A New Jersey Senator Went Out Searching For Drones, And His Tweets Are Seriously Wild
In case you haven't been following, mysterious drones have been spotted in New Jersey for weeks now.
Everyone in New Jersey trying to spot a drone pic.twitter.com/x28OjsKOTK
— socialist sopranos memes (@gabagoolmarx) December 12, 2024
According to USA Today, the drones first started appearing on November 18 and have been spotted ever since.
In the past week, things have really heated up with major politicians and the FBI making statements about the sightings.
Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal said we should shoot them out of the sky, saying, "We should be doing some very urgent intelligence analysis and take them out of the skies, especially if they’re flying over airports or military bases."
New Jersey Senator Corey Booker urged the FBI to be more transparent about the whole thing, publicly releasing his letter to federal agencies saying, "There is a growing sense of uncertainty and urgency across the state — from constituents and local officials alike — despite assurances that the drones pose no known threats to public safety. I urge you to share any relevant information about these drone sightings with the public. Without transparency, I believe that rumors, fear, and misinformation will continue to spread."
Yesterday, White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said the drone sightings don't pose a threat: "We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat or have a foreign nexus... We have not been able to...corroborate any of the reported visual sightings."
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security also released a statement saying authorities have found no evidence that the drone sightings are a threat, with many of the reports being lawfully manned aircrafts.
Today, the @FBI and DHS jointly issued a statement on reported drone sightings in New Jersey ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/kzbmTzjvkr
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) December 12, 2024
And now, Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey went out with local police to document the drones himself, and his thread about the whole thing is pretty wild.
The Senator saw what appeared to be unidentified devices, some solid white while others flashed red and green.
Last night I went out with local police to spot drone flying over New Jersey, here’s what I saw. We drove to Round Valley Reservoir and the officer pointed to lights moving low over the tree line. Sometimes they were solid white light, others flashed of red and green.THREAD pic.twitter.com/ly7kUUDWDn
— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) December 13, 2024
He saw 5-7 lights at a time.
We oriented ourselves with a flight tracker app to help us distinguish from airplanes. We often saw about 5-7 lights at a time that were low and not associated with aircraft we could see on the tracker app. Some hovered while others moved across the horizon. 2/11 pic.twitter.com/ZryJlWA97X
— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) December 13, 2024
A few appeared to be moving in clusters of 2-4.
We saw a few that looked like they were moving in small clusters of 2-4. We clearly saw several that would move horizontally and then immediately switch back in the opposite direction in maneuvers that plane can’t do. 3/11 pic.twitter.com/8Bf6hI49gD
— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) December 13, 2024
The police officers he was with said they have been seeing them every night.
The police officer said they see them out every night. They only seem to start when it gets dark and they disappear before dawn. They get reports that they sometimes fly low over homes, especially up in the hills. 4/11 pic.twitter.com/GdnZr7eoBs
— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) December 13, 2024
The officers said they tried to get closer with a helicopter but the lights turned off when they approached.
The officer said they’ve tried to get closer with use of a helicopter but that the drones would turn off the lights and go dark if approached. 5/11
— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) December 13, 2024
The Senator met someone who saw one the size of the hood of a car.
The parking lot at the reservoir had a number of cars of people coming to take a look for themselves. Several shared with me their own stories of having seen some up close. One described them being the size of the hood of a car. 6/11 pic.twitter.com/phKY1I7WXz
— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) December 13, 2024
He said that a rural part of New Jersey has seen more activity.
I went to multiple locations across Hunterdon county to get different vantage points. This is a more rural part of NJ. It’s uncertain why it’s one of the more active area for reported activity. We are seeing reports through other parts of the state. 7/11
— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) December 13, 2024
The Senator also urged people to submit any footage of the apparent drones to the FBI.
Any images or video footage people get, the police urge them to submit to the FBI, but I haven’t gotten any follow up yet from the FBI on their investigation and what they’ve compiled. 8/11
— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) December 13, 2024
He said details remain unclear about the whole thing.
Homeland Security Secretary briefed last week on new technology they were deploying but we need details on what those efforts have yielded and if more resources are needed. If they haven’t fully identified the devices yet we still should know what is being done. 9/11
— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) December 13, 2024
He finished off the thread by saying just how strange it is that we haven't discovered what these things are, "It’s hard to understand how with the technology we have we aren’t able to track these devices to determine origin and this makes me much more concerned about our capabilities more broadly when it comes to drone detection and counter measures."
This has gone on for weeks. It’s hard to understand how with the technology we have we aren’t able to track these devices to determine origin and this makes me much more concerned about our capabilities more broadly when it comes to drone detection and counter measures. 10/11
— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) December 13, 2024
And lastly, he said he'll continue to track developments until the people of NJ get the answers they deserve.
I’ll continue to track these developments and share as much as possible to the people of NJ that deserve more answers than they are getting. END
— Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) December 13, 2024
I don't know about you, but, uh, yeah, this is thing starting to freak me out.
