‘Sophisticated’ drones over NJ could be part of Iran-China alliance: poll

Shoot to kill.

A growing chorus of local officials in New Jersey and New York are calling on the federal government to stop gaslighting local people and ultimately shoot down a drone.

Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) on Saturday called on the Pentagon to fire one of the about 1,000 drones It has been observed over the Garden State since November 18, so answers may be available.

“Why can’t we at least take a drone and get to the bottom of this?” Smith wondered aloud during a news conference in Seaside Heights. “Why can’t we trace a suspicious drone to its origin? “Do we have too little control over our airspace?”

Their demand came just hours after New York Governor Hochul’s announcement Now is the time to act. “This has gone too far,” he said in a brief statement Saturday. He asked federal officials to authorize local police departments to shoot down drones.

he echoed feelings have already been expressed Concerned citizens and even by President-elect Donald Trump, who said he wants the federal people to do so shoot a drone out of the sky“Tell the public, and now,” Trump urged“Otherwise, shoot them!”

The escalating rhetoric comes after more worrying scenes.

Stewart International Airport in Upstate Newburgh closed their runways for an hour Two drones were seen above on Friday night. The commercial airport is adjacent to the New York Air National Guard Base, Where the 105th Airlift Wing is deployed.

New Jersey’s largest utility, PSE&G, recently petitioned the FAA to ground all air traffic over its two nuclear power plants after drones were spotted over sensitive sites. This is the first time that the company has made such an appeal.

Most disturbing were the accounts from the Jersey Shore, where the military provided reliable reports. In one case, a 47-foot Coast Guard cutter was followed by 13 to 30 drones on December 9, the military branch confirmed.

They were alerted by the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office about the drone over the Atlantic, which was actually deployed my drone To track down 50 mysterious planes. Shockingly, Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardi said the law enforcement drone could not keep pace.

Officials at Naval Weapons Station Earle, a highly sensitive base in Monmouth County, NJ, Also reported ongoing drone activity This week.

Drones of unknown origin have also been detected Newark Airport as well as Nearby Shipping Yard, LaGuardia Airportand the US Army’s Armaments Research, Development and Engineering Center, located Picatinny Arsenal In Morris County, New Jersey.

Through all this, federal officials have downplayed the disturbing sightings, dismissing them as misidentified manned aircraft like the Cessna.

Late Thursday night, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the drones were not Iranian, Chinese or Russian, but were in fact ordinary helicopters and small aircraft. flight records were being analyzed to confirmHe said.

“How does Secretary Mayorkas, who vilified us for years that our southern border was secure and closed — when it was and is not — now insult our intelligence by saying ‘we haven’t seen anything unusual?’ Smith said Saturday. “Is this normal? And how can he – and others like national security spokesman Admiral John Kirby – say we are not at risk?

Meanwhile, sightings increase. In New Jersey alone, between November 19 and December 13, 964 drone sightings were reported. They have also been spotted in Manhattan and Staten Island, and the NYPD and FBI claim to be monitoring the issue.

Smith told The Post this week that his sources suspect the drones may belong to foreign adversaries. “It could be Tehran, it could be (Russian President Vladimir) Putin – nobody knows,” he said. “This is an existential threat to the people of my district, the state of New Jersey, and the nation. We need to get to the bottom of this.”

Representative Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) told The Post that his own “high-clearance” sources in the U.S. government and private sector argue that drones could be part of an alliance between China and Iran.

“Something is very wrong,” Van Drew said. “We have unidentified, sophisticated drones as big as minivans, discreetly navigating airspace not covered by radar over a very significant part of our country, and yet, even a month later, we somehow Don’t know anything – And We are being told, ‘Don’t worry, everything is fine.’

They guessed the drone could have come from Iranian drone shipWhich were seen in the Persian Gulf this week but left their dock in mid-November.

Dismissive federal statements came in the face of seemingly credible eyewitness reports — including a worrisome encounter between a Coast Guard cutter and a fleet of drones in the waters off Island Beach State Park.

On Friday, sailors approached outside U.S. Coast Guard Station Barnegat Light declined to speak to The Post about Monday’s incident, offering smiles instead.

A Coast Guard official confirmed the encounter, saying only that “several low-altitude aircraft were sighted” by sailors, and “no immediate threat or disruption to operations was identified.”

The NYPD’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating recent drone sightings in the five boroughs, and they have at least 109 drones in their possession.

“We have NYPD detectives as well as FBI agents and state officials and they are working on this,” said spokesman Carlos Nieves, who declined to provide specific details about the investigation.

“FBI New York is aware of recent sightings of possible drones flying at multiple locations in the New York area,” the FBI said in its statement. “FBI New York is engaged with our federal, state and local partners to share information and protect the public. As always, reports of suspicious or criminal activity can be reported to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submitted online. tips.fbi.gov,

At a gathering of state officials in Trenton this week, federal investigators reportedly told local officials they should take drones out, Van Drew told The Post.

“[They had]the courage and the courage to tell the local sheriffs, local police departments and firefighters that they needed to do something about shooting him down, so that they could investigate,” he said, commenting ” “Inadvertently” and “no official directive was issued by any federal agency.”

“This is not an investigation for your municipal police force or county sheriff’s office. Are you kidding me? I have never seen anything like it.”

Firefighters in the state this week received guidance from the New Jersey Division of Fire Protection not to go near any downed drones. Instead, local police, the FBI, hazmat teams and bomb squads were called to the scene, according to a document seen by The Post.

Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) told The Post that she believes “there is more to (drones) than what we are being told.” He also questioned Kirby’s claims.

“A police officer and members of our Coast Guard saw these groups of drones, so it doesn’t make much sense to me,” the GOP pol said.

Even if all drone sightings were actually misidentified manned aircraft, it raises another question, Malliotakis said.

“Where are all these extra aircraft coming from, and is it safe?” he asked.

He said federal workers have been “very lax” in their response to the worrying scenes.

“This has been handled very poorly by this administration, especially in this post-Chinese spy balloon World. this is not normal. “We don’t typically have this type of flying activity around our communities.”

“The Fed’s sluggish response to drones doesn’t reflect that we are the most powerful country in the world,” Van Drew said. “It is sad to see us in such a condition. Damn the government is behaving foolishly.

“President-elect Trump can’t come into office any time soon,” he said. “This wouldn’t be happening if Donald Trump were president,” he said. We may already have the answers.”