White House National Security Communications Adviser, John Kirby, emphasized that the government still has specific answers regarding the nature of the reported drone sightings as public frustration grows.
“Many of the confirmed sightings have turned out to be test flights. I didn’t mention them all, and what I mentioned were the ones we were able to confirm,” Kirby said on “The Story.” “Of course there’s something we didn’t know, and we don’t know your answer, and I strongly recommend that people who see these things and write them separate themselves as much as possible from the State Department. Homeland Security and the FBI.”
DRONE MYSTERY: NEW HOMEOWNERS THREAT WITH VOLUNTEERS IF GOVERNMENT DOESN’T TAKE ACTION
In a Wednesday letter to Biden, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy asked the president to find more federal resources to deal with drone sightings, noting that federal law limits the power of state and local law enforcement to fight drones.
“… it has become clear that more resources are needed to fully understand what drives this activity,” Murphy wrote. “Continued reporting of UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) activity has raised more questions than answers and has resulted in the release of conspiracy theories across social media and other forums.”
A map showing drone sightings around New Jersey.
Kirby talked about the possibility that these drone sightings could be linked to a private company, saying they “could” be commercially developed drones of some kind.
“Why don’t we know? I wish I could tell you exactly why we don’t have your answer here on the afternoon of the 13th of December,” said Kirby. “But I can tell you that we are working on it, it’s very difficult to know, because we want to answer those questions in the same way that the people of New Jersey are looking for answers to them.”
Kirby revealed that there was a discussion between the agencies on Friday morning about this topic.
“Now we’ve decided to hire more technology in New Jersey and some more staff to try to better understand what these things are,” he said.
New Jersey State Assemblyman Paul Kanitra took a photo of what appeared to be several drones flying in the skies over New Jersey on Thursday, December 13. (Paul Kanitra / “Fox News @ Night”)
Monmouth County, NJ, Sheriff Shaun Golden urged officials to declare a state of emergency regarding the drone sighting, issuing a statement Wednesday evening. The release includes a heat map showing the density of drones seen across his region:
Heat map showing drone activity in Monmouth County, New Jersey. (Courtesy: Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office)
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Attorney Chris Smith, RN.J., whose district includes parts of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, recounted spending Monday night on the beach where he spoke with several people, including the US Coast Guard commander at Barnegat Light.
According to the commander, he said, the 47-meter coastal ship was closely followed by more than a dozen drones the previous night.
Monmouth and Burlington counties are home to several military installations, including Naval Weapons Station Earle in Colts Neck and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
On Thursday, Middletown, NJ, Mayor Tony Perry expressed his concern on Fox News about drone sightings near the waterfront of Naval Weapons Station Earle in his hometown, which is 14 miles north of the Colts Neck installation.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
“I’m not going to lie to you or the American people, and I’m not going to say we know something if we don’t,” Kirby said. “We would never think that an American citizen is crazy or confused because of what we see and what we write. We take that picture seriously, and we do everything we can to analyze it. So, we encourage people to come forward if they have more sightings and pictures.”
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