Mysterious drone sightings over various states in the US do not present a risk to public safety or national security, federal agencies have said.
Numerous reports of drones flying over New Jersey have been made since mid-November, while others have been spotted more recently over Ohio, Virginia, Massachusetts and New York.
Some of the sightings in New Jersey were near the Picatinny Arsenal, a military research and manufacturing facility, and over president-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster.
One of the largest US Air Force bases, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, was shut down for about four hours late on Friday and into early Saturday morning, a base spokesperson said.
Police in Boston arrested two men accused of flying drones “dangerously close” to the city’s Logan Airport at the weekend.
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The sightings followed unmanned aerial devices being seen over and in the vicinity of four air bases used by the US Air Force (USAF) in the UK.
The UK Ministry of Defence said at the time it was supporting the USAF response to the sightings.
What have federal agencies said?
Addressing the drone activity in a joint statement on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Defence Department and the FBI, said they have received more than 5,000 reported sightings in the last few weeks, 100 of which required further review.
But after examining the data, the agencies said they have “not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk”.
“We assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones,” the agencies said.
“That said, we recognise the concern among many communities. We continue to support state and local authorities with advanced detection technology and support of law enforcement.”
The joint statement also said more than a million drones are lawfully registered with the Federal Aviation Administration.
‘Something strange is going on’
Attention on the sightings increased last week after New Jersey governor Phil Murphy, New York governor Kathy Hochul and some members of Congress demanded more information from federal officials after the emergence of conspiracy theories and rising public concern.
New Jersey Senator Andy Kim also shared videos on social media of what he described as multiple unidentified drones.
He said that some of the unidentified objects appeared to be moving in “small clusters of 2-4” but they often saw “5-7 lights” at a time.
The activity even prompted comment from Mr Trump, who urged authorities to provide more information, saying at a news conference that he planned to cancel a trip to his Bedminster golf club.
“Something strange is going on,” he said. “For some reason, they don’t want to tell the people.”
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Conspiracy theories led to the emergence of the Facebook page “New Jersey Mystery Drones – let’s solve it” – where people post their photos and video sightings.
It currently has about 79,000 members, up from 44,000 last week.
Sky News’ US partner network NBC News reported that the House Intelligence Committee is scheduled to be briefed on the recent sightings on Tuesday afternoon.
