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In response to mounting public calls for an explanation, the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, and Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) jointly stated the recent wave of drone sightings over the East Coast states of New Jersey and New York.

“There are more than one million drones lawfully registered with the FAA in the United States and there are thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones lawfully in the sky on any given day. With the technology landscape evolving, we expect that number to increase over time,” the joint statement began.

“FBI has received tips of more than 5,000 reported drone sightings in the last few weeks with approximately 100 leads generated, and the federal government is supporting state and local officials in investigating these reports. Consistent with each of our unique missions and authorities, we are quickly working to prioritize and follow these leads. We have sent advanced detection technology to the region. And we have sent trained visual observers,” the statement added.

It continued, “Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones. We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast.”

“That said, we recognize the concern among many communities. We continue to support state and local authorities with advanced detection technology and support of law enforcement. We urge Congress to enact counter-UAS legislation when it reconvenes that would extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities to identify and mitigate any threat that may emerge,” it added.

“Additionally, there have been a limited number of visual sightings of drones over military facilities in New Jersey and elsewhere, including within restricted air space. Such sightings near or over DoD installations are not new. DoD takes unauthorized access over its airspace seriously and coordinates closely with federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities, as appropriate. Local commanders are actively engaged to ensure there are appropriate detection and mitigation measures in place,” the statement concluded.

Meanwhile, the FBI office in Newark has taken action to warn the public that they risk hurting themselves if they attempt to fire down the unmanned drones.

Officials have been accused of exacerbating the situation by refusing to come clean and have been under pressure to explain the sightings.

Members of the House Intelligence Committee are anticipated to be briefed on the mystery on Tuesday.

President-elect Donald Trump weighed in on the unidentified flying objects over Eastern states.

Speaking from Mar-a-Lago, the 47th president spoke alongside SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son, where they announced SoftBank’s plans to invest $100 billion in the United States over the next four years.

After the announcement, Trump took questions from reporters in the room and was eventually asked about “unidentified objects” as well as what he thought about them.

“The government knows what is happening,” Trump said when asked about the report of “drones” flying over New Jersey. “Look, our military knows where they took off from. If it’s a garage, they can go right into that garage. They know where it came from and where it went. And for some reason, they don’t want to comment.”

“I think they’d be better off saying what it is our military knows and what our president knows,” Trump continued, suggesting a lack of transparency at the highest levels of the US Government. “And for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense.”

“I can’t imagine it’s the enemy because it was the enemy that blasted out. Even if they were late, that blast it,” he added, pouring cold water on it, as it was an operation conducted by a foreign enemy. He said, “Something strange is going on. For some reason, they don’t want to tell the people and they should because the people are really I mean, they happen to be over Bedminster. We know that. We are very … they’re very close to Bedminster. I think maybe I won’t spend the weekend in Bedminster. I’ve decided to cancel my trip.”

“Have you received an intelligence briefing on the drones?” Trump was asked.

“I don’t want to comment on that,” he replied.

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