Drone sightings in the United States linked to legal activities, “even stars”, according to the White House

WASHINGTON

The White House said Monday that recent reports of drone sightings in the northeastern United States, including New Jersey and New York, involve a mix of commercial drones, amateur activity and even misidentified objects such as stars.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the FBI had received about 5,000 tips regarding drone sightings in recent weeks, with about 100 cases warranting further investigation.

The federal government supports state and local authorities in investigating these reports, Kirby told reporters during a webinar, noting that additional detection technologies and trained visual observers have been deployed to the region.

“After careful review of the data, after carefully reviewing the information and gathering it as best we can from concerned citizens, we believe that the sightings to date include a combination of legal commercial drones, hobbyist drones and drones law enforcement, as well as manned drones, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and even stars that have been mistakenly reported as drones,” he said.

“We have not identified anything abnormal or any risks to national security or public safety in the civil airspace of New Jersey or other Northeast states. The work continues.

“But I want to emphasize again: our assessment at this point is that the activity represents commercial, amateur or law enforcement drones, all operating legally and lawfully, as well as civil aviation aircraft, so that we continue to work on the avenues that exist,” added Kirby.

Kirby also said that more than a million drones are registered with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and thousands of commercial, hobbyist and police drones operate legally across the United States.

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