In recent weeks, a number of drones have been sighted over New Jersey, prompting concern and thousands of telephone calls to report them. Some of those drones have even been sighted over Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle, both in New Jersey.
During an on-background telephone call today, officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration and the Joint Staff provided comment and answered questions from reporters about the drone sightings.
A spokesperson from the Joint Staff acknowledged that there had been sightings of drones over two military installations in New Jersey, but said such sightings are typical.
“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 said military installations have means to detect and respond to such drones, and that security personnel are trained to identify, categorize and employ those tools to keep drones from flying unauthorized over U.S. military bases.
A view of the Naval Weapons Station Earle sign located at the main side gate. NWS Earle, in New Jersey, is one location where drones have been sighted. © William Addison, U.S. Navy
Right now, the FBI, DHS, FAA and DOD have been unable to determine who is responsible for flying the drones, and there’s no indication that there are adversary nations involved.
“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.”
The spokesperson said that the military has “limited authorities” when it comes to conducting investigations off of military installations in the United States, and is also prohibited from conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations in the United States which might be used to determine the origins of who might be flying the drones. But the spokesperson also said those military installations have good relations with local law enforcement, who can conduct investigations off the installation.
“We have to coordinate with law enforcement to try to do that, which we are doing,” the spokesperson said. “And we do that on a routine basis at nearly all of our locations. We have good relationships and excellent coordination, and we respond quickly to try to identify them.”
The spokesperson also said the department is frustrated with the appearance of the drones.
“The main point is to deter the activity using some of our electronic means that can respond to most of these small commercial systems and deny them access to the airspace over our bases,” the spokesperson said. “We don’t know what the activity is. We don’t know … if it is criminal. But I will tell you that it is irresponsible. Here on the military side, we are just as frustrated with the irresponsible nature of this activity.”
