Senior officials downplay concerns over drone surveillance: ‘A bit of an overreaction’
US national security officials have brushed off concerns mysterious drones In a recent call with reporters, one flying over the Northeast went so far as to describe the nationwide concern as “a bit of an overreaction.”
The call, attended by Fox News Digital Saturday, was attended by senior officials of the Biden administration, including representatives of the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Security Council (NSC), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the United States. Department of Defense (DOD).
Senior officials could not speak on the matter origin of drones, which are still being investigated. The mysterious plane was first spotted flying over northern New Jersey in mid-November and has been spotted multiple times saw thousands of residents over the past few weeks.
Speaking to reporters, an FBI official said his agency has received 5,000 tips since the first sighting of the mysterious drone flying over the Garden State in November. Of those 5,000 tips, less than 100 led to further investigation, the official said.
PHENOMENA OVER 20 DAYS ON, STILL NO ANSWERS ON ORIGIN OF PENTAGON’S CAPTURED NJ DRONES
This footage from a video submitted by MartyA45_ shows several drones flying over Randolph, New York on December 4th. (AP, File via MartyA45_ /TMX)
The FBI official added that despite an increase in drone activity in recent weeks, investigators have found no evidence of large-scale drone activity.
“We are doing our best to find the origin of these specific… these drone activities,” the official said. “But I think there’s a bit of an overreaction.”
Echoing the FBI representative’s comments, a DHS official noted that while his agency does not invalidate all drone tips, “the amount of actual drone activity is less than reported.”
The DOD official added that the agency “gathered no intelligence or observations indicating that (the drones) were aligned with a foreign actor or that they were malicious.”
“But, you know, just to tell you, we don’t know,” the rep said. “We have not been able to locate or identify the operators or points of origin.”
New Jersey State Assemblyman Paul Canitra took a photo of several drones flying over New Jersey. (Paul Kanitra/Fox News @ Night)
The Pentagon official added that there are limitations in terms of investigating the sources of drones.
“In our homeland, we are also significantly restricted and rightly, in fact, prohibited from conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance,” the spokesperson noted. “So we don’t have the same capabilities and the same methods that we would use elsewhere outside of the homeland to identify points of origin.”
“Here, on the military side, we are also, you know, annoyed by the irresponsibility of this activity,” the official admitted.
The MTN official echoed the DOD representative’s opinion, arguing that there was no evidence of foreign adversaries’ involvement with the drones and no evidence of any threat to public safety.
A map showing some of the locations where the mysterious drones were spotted in December 2024. (Fox News)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“Obviously, we’re taking this incredibly seriously at this point,” the MTN official said. “We have not established any reason to believe that … there is any criminal activity, any national security threat, any particular public safety threat, or that these drones involve a malicious foreign actor.”
Fox News’ Daniel Scully contributed to this report.
English