not corroborated any of the reported visual sightings with electronic detection. To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully. There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted air space."
In recent weeks, the drones have flown near sensitive sites, like a military research facility.
And if the drones aren’t foreign in origin, onlookers are left wondering why it’s taking U.S. agencies so long to figure out who is behind them.
"What I can say is a lot of our detection systems, means of tracking and understanding, are so vastly undersized and radically out of date," Doug Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, told Fox News Digital.
"So it would not surprise me that we could still be out of sync with this and not understand at the level we should," he added. "After the Cold War, the notion of air defense really took a back burner."
And Birkey remains unconvinced that the drones are not foreign in origin.
"I don't think we can speak declaratively about the source, but obviously they seem of a certain sophistication, size and set of behaviors that would suggest high potential of being from an adversary source," he said.
"I think they are either using them for intel, imagery, etc., but they can also just be testing us to see what our responses are, to then help inform their strategies and their concepts of operation."
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has insisted the drones do not pose a threat to public safety. The FBI is assisting local law enforcement in investigating and has called on the public for assistance through its tip line.
It’s far from the first time unidentified drones have been seen flying near U.S. military installations. Last year, drones hovered near Langley Air Force Base for over two weeks, and their origin has still not been revealed. Before that, a Chinese spy balloon traversed the U.S., traipsing near military installations, for a week before being shot down off the East Coast.
"There are seemingly few hard consequences [for the drones], and that is causing a very dangerous risk of escalation," said Birkey.
None of the New Jersey drones have been shot down or had their systems jammed by U.S. officials. The drones that hovered near Langley were not intercepted, either.
"Whoever is flying these drones does not necessarily care about their relationship with Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, because clearly they’re breaking almost every rule the FAA has in place for safe drone flying," said Pramod Abichandani, associate professor at NJIT’s School of Applied Engineering and a drone expert.
"These drones are flying at night, over populated areas, flying around in a group, whether they’re being programmed as a swarm of drones or not," he said. "All of those things are not permitted freely by the FAA."
In military settings, officers use "swarms" of drones to attack enemies to make it harder for them to shoot the drones down.
The drones are "six feet in diameter," fly in a coordinated way with their lights off and "appear to avoid detection by traditional methods," according to New Jersey state Rep. Dawn Fantasia, who relayed a briefing given by law enforcement.
MYSTERIOUS DRONE SIGHTINGS CONTINUE TO BE REPORTED IN NEW JERSEY WITHOUT ANSWERS
The drones were first spotted on Nov. 18, and have been spotted every night since, flying from dusk to about 11 p.m. Reports have ranged from four to 180 sightings per night.
"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 said.
"At this point, I believe military intervention is the only path forward. There will be no answers in the absence of proactivity."
U.S. Northern Command, the military command center in charge of defending the U.S. homeland, said it had not yet been asked to step in and help.
"We are aware and monitoring the reports of unauthorized drone flights in the vicinity of military installations in New Jersey, to include Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle, and we refer you to those installations for information on any efforts they may be conducting to ensure the safety and security of their personnel and operations," a U.S. Nothern Command spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
A New Jersey state senator called for a limited state of emergency Tuesday as the mystery surrounding large drones flying over the Garden State continues to deepen.
"The State of New Jersey should issue a limited state of emergency banning all drones until the public receives an explanation regarding these multiple sightings," Republican New Jersey state Sen. Jon Bramnick said in a press release.
Reports of large drones flying over President-elect Trump’s Bedminster golf course and near military research sites in New Jersey have been on the rise in recent weeks. On Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy announced there were dozens of reports of drones on Sunday alone.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that drones flying over New Jersey were not foreign, adding that President Biden has been made aware of the situation, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and FBI are investigating.
"So, we are certainly aware. The president is aware, so we are closely tracking the activity and coordinating closely with relevant agencies, including DHS and FBI, to continue to investigate these incidents," Jean-Pierre said before adding she did not have anything else to share. "Obviously, this is something the DHS and FBI are tracking very, very closely."
When pressed if the federal government had ruled out that the drones are being controlled by foreign entities, Jean-Pierre promptly responded, "Yeah."
The Federal Aviation Administration first received reports of drone activity Nov. 18 in Morris County, which is nearly 2 miles north of Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Somerset County.
Since then, sightings have occurred a few miles north of Bedminster in Mendham and Parsippany and other places across the Garden State.
On Monday, Murphy said there were 49 reports of drones Sunday, mostly in Hunterdon County. The Democratic governor said his numbers also included possible sightings and potentially the same drone being reported more than once.
Federal lawmakers from the state have expressed a degree of concern about the drones, regardless of the side of the aisle they stand on.
DRONE ACTIVITY NEAR TRUMP BEDMINSTER, ARMY ARSENAL SPURS NJ FLIGHT RESTRICTION: FAA
"My office has been in communication with Governor Murphy’s office and our federal agency partners," Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said in a post on X. "While the drones currently pose no known threat to the public, my team and I will continue to monitor the situation closely."
Booker also penned a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Tuesday, seeking better transparency and a comprehensive briefing on drone activity over New Jersey.
"Over the past several weeks, there have been multiple confirmed sightings of unexplained drone activity over New Jersey communities and military installations," Booker wrote. "I recognize the need to maintain operational security of ongoing investigations and that this situation requires complex Interagency coordination.
"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. As such, I urge you to share any relevant information about these drone sightings with the public. Without transparency, I believe that rumors, fear, and misinformation will continue to spread."
Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., said in a statement to Fox News Digital that the recent drone sightings in New Jersey are "not only scary for residents." They point to the need for change in the state and in the U.S.
"There has been no transparency with the public, and this lack of communication is unacceptable," Van Drew said. "Constituents have been told the drones are not a threat, but no further information has been provided. People need, want and deserve answers now so they can stop worrying about their safety and privacy."
As concerns continue to mount, Robert Wheeler, the FBI's assistant director of the Critical IIncident Response Group, told Congress the federal agency knows concerningly little about the mysterious drones that have been spotted hovering over New Jersey.
When asked if Americans are at risk, Wheeler said, "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."
While the FBI has been investigating the incidents, the agency has called on the public for additional information.
The FAA confirmed earlier this month that it had issued two flight restrictions in response to the questionable drone activity reported near Trump’s Bedminster golf club.
Upon request from "federal security partners," the agency issued two temporary flight restrictions.
One restriction covers an area near Solberg-Hunterdon County Airport that consists of airspace above Trump Bedminster. Flights are also banned over Picatinny Arsenal, a major U.S. Army hub in Dover, N.J., geared toward research and development via its CCDCAC armaments center.
The ban remained in place over Trump Bedminster through last week, snd the ban over Picatinny Arsenal will remain in place until Dec. 26.
Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers lives in New Jersey and has noticed the drones recently flying throughout the state.
"Do you know what’s been going on in Jersey lately? And I’m not talking about the football, not talking about the football. There’s been some crazy things going on. There is some drones in the sky," Rodgers said during a recent appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show."
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who has held briefings with Homeland Security, the FBI, Secret Service and state police officials, told Fox News Monday he’s seen no evidence of concern for public safety.
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A video was shown of a drone in Bedminster, New Jersey, prompting Rodgers to ask, "What the hell is that?"
Rodgers noted the drone in the video is "large" and that he doesn’t know what is going on with the drones.
"There is other videos that I’ve seen, and I’ve talked to some friends of mine that are police officers — shoutout Mario. There’s some interesting things going on. Interesting things with the drones. I don’t know what’s going on with them. Maybe it’s just some kids messing around, maybe not though," Rodgers said.
The Jets quarterback just wants answers about what the drones are being used for.
AARON RODGERS GETS TESTY WITH REPORTER WHEN ASKED TO REFLECT ON JETS' DREADFUL PLAYOFF DROUGHT
"They need to tell us what’s going on. It's military or not military, UAP or whatever the hell it is. But there’s people in Jersey, it’s people interested on what the hell is going on with these drones."
Fox News contributor Brett Velicovich thinks these drones may not be benign, adding another country may be operating the drones.
The large drones have been spotted with smaller, more rapidly maneuverable drones, resembling what are referred to as "drone motherships" that have been deployed in Ukraine, Russia and China. The motherships launch smaller drones, which do not have the necessary range antennas to carry them a further distance. That suggests, according to Velicovich, that a foreign adversary could be at play in New Jersey.
Murphy said there were 49 drone sightings Sunday night alone. And though that total might be somewhat exaggerated, "it's really frustrating that we don’t have more answers as to where they’re coming from and why they’re doing what they’re doing."
Rodgers encouraged New Jersey residents to film what they see.
"Film it. Film all of it, especially if you live out by Woody (Johnson) and (Donald) Trump’s course. Film everything," Rodgers said.
"Be safe out there all my fellow New Jerseyans, Be safe out there."
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
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A top FBI leader revealed the agency knows concerningly little about the mysterious drones that have been seen hovering over New Jersey.
Asked if Americans are "at risk," FBI Assistant Director of the Critical Incident Response Group Robert Wheeler told Congress: "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."
Dozens of drones have been spotted flying near sensitive sites like a military research facility in recent weeks.
The FBI has been investigating the incidents and has called on the public for additional information.
According to Gov. Phil Murphy, there were 49 reports of drones on Sunday alone, mostly in Hunterdon County.
The FBI assistant director’s comments came during a joint hearing of two Homeland Security subcommittees on unmanned aerial systems.
"We do not attribute that to an individual or a group yet. we're investigating, but I don't have an answer of who's responsible for that of, one or more people that are responsible for those, drone flights," said Wheeler.
"That’s crazy, that’s madness that we don’t know what these drones are," said Rep. Anthony Gonzales, R-Texas.
"There are a lot of Americans that are very frustrated right now that are essentially questioning where my taxpayer dollars going," he added,asking Wheeler how much of the FBI budget goes toward counter-drone efforts.
About $500,000, Wheeler replied, goes to counter-drone technology and its deployment within the FBI.
"No wonder we don't know what the hell's going on!" the congressman replied.
MYSTERIOUS DRONE SIGHTINGS CONTINUE TO BE REPORTED IN NEW JERSEY WITHOUT ANSWERS
A top border official also revealed in the hearing that during a recent six-week period, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) sensors recorded 6,900 drone flights within close proximity to U.S. borders, potentially threatening the lives of CBP officers and some of which had been carrying drugs.
CBP could not engage with some 95 percent of those drones because they did not breach U.S. airspace but hovered just near the border.
Keith Jones, CBP head of Air and Marine Operations, revealed that no money had been allocated to CBP for counter-drone procedures.
Some drones as large as SUVS have been spotted hovering in the Garden State skies, as well as smaller, more rapidly maneuverable drones, resembling what’s referred to as "drone motherships" that have been deployed in Ukraine, Russia and China, Fox News contributor Brett Velicovich said.
The motherships launch smaller drones, which do not have the necessary range-antennas to carry them over long distances. That suggests, according to Velicovich, that a foreign adversary could be at play in New Jersey.
New Jersey authorities could not jam the drones due to Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) regulations.
Experts had first warned the U.S. lacks a clear counter-drone procedure after 17 unmanned vehicles traipsed into restricted airspace over Langley Air Force Base in Virginia last December.
The mystery drones swarmed for more than two weeks. Lack of a standard protocol for such incursions left Langley officials unsure of what to do – other than allow the 20-foot-long drones to hover near their classified facilities.
Brad Wiegmann, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security, implored Congress to grant law enforcement agencies greater legal authority to shoot down drones that could be considered threats.
"We need legal authority is that without it, use of the most effective types of drone detection and counter drone technologies could violate criminal laws, including those that prohibit destroying or disabling aircraft in flight and intercepting signals and communication," he said.
The DOJ's current counter-drone authorities will lapse in just 10 days, and Wiegmann urged Congress to not only renew them but expand them.
"The two most important issues for us are, number one, broadening the types of sites that law enforcement can protect from nefarious and suspicious drone users. So, for example, to cover as was mentioned in the opening statements, airports, critical infrastructure like power plants and chemical facilities," he went on.
"Number two is my colleague from the FBI just mentioned. It's about empowering state and local law enforcement and operators of critical infrastructure to engage in counter-drone efforts nationwide. This is not a job the federal government can do alone."
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