‘Wild West of drones’: Anxiety heightens as officials seek to reassure public there’s no threat

By Steve Almasy, Brad Lendon and Hanna Park, CNN

(CNN) — As pressure mounts on federal officials to address ongoing concerns about possible drone sightings, East Coast residents, especially in New Jersey, remain on edge, with similar reports now emerging in Ohio, including a temporary airspace closure over a vital military base.

Federal officials have so far downplayed many of the reported sightings, saying they are likely small airplanes or other manned aircraft. But they nonetheless expressed concern Sunday on sightings seen across at least six states – with Ohio potentially becoming the seventh to report unexplained drone activity.

“I want to assure the American public that we are on it,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

Mayorkas said federal officials are not aware of direct national security concerns tied to the possible drone sightings.

“We know of no foreign involvement with respect to the sightings in the Northeast, and we are vigilant in investigating this matter,” he said.

His comments Sunday came a day after telling CNN, “Let me calm those nerves. We have not seen anything unusual. We know of no threat. We know of no nefarious activity.”

The recent surge in drone sightings over sensitive military installations has prompted federal authorities to take action. In a notable case, a man has been arrested for allegedly violating airspace regulations related to a key military base, the Justice Department announced last week.

Yinpiao Zhou, 39, of Brentwood, California, has been arrested for allegedly flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and photographing its layout. Charged with failing to register an aircraft and violating national defense airspace, Zhou was detained at San Francisco International Airport while attempting to board a flight to China.

Inconsistencies in messaging from various officials

Weeks of unexplained drone sightings in New Jersey have left residents and officials confused by inconsistent messaging from authorities. While public safety officials and residents demand a clear response, White House national security communications adviser John Kirby reassured the public on Thursday that there is no threat to safety.

Gregory McNeal, a drone expert, told CNN that growing distrust in government communication is fueling demands for greater transparency and accountability from federal officials.

“While this may reflect a broader issue in the discourse of American politics, it is certainly a fact that both elected officials and citizens believe they are not getting reliable information from the government. It’s not necessarily that the information is inaccurate. Rather, they do not trust the details being provided by the government,” McNeal said.

New Jersey Republican Assemblyman Erik Peterson went so far as to accuse federal officials of dishonesty.

“They’re lying. That’s the long and the short of it,” he said in an interview with CNN’s Victor Blackwell. Peterson, who said he has seen drones flying above his rural residence, said the lack of streetlights and nearby flight paths makes them easy to spot.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey expressed frustration over the lack of information from federal authorities.

“I’ve had briefings that make me feel confident there’s not an imminent threat to public safety, but it doesn’t answer the question, where are all these drones coming from?” he said. “It can’t be the Wild West of drones out there in Jersey or anywhere else. We got to get to the bottom of this, and people deserve answers.”

“Getting hold of what these drones exactly are, is very, very hard,” Scott Clancy, a former Royal Canadian Air Force general who served as director of operations for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, told CNN’s Kasie Hunt on Monday. Clancy said sensors to identify craft with “low radar cross-sections” are “very localized” and distinguishing between threats and legal operations is difficult.

Drone activity triggers airspace closures

Meanwhile, reports emerged Sunday of drone activity near one of the US Air Force’s biggest and most important bases in Ohio.

Officials closed airspace over Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton for nearly four hours late Friday into early Saturday, according to a base spokesperson and Notice to Airmen. Bob Purtiman, chief of public affairs for the 88th Air Base Wing, confirmed the restriction to CNN affiliate WHIO.

This airspace closure was first reported by The War Zone on Sunday.

CNN reached out to the Air Force for comment, but did not immediately hear back.

Wright-Patterson is home to critical US Air Force commands, including the Air Force Research Lab, which bills itself as looking for ways to counter “technological advancements (that) bring threats to our way of life,” according to a video on its website.

The undated video animation shows an image of a drone approaching what looks like a remote US military outpost.

Massachusetts on Saturday also joined the list of where sightings have been reported. New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Virginia have also had sightings.

The reports in the Northeast began November 18 near Morris County, New Jersey, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Republican Assemblyman Paul Kanitra of New Jersey told CNN’s Sara Sidner Friday there had been drone sightings every night since then. Kanitra said federal officials were losing trust with the American people because several of the drone reports have come from places like military facilities, but federal officials have been dismissive.

FBI official says there has been ‘slight overreaction’

The FBI and DHS have said they believe most of the drone sightings are cases of “mistaken identity,” with members of the public misidentifying small, legally-operated manned aircraft for drones.

An FBI official on Saturday noted some drone sightings reported to tip lines were matched to similar flight approach patterns from nearby airports.

There’s been a “slight overreaction” to the reports, the FBI official said at a news conference. Still, he noted: “We can’t ignore the sightings that have been there, and we are concerned about those just as much as anybody else is.”

Republican Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming national security adviser, took issue on Sunday with drones reported over military sites and restricted air spaces, including near President-elect Donald Trump’s home in Bedminster, New Jersey.

“I think what the drone issue points out are kind of gaps in our agencies, gaps in our authorities, between the Department of Homeland Security, local law enforcement, the Defense Department,” he told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “It’s pointing to gaps in our capabilities and in our ability to clamp down on what’s going on here. We need to get to the bottom of it, and I think the Biden administration is working to do that.”

As drone activity has received extensive media coverage, former FBI Supervisory Special Agent Tom Adams told CNN that recent sightings may be driven by copycat behavior resulting from increased scrutiny of the issue.

Rob D’Amico, the former chief of the FBI counter-drone unit, told CNN that more than 90% of reported drone sightings are likely misidentified manned aircraft or natural objects, while the surge in drone activity is creating confusion and exposing critical gaps in airspace security.

“What you’re now seeing is people are starting to fly drones … to either make more chaos or to look for their own drones,” D’Amico said.

New York getting a new detection system

As states asked Washington for assistance with drones, federal authorities will be deploying a “state-of-the-art drone detection system” to New York state, according to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Hochul didn’t name the system or give any details like when it would go into operation.

“This system will support state and federal law enforcement in their investigations,” she said in a Sunday news release.

In Massachusetts, two men were arrested Saturday night on trespassing charges after a drone came “dangerously close” to Logan International Airport in Boston, police said in a statement.

And runways at New York’s Stewart International Airport were temporarily closed for about an hour Friday night after the Federal Aviation Administration alerted the airport’s operator to a drone sighting there, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport about 70 miles north of New York City.

Despite the reports, some are doubting that anything serious is going on.

One military veteran told CNN that federal authorities would be doing more than appearing on Sunday talk shows or giving briefings if people were in danger.

If the aircraft were “a legitimate threat, we would be seeing different kinds of action,” Missy Cummings, one of the Navy’s first female fighter pilots and now a professor at George Mason University, told CNN.

CNN’s Josh Campbell, Artemis Moshtaghian, Jack Forrest, Zoe Sottile, Sam Fossum, Michelle Watson and Isaac Yee contributed to this report.

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