Middletown Mayor: Feds Need To Stop Dismissing Drone Danger

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — On Wednesday, Middletown Mayor Tony Perry said he attended a two-hour meeting about the drones that left him "with more questions and concerns than when I arrived."

Wednesday's meeting was led by the NJ State Police, and was described as an "intelligence meeting" about the drone sightings in New Jersey.

"Unfortunately, the FBI — the agency charged with investigating these drones — was not present to share any information," said Perry.

The FBI launched a probe into the drone sightings on Nov. 26. On Tuesday, the FBI told Congress they have not yet identified an individual or group responsible for the drones.

NJ State Police have been unable to detect any signal coming from the drones, preventing them from identifying who is operating them, according to Perry. Perry also said State Police told him the drones are believed to have the capability to fly for six hours, and so far, no drones have crashed or been captured.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Defense Congressman Jeff Van Drew's statement to Fox News that the drones were coming from an off-shore Iranian "mothership" is factually inaccurate and not correct.

“There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there’s no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States," Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters Wednesday.

"These are not U.S. military drones," she added. "This is being investigated by local law enforcement. Our initial assessment here is that these are not drones or activities coming from a foreign entity or adversary."

Van Drew told Fox News this week the drones were being launched from an offshore Iranian ship, saying he was told this by "high," "qualified" and "responsible" sources.

However, the Coast Guard does continue to monitor the New Jersey coast for possible boats that may be serving as a base for these drones, according to State Police.

These drones are "far from hobbyist toys," said Assemblyman and former Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra, who was also at Wednesday's meeting. He said State Police aircraft have observed drones at least six feet in size flying in swarms of 50.

The drones are only seen flying at night. They turn their lights off when approached, and have gone over restricted air space multiple times, Kanitra told the Asbury Park Press.

Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ4), who represents the southern half of Middletown, sent this letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin this week, asking him to "immediately (use) all capabilities at his disposal" to address the drones, including shooting them down.

Smith is asking for this after more than dozen drones followed a U.S. Coast Guard boat off Barnegat Light "in close pursuit" last weekend. In other occurrence, Smith said he was on the beach Monday at Island Beach State Park with Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy, where Mastronardy's officers saw "50 drones come in off the ocean," the Bergen Record reported.

Smith said he is concerned about the drones conducting surveillance on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst

"As you know, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst possess capabilities to identify and take down unauthorized unmanned aerial systems," said Smith to the U.S. Defense Secretary. "As we saw with the Chinese spy balloon last year, our fiercest adversaries will stop at nothing to surveil our homeland and threaten our national security."

Kanitra also wants the drones shot down: "I have 25 miles of coastline in my district. We could safely bring this down over a non-populated area and get our hands on one," he told Fox News Thursday.

Meanwhile, also Wednesday Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden called here on Gov. Murphy to declare a State of Emergency and issue an executive order banning recreational drone use during nighttime hours.

"The proliferation of recreational drones has created a host of challenges for law enforcement and emergency response teams," said Golden. "De-drone equipment must be made available at the state level. We cannot wait any longer. The governor must act now, and the Air National Guard needs to step in to protect our communities."

"Until we identify these drones and their origin, the state and federal governments must stop dismissing the potential danger," said Middletown Mayor Perry.

“The time to act is now," said Congressman Smith.