'I don't buy it': Americans want answers on possible drone sightings
New Jersey residents 'starting to panic' over drones
- Published
A police officer looking off the coast of New Jersey late in the evening of 8 December witnessed a scene so striking that she called emergency services.
She said she saw 50 drones "the size of cars" flying in abnormal patterns over the ocean - and they were rapidly approaching the coastline.
Sheriff Michael Mastronardy was one of the first to arrive at the scene 15 minutes later. He and three other officers watched as the drones continued to move in the distance, heading in different directions and taking with them answers that have eluded local officials in several states.
"We're just looking for some sound, reasonable answers so that people could go about their life and not live in this hysteria that we have going," Sheriff Mastronardy told BBC News about a series of alleged drone sightings that is gripping the US East Coast.
Since mid-November, residents and local authorities there have regularly reported that drones are flying by the coastline, near major points of US infrastructure, or close to American military bases.
US authorities have stressed, however, that they do not believe what they are spotting poses any danger to the public or to US national security.
Officials from several US agencies said in a call with reporters that many of the drone sightings are a result of "a slight overreaction" - much to the frustration of Sheriff Mastronardy and residents who say they have seen drones flying over their towns.
"I was actually more frustrated when they said our eyesight was going or it was a figment of our imagination. That was an insult to many people," the sheriff told the BBC.
That is why, he and several other local witnesses told BBC news, that the federal government needs to be more transparent about what they know - even if they cannot share specific details.
'Something I've never seen before'
Noel Thomas was driving to buy a cup of coffee before dawn in his hometown of Edison, New Jersey, when he noticed a glowing red object out of the corner of his eye.
Soon, he said, he realised it was a triangle-shaped drone with three flashing lights of different colours hovering over a nearby power plant. He immediately called the police, who told them they had received similar reports overnight, and took a video.
More than 30 miles (48km) south, on his drive home to Montclair, New Jersey, Evan Cutler spotted an object so big he thought it was the moon at first.
It was the size of a school bus and rectangular with blinking lights, he said, and he believed it was much too low to be a plane or a helicopter.
"I've seen hundreds and hundreds of drones over the course of my life," Mr Cutler said. "It was definitely something I've never seen."
He reported it to the FBI, which says it has received more than 5,000 tips about alleged drone sightings over the past month. Only around 100 tips were worth following up, based on the FBI's analysis.
States in the US where there has been a recent pattern of drone sightings
Officials maintain this is nothing new. The United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM) has reported more than 600 similar incursions on restricted airspace since 2022, and has said that there are probably other instances that they did not know about.
And White House National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby stressed on Monday that there are more than 1 million drones registered with the Federal Aviation Administration and that thousands of them are flown each day legally.
Officials have also noted a change to federal law last year that allows more drones to be flown at night.
Stacie Pettyjohn, the director of the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security, suspects most of the large drones being spotted are in fact small airplanes - an assessment supported by publicly available flight-tracking data.
"It is hard to identify an object in the sky, especially at night with a camera or optical device," she told the BBC over email. "You need to be able to detect radio signals used to remotely fly the drone or radar that is optimized to track these small slow flying objects."
Still, the phenomenon has captured the imagination of Americans across the US and the lack of specific answers has led to an information vacuum that is, in turn, feeding speculation and conspiracy theories.
Olivia DeMattio, who owns a coffee shop in Mendham, New Jersey, said that her customers are constantly sharing their latest theories with the staff.
"We still have zero answers at all at this point, so we're definitely on the more concerned side," she said. "They can't say they don't know what it is and then there's no threat. That's like an oxymoron."
'How does that make my residents feel'
Local leaders have started to push for answers on behalf of their residents.
A collective of 21 mayors from New Jersey wrote to the state's governor on 8 December demanding a full investigation. The drone reports - and lack of satisfactory answers - had significantly alarmed half a million residents, they said.
One of those mayors was Ryan Herd of Pequannock Township, who said he was driven by the concerned calls he began receiving from residents at the end of November. Some asked whether the drones were spreading chemicals or if they had "the same capabilities to drop things on us as the ones in Ukraine".
Mr Herd and nearly 200 other local leaders received a briefing at the New Jersey state police headquarters three days after they sent their letter, he said.
They heard from Homeland Security and Defense Department officals, who said the military or tech companies were not responsible for the objects in the night sky. They claimed to have no idea who was behind it, Mr Herd said.
"I blew my top," he said. "This is America 2024 and you're telling me drones are flying over our houses and you have no idea who's flying them or where they're from?"
Mayor Michael Melham of Belleville, New Jersey, also attended the briefing. He said they were told these drones of unknown origin were flying over critical infrastructure, but they posed no credible threat and would not be shot down.
"I don't buy it," he said.
His views seemed to be shared by President-elect Donald Trump, who has said "the government knows what is happening" - though he declined to say whether that declaration was based on a government briefing.
Trump has also said mystery drones "happen to be over Bedminster", the home he owns in New Jersey. He said he had decided to cancel a weekend trip there as a result.
"How does that make my residents feel when the president-elect, who has a residence in New Jersey, is telling people that he's not coming here that weekend?" Mayor Melham said.
With the demand for answers growing, federal authorities have provided advanced radar systems to some states, even as they repeat that the lingering drone mystery is no mystery at all.
"But I want to stress again," Kirby said on Monday, "our assessment at this stage is that the activity represents commercial, hobbyist, (and) law enforcement drones - all operating legally and lawful - and/or civilian aviation aircraft."
Additional reporting by Pratiksha Ghildial