The federal government does not have the authority to take out drones spotted over New York and New Jersey, according to the head of the Department of Homeland Security.
Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says that authorities need to be expanded for DHS and its partners to ‘incapacitate’ these mystery drones.
It comes after President-elect Donald Trump suggested that the unmanned aircraft be shot down.
‘Mystery Drone sightings all over the Country. Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge,’ Trump posted on Friday amid outcry over the ongoing mystery.
‘I don’t think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!’ the former and future president wrote on his social media site Truth Social.
Asked whether this was a possibility, Mayorkas told ABC News on Sunday that in order to be able to take more action, his agency needs to be given more powers.
‘With respect of the ability to incapacitate those drones, we are limited in our authorities,’ Mayorkas told This Week host George Stephanopoulos.
‘We have certain agencies within the Department of Homeland Security that can do that and outside our department,’ he added. ‘But we need those authorities expanded, as well.’
He divulged that there are more than 8,000 drones flown every day in the U.S., including civilian and government for both work and leisure activities.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said Sunday that on the congressional side, lawmakers are looking for more transparency on the issue of drones.
‘This just can’t be, no one knows why this huge drone is over their house,’ she told CBS News’ Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan.
Klobuchar said that Congress needs a briefing on the matter, but assured the Biden administration ‘has repeatedly assured people that they are safe.’
Mayorkas claims a new law allowing for drones to be flown in the U.S. at night is likely what is leading to an uptick in reports of these spottings.
There has been a massive outcry in New Jersey and New York over people seeing drones outside their homes at night.
It appears so far that officials were caught off guard by the mysterious nationwide drone sightings and are working to identify them and address the concern.
Fears are growing over the mysterious objects that have been spotted flying across the sky in a number of U.S. cities in the last month – specifically in New Jersey, New York and Washington D.C.
Their presence has raised both alarm and confusion, with the Pentagon being criticised for their ‘lack of transparency’ on the issue.
Mayorkas confirmed that the government is aware of the sightings and reports of drones, but did not expand on what is being done to fix the issue or reassure Americans that they are not a threat.
Trump trolled reports of the drone sightings by making former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie the butt of the joke.
He posted to X and Truth Social over the weekend an AI image of Christie chowing down on McDonalds with several drones delivering red to-go bags from the Golden Arches fast food chain to his 2024 primary election rival.