US Senator says mysterious New Jersey drones should be ‘shot down’

A US senator has called for “if necessary to shoot down” mysterious drones flying over sensitive areas in New Jersey and other parts of the Mid-Atlantic region as it remains unclear who owns them.

“We should urgently conduct an intelligence analysis and get them out of the sky, especially if they are flying over airports or military bases,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said Thursday as concerns about the drones spread across Capitol Hill.

People in the New York area are also concerned that the drones could share airspace with commercial airlines, he said.

“The Biden administration should take more aggressive action against these reported drones. If only to tell the American people who owns them, who flies them and what they are. The lack of information is absolutely unacceptable,” Blumenthal, a fellow Democrat, said of the president.

The drones appear to evade detection by traditional methods such as helicopters and radio, according to a state lawmaker briefed by the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday.

Gov. Phil Murphy and law enforcement officials have stressed that they do not appear to pose a threat to public safety. The FBI has begun an investigation and asked residents to share any videos, photos and other information they may have.

The number of sightings has increased in recent days, although officials say many of the objects seen may have been aircraft rather than drones. It is also possible that a single drone was reported more than once.

The concern stems in part from the flying objects initially spotted near the Picatinny Arsenal, a U.S. military research and production facility. and over President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster.

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