No security threat from reported drone sightings, US federal agencies state 

The United States government says there is no threat to national security or public safety from reported sightings of mystery drones that have stirred public concern in parts of the country.

“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,” the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Residents of several northeastern states have reported flights of unidentified drones, a phenomenon that has sparked worries over possible foreign involvement as well as accusations of a US government cover-up.

The joint statement said the FBI has received tips of more than 5,000 reported drone sightings in the past few weeks with about 100 leads generated. The government has sent “advanced detection technology” to the regions affected, including 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,” they said.

The statement pointed out that there are more than 1 million drones lawfully registered with the FAA in the US and there are thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones lawfully in the sky on any given day.

But video footage shot by local residents of apparently unidentified aircraft in the night sky has continued to flood social media with sightings reported in states including New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia.

Some observers said they appear larger than those normally used for recreational purposes. Others have speculated that they could be UFOs (unidentified flying objects) from space or spy planes from China or Iran.

Drones have also been spotted near three military bases in Britain, but they have not been identified as hostile, the US air force said.

The drones in the northeastern US have been spotted near President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in the town of Bedminster, New Jersey, and the Picatinny Arsenal, a US military research and manufacturing facility also in New Jersey.

It is legal to fly drones, but there are FAA regulations that limit their size and weight as well as where they can fly to protect civil aviation and government installations.

Trump called for greater government transparency about the drones on Monday, adding that the US government “knows what is happening”.