Whether the mysterious drones swarming over the east coast are coming from an Iranian mothership or not, officials are demanding action. New York Governor Kathy Hochul insisted Friday night that the feds “step in.” On Saturday, the House Homeland Security Committee held a big hearing on the subject. They spent most of their time grilling federal administrators about why they aren’t doing their jobs and shooting these things down.
On Friday night, December 13, the “mysterious drones” shut down the runways of Stewart International Airport. “This has gone too far,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared. That landing strip serves both commercial and military flights. It’s also “adjacent to a New York Air National Guard base, where the 105th Airlift Wing is stationed.”
Congress is demanding to know why federal law enforcement authorities feel they aren’t allowed to shoot them down. If they aren’t, then who is? Furious lawmakers demanded to know. The feds have the authority, they’re simply not using it.
One law enforcer broke the declared rules of engagement and tried to bring one of the drones down anyway. He was surprised to learn his own “industrial grade” model couldn’t come close to getting the job done.
Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy used his own equipment to “follow one of 50 unmanned aerial vehicles.” A local cop saw them “coming off the ocean.” Not from an Iranian mothership or anything, the FBI continues to maintain.
The sheriff dutifully alerted “the state police, the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard.” The Coast Guard confirmed “13 drones, with wingspans of eight feet” trailing “one of their vessels.”
The one Sheriff Mastronardy tried to nab “swiftly maneuvered out of their clutches.”
Nearly a month
For nearly a month, swarms of SUV sized “unidentified drones” have been hovering over New Jersey. They’ve likewise been spotted “in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts.” In New York, besides buzzing Stewart International, they disrupted air traffic by flying over LaGuardia International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.
Hochul was making the same complaint as most lawmakers at Saturday’s hearing. Law enforcement has the authority, why aren’t they using it?
News Nation reporter Rich McHugh spotted drones himself. “If this is not our military, then it’s even more scary,” McHugh relates. “These things look like they are fixed-wing and they have multiple lights. I’m not really sure how to process what I saw last night. Both the photographer and I were kind of stunned.”
Joe Biden’s handlers are taking the official position that “most reports were likely to be cases where manned aircraft were mistaken for drones.” It will be interesting to see what he has to say when someone manages to shoot one down, legally or illegally.
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