A mysterious drone phenomenon centered in New Jersey is prompting government officials to renew calls for more force as counter-drone authorizations expire this week.
Current counter-drone authorities, authorized as part of the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act, require both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to use advanced detection technology to identify drones, Authorized to track and intercept. Not complying with the law.
The 2018 measure exempts government agencies from other laws that prevent aircraft interference and warrantless eavesdropping. The bill expires Dec. 20, so lawmakers will need to add a last-minute extension to the bridging spending bill to fund the government this week to prevent it from expiring.
But government officials say the piecemeal 11th-hour approach undermines their ability to counter the drone threat.
Social media users said they captured multiple drones hovering over Fairfield, Conn., Thursday night. (Lucy Biggers)
“You can’t properly budget for it, you can’t strategically plan for the future,” Stephen Willoughby, deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Drone Countermeasures, said at a security forum last week.
“In recent years, the administration has expanded federal UAS authority, which itself is very limited, with additional authority to authorize state and local governments to use certain C-UAS. “We’ve been exploring the use of technology under federal oversight,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters on a weekend conference call. “The bill is pending.”
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A Department of Homeland Security official said that while there is “no known malicious activity in New Jersey,” the sightings there “highlight gaps in our current agency and therefore pose important questions to Congress.” We urge the passage of anti-UAS legislation.”
The White House-backed Counter-UAS Authority, Security, and Reauthorization Act of 2024 would expand the government’s drone authority, renew it through 2028, and add new state and local drone authorities.
However, another bipartisan House bill supports giving the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the authority to not only regulate the use of drones, but to regulate their use in the airspace of proposed states. and would reduce the powers of local governments.
But lawmakers don’t have time to debate which agencies should be given what powers before they lose them completely. As such, the narrow expansion of powers through stopgap measures is expected to last only a few months.
Drone experts not convinced of other theories about New Jersey drone phenomenon, deny US government experiment
For about a month, New Jersey residents have been reporting to authorities after seeing a mysterious 6-foot-wide drone floating in the night sky. Sightings have ranged from four to 180, some of which appear to be operating in tandem, with several unmanned aircraft systems seen near the Army’s Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle.
Law enforcement agencies have little explanation for the phenomenon, but they are discouraging the public from assuming that the drones originate from a foreign adversary.
A Pentagon official told reporters over the weekend: “To date, we have no information or observations that would indicate that they were collaborating with foreign adversaries or had any malicious intent.” he said. “But we just have to say we don’t know.”
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The official added, “We have not been able to locate or identify the operator or the origin. Our authority is very limited when it comes to moving off-base.”
“We are also severely restricted, and rightfully so, in fact prohibited, from intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance here in our homeland.”
Additional unauthorized drone sightings have been recorded near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, where a sighting led authorities to close airspace for four hours, and Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany in recent days.
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