Fear of drones: US government wants to dispel concerns

After sightings of mysterious drones in the northeastern United States, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas tried to allay the population’s concerns. “I want to assure the American public that we are working on this,” Mayorkas said on ABC on Sunday. “Should we discover foreign involvement or criminal activity, we will inform the American public accordingly. However, at this time we are not aware of this,” the minister added.

Some of the aircraft spotted were “actually drones,” Mayorkas explained. Others are manned aircraft “which are often confused with drones.” “But there is no doubt that drones are being spotted,” the minister clarified.

For weeks, people in the states of New York and New Jersey on the US East Coast have been reporting mysterious drones in the sky. Photos of the flying objects with flashing lights and rotors have been circulating on the Internet for days. However, the US authorities have not yet provided any information about their origin. The government of President Joe Biden is increasingly being criticized for this.

Criticism also comes from Biden’s own party: Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer called on Sunday for a law to improve cooperation between federal, state and local authorities in identifying and, if necessary, “shooting down” dangerous drones. In a letter to Mayorkas, Schumer also called on the Department of Homeland Security to immediately deploy drone detection technology in New York and New Jersey because traditional radars cannot detect such small objects well.

Representative Jim Himes, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee for the Democrats, also criticized the information policy of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). “The answer ‘We don’t know’ is not a sufficient answer,” he said on Fox News. “When people are unsettled, they fill the vacuum with fears, worries and conspiracy theories,” warned Himes.

Meanwhile, in Boston, Massachusetts, police announced the arrest of two men accused of a “dangerous drone operation” at the city’s international airport. The police say they are still looking for a third suspect who fled.