The government knows what the mystery drones flying over the East Coast are, but are too scared to tell us, a New Jersey senator has sensationally claimed.
Sen. Jon Bramnick called for a state of emergency as he derided what he said was a lack of government transparency over the unexplained drone sightings.
‘Whatever these drones are doing, the government really doesn’t want us to know,’ he told NewsNation on Saturday, urging the DoD to ‘come clean with the American public’ following a string of appearances since November.
‘There must be something going on that they can’t tell us because they’re so fearful of what the public’s gonna do when they hear what the drones are doing,’ the Republican senator claimed.
The White House’s national security communications advisor John Kirby has urged that the sightings pose no ‘national security or public safety threat’, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said he knows of ‘no foreign involvement’.
But the lack of explanation has sparked fierce criticism from some lawmakers as drones continue to appear around sensitive sites, and panic spread as a New Jersey mayor revealed his fire department had been told to wear hazmat suits in case the flying objects crashed.
Activity forced officials to close airspace over Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio for approximately four hours from Friday into Saturday as authorities monitored the situation, WHIO reported.
Since at least November 18, New Jersey officials and federal investigators have been beleaguered by reports of inexplicable apparent aircraft, some as big a cars, conducting bizarre, unscheduled night flights over sensitive sites across the state.
Swarms of drones have been spotted in the skies of New Jersey for weeks, sparking officials to call for a ‘limited state of emergency’
Alejandro Mayorkas’ Department of Homeland Security is set to deploy drone detection systems to New Jersey and New York after weeks of drone sightings across the region
Sen. Jon Bramnick called for a state of emergency as he derided what he said was a lack of government transparency over the recent sightings
Accusing the government of some sort of conspiracy to cover up the drone activity, Bramnick said: ‘What that must mean is they’re more concerned with us getting knowledge and being afraid of that information than having no knowledge and having all these questions.’
‘There’s no way the Department of Defense does not know what’s going on,’ he asserted.
For its part, the DoD released a statement on December 14 addressing the recent sightings.
A spokesperson for the Joint Staff confirmed there had been sightings at the sensitive Picatinny Arsenal research facility but played down the significance.
‘We have had confirmed sightings at Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle,’ the spokesperson said.
‘This is not a new issue for us. We’ve had to deal with drone incursions over our bases for quite a time now. It’s something that we routinely respond to in each and every case when reporting is cited.’
The spokesperson assured the bases have ‘means’ to detect and respond to drones, and that security on site are trained to identify and employ ‘tools’ to keep drones from flying over U.S. bases without authorization.
‘To date, we have no intelligence or observations that would indicate that they were aligned with a foreign actor or that they had malicious intent,’ the spokesperson said.
‘But … we don’t know. We have not been able to locate or identify the operators or the points of origin.’
Drones have been sighted over New Jersey since November 18, but others have been reported around the US north-east.
Monmouth County is home to the Naval Weapons Station Earle, a navy base. Experts have mused that foreign powers could be targeting areas like this which harbor intelligence and weapons bases. (Pictured: points of interest in NJ where drones have been seen overhead)
Officials in Monmouth County, where residents reported 63 sightings over the time period, have shared a heatmap showing where the unmanned aircraft appear to be circulating
Alejandro Mayorkas said on Sunday that a new Federal Aviation Administration rule may be behind the deluge of drone sightings across New Jersey.
The outgoing DHS secretary finally addressed the issue, confirming that they could not physically shoot down the drones but that technology to assist in detecting them is on its way.
The response so far has prompted sharp criticism from Republicans including president-elect Donald Trump, who suggested the drones should be shot down.
‘Mystery Drone sightings all over the Country. Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge,’ Trump posted on Friday amid outcry over the ongoing mystery.
‘I don’t think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!’ the former and future president wrote on his social media site Truth Social.
Asked whether this was a possibility, Mayorkas told ABC News on Sunday that in order to be able to take more action, his agency needs to be given more powers.
‘With respect of the ability to incapacitate those drones, we are limited in our authorities,’ Mayorkas told This Week host George Stephanopoulos.
‘We have certain agencies within the Department of Homeland Security that can do that and outside our department,’ he added. ‘But we need those authorities expanded, as well.’
He divulged that there are more than 8,000 drones flown every day in the U.S., including civilian and government for both work and leisure activities.
Both Mayorkas and New York Governor Kathy Hochul confirmed plans to deploy a state of the art drone detection system, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer – who represents New York – made the request Sunday.
Hochul wrote: ‘In response to my calls for additional resources, our federal partners are sending a drone detection system to New York.’
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Rep. Jeff Van Drew, another Republican Jersey Shore-area congressman, has also called for the military to shoot down the SUV-sized drones.
Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden said people should not take it into their own hands to shoot down drones, which would break state and federal laws.
Drone sightings have also spread to New York, where a permit is required. Mayor Eric Adams said the city was investigating and collaborating with New Jersey and federal officials.
The appearances have sparked a wave of conspiracy theories from fairly tame suggestions of kids messing around to suggestions of foreign spies and aliens.
New Jersey lawmaker Jeff Van Drew made the stunning claim this week that Iran could be behind the mysterious drones.
The Republican told Fox News the Middle East power had launched a ‘mothership’ stationed off the Garden State coast.
However, the Pentagon promptly cast this theory out – saying there is no evidence the drones are the work of an adversary and denied there’s an Iranian ‘mothership’ lurking off the US coast.
Intelligence analysts have hypothesized that the Kremlin could have sent the drones to the East Coast as part of a mission linked to Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Retired police lieutenant and intelligence analyst Tim McMillan told DailyMail.com suspicions were raised due to the location of many sightings – Picatinny Arsenal, a major plant which manufactures ammunition supplied to Ukraine.
Lt McMillan also noted that descriptions of the flying objects ‘sound exactly like Russian Orlan-10 drones’ — secretive craft which fly in packs of three to five.
New Jersey residents and local officials are demanding answers as reports of mysterious drones flying over the state have climbed into the thousands
The flying objects (example above) are larger than drones used by hobbyists, witnesses have noted, raising questions about their proximity to critical infrastructure and sensitive sites
Drones have also been spotted over a US airbase in Britain, set to become home to US nuclear weapons.
Footage obtained by MailOnline features what is suspected to be four drones, brazenly flying with bright lights, in the early evening darkness above RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk.
The US Air Force admitted last month that drones had buzzed three of its UK bases – RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and nearby RAF Feltwell, Norfolk.
The sightings which are said to have started on November 20 and continued for several days, coincided with the similar drone ‘invasions’ in New Jersey.