US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that the drones seen in the skies over New York and New Jersey were not connected to foreign forces, DPA and Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
After numerous reports of drones seen in the eastern United States, the administration of President Joe Biden announced that it has provided additional resources to deal with the problem. Additional personnel and technology have been mobilized to support the police in New Jersey, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a television interview with ABC.
"There is no doubt that some people are seeing drones", Mayorkas said. However, other reports have been of manned aircraft, the minister believes.
"I want to assure the American public that we are working on this issue," he added.
Majorcas said that thousands of drones fly in the United States every day, and stressed that last year the Federal Aviation Administration changed the rules to allow them to fly at night.
He also reiterated that there is no evidence that foreign forces are involved in this case.
For several days, there have been reports and discussions about the possible appearance of drones in the skies of the East Coast, especially in the states of New Jersey and Maryland. The mysterious phenomenon began in November over New Jersey, when an unmanned flying object was spotted near a military facility. Videos of bright lights in the sky have spread quickly on social media, sparking heated speculation ranging from secret military exercises to aliens.
After weeks of confusion, US lawmakers have pushed for action to identify and stop the mysterious flights.
"A lot of us are pretty frustrated right now," Republican Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox News Sunday.
"We don't know" "is not a good enough answer," he stressed.
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on the Department of Homeland Security to implement better drone tracking technology to identify drones and those who operate them.
"New Yorkers have a lot of questions about this", Schumer told reporters. "We will get answers to them".