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Whether wagging the dog or gaslighting competence, Biden administration officials addressed some of the concerns about spreading drone sightings as a “slight overreaction.”
(Video: Fox News)
Since mysterious objects had began littering the night sky over New Jersey in November, similar sightings have begun cropping up across the nation in places like California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Wyoming.
Saturday, U.S. national security officials representing the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FBI and the National Security Council joined a call with reporters hosted by officials from President Joe Biden’s administration in an attempt to quell concerns.
As detailed by Fox News Digital, an FBI official had contended of 5,000 tips called in since drones were first spotted above the Garden State last month, fewer than 100 had called for further investigation.
“We’re doing our best to find the origin of that specific…those drone activities,” the official expressed while suggesting, “But I think there has been a slight overreaction.”
Similar sentiments were shared across the board as a DHS official downplayed the situation, saying in part, “…the amount of actual drone activity is likely less than what’s being reported,” as a DOD official at once claimed their was no concern while also taking the position that they weren’t actually certain.
“…no intelligence or observations that would indicate that [the drones] were aligned with a foreign actor or that they had malicious intent,” the Pentagon official had said. “But, you know, just to simply tell you, we don’t know.”
“We have not been able to locate or identify the operators or the points of origin,” added the official.
Joining anchor Eric Shawn Saturday, former CIA operations officer Laura Ballman had told “Fox News Live” the whole situation was “extremely unsettling.”
“Now in terms of who is behind this, deducing the statements that have been made by John Kirby, who has said that these objects are not operating illegally, coupled with the several op-eds that have been out there in the last 24 hours about the need to look at our detection systems, makes me think perhaps this is actually a classified exercise to test either evasion technology or detection technology in urban areas,” she said.
To that end, Retired U.S. Army Col. Joe Buccino told “Fox Report” on Saturday, “It’s clear here that the Pentagon has some information.”
“And I think maybe we just keep in mind here that this is the same Pentagon that back in January lied about the location and condition of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, that lied about the conditions on the ground in Ukraine, that lied about this Chinese spy balloon for about a week,” argued the colonel. “So I think we can’t really be comfortable with the information we’re receiving here.”
Even President-elect Donald Trump had weighed in saying, “Mystery Drone sightings all over the Country. Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge. I don’t think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!”
Meanwhile, the DOD official had complained, “We’re also significantly restricted, and rightfully so, in fact, prohibited from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance here in the homeland.”
“So, we don’t have the same capabilities and the same methods that we would employ in other locations outside of the homeland to determine points of origin,” the Pentagon representative added. “Here, on the military side, we are just as frustrated with, you know, with the irresponsible nature of this activity.”
“Obviously, we are taking this incredibly seriously at this point,” an NSC official had asserted as an airport in New York State had to be temporarily shutdown due to drone activity in one example of the impact. “We have not identified any basis for believing that…there’s any criminal activity involved, that there’s any national security threat, that there’s any particular public safety threat or that there’s a malicious foreign actor involved in these drones.”
As claims were maintained that there was no threat but that the government wasn’t sure what was going on, what was clear was that a go-to response was ready to go in the form of broader powers for the officials.
In a statement released by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) Saturday, the executive pointed to the closure of Stewart Airfield when she said, “In mid-November, I directed the New York State Intelligence Center to actively investigate drone sightings and coordinate with federal law enforcement to address this issue, and those efforts are ongoing.”
“But in order to allow state law enforcement to work on this issue, I am now calling on Congress to pass the Counter-UAS (unmanned aerial systems) Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act. This bill,” said Hochul, “would reform legal authorities to counter-UAS and strengthen the FAA’s oversight of drones, and would extend counter-UAS activities to select state and local law enforcement agencies.”
“Extending these powers to New York State and our peers is essential. Until those powers are granted to state and local officials, the Biden Administration must step in by directing additional federal law enforcement to New York and the surround region to ensure the safety of our critical infrastructure and our people,” she concluded.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn’t researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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