Olivia DeMattio, outside Simple Coffee in Mendham, New Jersey on Thursday, is one of many New Jersey residents who have seen large drones at night over their houses and businesses. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey),
The mysterious drone sightings that have baffled residents of multiple states since mid-November are prompting a universal question: Is it legal to shoot down a drone?
,
Here’s the short answer: It’s not.
The question was initially raised by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, where multiple sightings of the unmanned aircraft have been frustrating residents for weeks. Last week, Smith urged the Pentagon to authorize use of force to bring down drones after they were spotted tailing a Coast Guard vessel off the Jersey shore.
,
“Why can’t we bag at least one of these drones and get to the bottom of it?” Smith said.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) also has called for the drones to “shot down.”
,
The Federal Aviation Administration includes drones in its definition of aircraft under the Aircraft Sabotage Act, and it’s a federal offense to damage or destroy it, even if it’s flying over private property. Anyone found to be in violation of the law may be criminally prosecuted, face civil penalties, or both.
Nearly a dozen Eastern states have reported drones buzzing overhead, some flying alone or in pairs but also in a cluster of drones. Some are as large as an SUV.
,
Political leaders are calling on the federal government to deploy high-tech drone hunters using recently declassified technology to help unravel the mystery that has baffled and alarmed residents of the Northeast over the past four weeks.
This weekend, an airport was shut down for about an hour Friday in New York’s Hudson Valley because of drone activity in the airspace. Two men were arrested and accused of operating a drone “dangerously close” to Boston’s Logan International Airport Saturday night, and a third man escaped. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, was shut down for about four hours late Friday and early Saturday because drones were too close.
,
It was the first time drones had been spotted at the base, one of the largest in the world, and no sightings have been reported since, Purtiman said Monday. He said the drones had no impact on any facilities on the base.
Also this past weekend, two SUV-sized drones were spotted near a PSE&G nuclear power plant in New Jersey and utility officials asked the FAA to shut down the airspace over sensitive sites.
“This has gone too far,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement after Stewart International Airport in New Windsor, New York, was shut down. Hochul supports reform legislation strengthening the FAA’s oversight of drones, and extending the same authority to select state and local law enforcement agencies.
In a news conference Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) urged the Department of Homeland Security to deploy high-tech drone hunters using the technology that was initially developed
“If the technology exists for a drone to make it up into the sky, there certainly is the technology that can track the craft with precision and determine what the heck is going on,” Schumer said.
,
The federal government has offered few answers about the mysterious unmanned flights. The Biden administration has come under criticism from President-elect Donald Trump for not dealing with the matter more aggressively.
In a call with reporters Saturday that was organized by the White House, senior officials from the FBI, Pentagon, Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies sought to assure people that the drones are not a national security or public safety threat, or the handiwork of a malicious foreign actor.
The White House has said a review of the reported sightings shows that many of them are actually manned aircraft being flown lawfully, echoing the opinion of officials and drone experts.
The federal Homeland Security Department and FBI also said in a joint statement they have no evidence that the sightings pose “a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.”
Speculation has nevertheless raged online, with some expressing concerns that the drones could be part of a nefarious plot by foreign agents.
,
Officials stress that ongoing investigations have found no evidence to support such concerns, but Smith, the New Jersey congressman, on Saturday echoed such speculation.
“The elusive maneuvering of these drones suggests a major military power sophistication that begs the question whether they have been deployed to test our defense capabilities — or worse — by violent dictatorships, perhaps maybe Russia, or China, or Iran, or North Korea,” he said.
On Monday, Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder cast doubt on the idea that the drones are engaged in intelligence gathering, given how loud and bright they are. He said about 1 million drones are registered drones in the U.S. and about 8,000 flying on any given day.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh has said the aircraft are not U.S. military drones.
The growing anxiety among some residents is not lost on the Biden administration, which has faced criticism from President-elect Donald Trump for not dealing with the matter more aggressively.
,
Trump has said he believes the government knows more than it’s saying.
“Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!” he posted on Truth Social.
Drones are increasingly used by multiple industries, among them agriculture, real estate, construction, insurance and telecommunications. They’re also used in search and rescue operations, disaster response and by law enforcement.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
,Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.