Top state officials in New York are urging the federal government to deploy special detection systems to track down drones. NBC New York’s Brittany Miller reports.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says the feds are sending drone detection systems to the state after her request for additional resources to address the rash of sightings, the Democrat said in a post on X over the weekend.
Hochul said the drone detection system is made by the company Robin Radar. It's not clear if a similar system is being sent to New Jersey, which also has been plagued by dozens of unexplained drone sightings since Thanksgiving.
In response to my calls for additional resources, our federal partners are sending a drone detection system to New York.
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) December 15, 2024
I am grateful for the support, but we need more. Congress must pass a law that will give us the power to deal directly with the drones.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said late Sunday he had gotten an FBI briefing on the matter, though he didn't immediately discuss specifics.
After weeks of fear and bewilderment about the drones buzzing over parts of New York and New Jersey, elected officials are urging action to identify and stop the mysterious flights. Some have called to shoot down drones. Others have posited they could be from some foreign adversary. Most say, above all, it's past time for an explanation.
National security officials have said the drones don’t appear to be a sign of foreign interference or a public safety threat. But because they can’t say with certainty who is responsible for the sudden swarms of drones over parts of New Jersey, New York and other eastern parts of the U.S. — or how they can be stopped — has led leaders of both political parties to demand better technology and powers to deal with the drones.
Sen. Chuck Schumer called Sunday for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to deploy better drone-tracking technology to identify the drones and their operators.
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“New Yorkers have tremendous questions about it,” Schumer, the Senate Majority leader, told reporters about the drone sightings. “We are going to get the answers for them.”
The federal government did little to answer those questions in its own media briefings Sunday morning.
“There’s no question that people are seeing drones,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “But I want to assure the American public that we are on it. We are working in close coordination with state and local authorities.”
On Long Island, authorities say drone sightings are up dramatically as well in recent days, though they believe the media attention surrounding the goings-on in New Jersey is fueling the increase in reports.
