Airport Alert: Four Federal Agencies Released Statement About Their Ongoing Response to Reported Drone Sightings in the U.S.
December 17, 2024
Yesterday evening, the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a joint statement discussing their ongoing response to drone sightings in New Jersey and other locations in the United States. They stated that multiple agencies have determined that there is “no threat to national security or public safety”. The full statement is included below.
In a previous DHS and FBI statement on December 12, the two agencies asserted that historically many of these sightings have been manned aircraft or inaccurate.
Members of Congress from both parties have been calling for immediate legislative action to deal with the issue, including authorizing the deployment of new technology to help state and local authorities to deal with the threat.
Over the past two years, Congress has introduced several bills to reauthorize and expand the use of counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) detection and mitigation systems to protect airports and other critical infrastructure from nefarious and unauthorized drone threats. Only one bill, H.R. 8610, the Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act, has advanced favorably out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Last week at a hearing on how to safeguard the homeland from UAS threats, House Homeland Security Committee members, who co-authored H.R.8610, spoke about the need to enact this bill into law. However, with the 118th Congress winding down, that is unlikely to occur. Instead, AAAE expects that counter-UAS legislation will be considered by the next Congress.
AAAE’s Transportation Security Services Committee will discuss C-UAS and recent drone activities on its monthly call, scheduled for Wednesday, December 18 at 2 p.m. ET.
DHS, FBI, FAA & DoD Joint Statement on Ongoing Response to Reported Drone Sightings
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.
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.
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.
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.
