New Jersey governor briefed on drone sightings

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) said he received a briefing Sunday night about the drone sightings in the northeast.

“Received a briefing tonight from @FBINewark Special Agent in Charge Nelson Delgado and his team at @NWSEarleNJ in Colts Neck to discuss the @FBI’s investigation into recent drone sightings,” Murphy wrote on X.

“We are ready to assist the federal government in getting to the bottom of this,” he added.

Murphy wrote to President Biden on Friday asking for more help from the federal government.

"While I am sincerely grateful for your administration's leadership in addressing this concerning issue, it has become apparent that more resources are needed to fully understand what is behind this activity," Murphy wrote, adding that residents "deserve more concrete information."

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday there’s “no question” that the drone sightings are real, but that his agency has seen no evidence of foreign involvement.

“There’s no question that people are seeing drones,” Mayorkas said. “And I want to assure the American public that we, in the federal government, have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology, to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings.”

He also said there are several explanations for the uptick in sightings.

“Let me set the record straight here,” Mayorkas said. “There are thousands of drones flown every day in the United States — recreational drones, commercial drones. That is the reality.”

“And in September of 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, changed the rules so that drones could fly at night,” he continued. “And that may be one of the reasons why now people are seeing more drones than they did before, especially from dawn to dusk. And so that is the reality.”

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