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The White House's revelation on Tuesday that the mysterious drone flights throughout New Jersey in November and December had FAA approval is not good enough for some Garden State lawmakers.
Assemblyman Chris DePhillips says there are still many unanswered questions, and he is requesting a hearing with FAA officials. The Bergen County Republican wants to know who exactly was piloting the drones and for what specific purposes. He says transparency is the best way to create trust and cooperation with the new administration, and he hopes someone from the FAA will attend the next scheduled meeting for the Assembly Transportation Committee on Feb. 13.
Original article follows:
SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — The White House is offering answers about the drones that were seen flying over New Jersey and other areas late last year. In a press briefing on Tuesday, the White House said they were authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The news aligns with what federal officials have been saying since December.
Drone sightings were the talk of the town, with low-flying encounters reported all over South Jersey. Now the White House says they were on the government’s radar.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump personally looked into it.
“After research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA for research and various other reasons.”
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As the sightings became more common, and news and social media videos of the drones gained public attention, the phenomenon grew, Leavitt said
“Many of these drones were also hobbyists, recreational and private individuals that enjoy flying drones. In time it got worse due to curiosity.”
Some even flew over Trump’s country club in Bedminster, and near the Picatinny Arsenal, a U.S. military research and manufacturing facility.
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“This was not the enemy,” she said.
The Trump administration did not say anything about the nature of the research or what those various other reasons were.
Drones are legal in New Jersey for recreational and commercial use, but they are subject to local and FAA regulations and flight restrictions. Operators must be FAA certified.
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As the number of sightings increased through November and December, officials said many of the objects seen may have been planes rather than drones. It’s also possible that a single drone would be reported more than once.
Gov. Phil Murphy said he had met with senior officials from the Department of Homeland Security, New Jersey’s Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, state police and the state’s congressional delegation.
“We are actively monitoring the situation and in close coordination with our federal and law enforcement partners on this matter. There is no known threat to the public at this time,” he tweeted in early December.
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Speculation about where they were coming from ran the gamut. Congressman Jeff Van Drew, a Republican, said he had high-level information that they were coming from an Iranian ship off the East Coast.
Congressman Chris Smith, a Republican, said Ocean County Sheriff Mike Mastronardy told him about 50 drones were observed coming in from the Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. Coast Guard, which has been assisting the FBI and state agencies in investigating the drones, said the aircraft weren't seen as an immediate threat and didn't disrupt operations. Both Smith and Van Drew began insisting that the Coast Guard and military shoot the drones out of the sky.
Pentagon spokespersons denied Van Drew’s claim, saying there was no truth to it, and told reporters that “our initial assessment here is that these are not drones or activities coming from a foreign entity or adversary.”
In mid-December, just before the FAA issued a monthlong temporary flight restriction on drones in cities across New Jersey, several federal agencies, including the FAA, released a joint statement reiterating that there was no known threat to national security or the public and that most of the sightings had been of commercial and hobbyist drones that are of no concern. In some instances, planes, helicopters and stars had been mistaken for drones.
Meanwhile, elected officials in the state kept demanding answers. And all along, federal and state officials repeatedly emphasized that there was no known threat to public safety.
New Jersey state Sen. Jon Bramnick, a Republican, thanked the Trump administration for providing some answers and said there was no reason for the Biden administration to withhold information while people were concerned.