Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton was shut down for four hours on late Friday night and early Saturday morning because small unmanned aerial systems were spotted in the vicinity, WJW reported.
‘My belief is that they’re trying to smell something on the ground — gas leaks, radioactive material, whatever.’
Robert Purtiman — a spokesman for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — stated on Sunday, “Installation leadership has determined none of the incursions impacted our base, our residents, our facilities, or our assets. We’re taking all of the appropriate measures to safeguard the installation and all of our residents.”
The drone incident in Ohio highlights growing concerns over the barrage of drone activity in the Northeast, especially in New Jersey.
The Joint Staff confirmed that there had been sightings of drones over two military installations in New Jersey but said it is “not a new issue.”
“We have had confirmed sightings at Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle,” a spokesperson for the Joint Staff said. “This is not a new issue for us. We’ve had to deal with drone incursions over our bases for quite a time now. It’s something that we routinely respond to in each and every case when reporting is cited.”
In New York, Stewart International Airport was shut down for an hour around 9:40 p.m. on Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration reported that a drone was spotted in the vicinity. The airport reopened its runways roughly an hour later.
“There were no impacts to flight operations during the closure,” said the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Stewart Airport, located about 60 miles north of New York City.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) called on Congress to take action on the drone situation because it “has gone too far.”
Hochul petitioned Congress to pass the Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act, which would strengthen the FAA’s oversight of drones and grant more authority to state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate drone activity.
Hochul also implored the New York State Intelligence Center to investigate drone sighting incidents.
“Extending these powers to New York State and our peers is essential,” Hochul proclaimed. “Until those powers are granted to state and local officials, the Biden administration must step in by directing additional federal law enforcement to New York and the surrounding region to ensure the safety of our critical infrastructure and our people.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also called for Congress to pass the Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act.
“It is critical, as we all have said for a number of years, that we need from Congress additional authorities to address the drone situation,” Mayorkas stated. “Our authorities currently are limited, and they are set to expire. We need them extended and expanded.”
“We want state and local authorities to also have the ability to counter growing activity under federal supervision,” Mayorkas said.
On Sunday, Mayorkas told “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos, “There’s no question that people are seeing drones. I want to assure the American public that we in the federal government have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings.”
“Some of those drone sightings are, in fact, drones. Some are manned aircraft that are commonly mistaken for drones,” Mayorkas continued. “But there’s no question that drones are being sighted.”
As Blaze News reported on Monday, two men were arrested for allegedly operating a drone “dangerously close” to Boston’s Logan Airport.
The FBI said its tip line has received 5,000 tips, but fewer than 100 have led to leads “deemed worthy of further investigative activity.”
The DHS, DOD, FAA, and FBI said they have been unable to determine who is responsible for flying the drones but noted that there is no indication that the drones are being operated by America’s enemies with nefarious ambitions. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said during a Wednesday press briefing there was “no evidence these are coming from a foreign entity or the work of an adversary.
“We’re going to continue to monitor what is happening,” Singh continued. “But you know, at no point were our installations threatened when this activity was occurring.”
Singh stressed, “These are not U.S. military drones. Again, this is being investigated by local law enforcement.”
As Blaze News reported on Monday, President-elect Donald Trump said the government “knows what is happening” with mysterious drones.
When asked about the wave of suspicious drone sightings across the country, Trump declared, “The government knows what is happening.”
“Our military knows where they took off from,” Trump proclaimed. “They know where it came from and where it went.”
Trump told reporters at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, “For some reason they don’t want to comment … for some reason they want to keep people in suspense. Something strange is going on. For some reason they don’t want to tell the people.”
The CEO of an aerospace company revealed a chilling theory about the potential mission of the drones. John Ferguson is the CEO of Saxon Aerospace — a drone manufacturer in Kansas. Ferguson claimed that the drones could be searching for “gas leaks” or “radioactive material” in a TikTok post that has gone viral.
Ferguson noted that the drones “have no reason to be in the air at night,” unless they are looking for “bad guys or a victim.”
“My own guess is that these drones are not nefarious in intent. If they are, they are, but I doubt it,” he said. “But if they are drones, the only reason why they would be flying, and flying that low, is because they’re trying to smell something on the ground. That’s it.”
Ferguson stated, “My belief is that they’re trying to smell something on the ground — gas leaks, radioactive material, whatever.”
In his assessment, he said drones currently don’t have the capabilities to fly from the Atlantic Ocean to the interior of the East Coast, as some have suggested.
Prolific podcaster Joe Rogan said of Ferguson’s theory, “This is the first video about these drones that has got me genuinely concerned.”
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