Transcript of 2 arrested for flying drone near airport amid lack of answers about mysterious drone sightings

After 4 weeks of unidentified drones flying over the East Coast, New York governor Kathy Hochul today said the federal government is sending a new state of the art drone detection system to her state, but she says congress and the White House can do more. CNN's Julia Benbrook is in Washington with the latest on the federal government's response to these mysterious sightings.

Following the uptick in reported drone sightings in the northeast, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. But homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is looking to assure the public that there is no known public safety threat and that his team is closely monitoring any developments. He also says the agency is in close coordination with state and local authorities. During his most recent comments about the drone sightings during the interview with ABC that aired earlier today, he said that the federal government has deployed additional personnel, resources, and technology to help New Jersey State Police address the drone sightings. Now while Mayorkas has said that there's no question people are seeing drones, he has also said that the technology has confirmed that at least some of those drone sightings are actually small manned aircraft.

He is calling on congress to act to help them address future situations, asking them to extend and expand the government's authorities when it comes to drones.

We are working in close coordination with state and local authorities, and 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. We want state and local authorities, to also have the ability to counter drone activity under federal supervision. That is 1 important element that we have requested, and we've heard it echoed by the state and local officials themselves.

Mayorkas was asked about president-elect Donald Trump's social media post suggesting that the government could shoot down the drones. In response to that, Mayorkas said that there are some agencies within the Department of Homeland Security and outside of the department that could do that, but that they need those authorities expanded as well. Now throughout these investigations and during these drone sightings, Mayorkas has continued to say that his team is not aware of any direct national security concerns tied to the reported drone sightings. But he has pledged to provide an update if his team sees any cause for concern.

Boston police say they have arrested 2 people for flying aircraft dangerously close to Logan International Airport. And it comes as state and local officials become increasingly frustrated by the lack of transparency about where these drones are coming from or how dangerous they might be. There are reports of sightings in at least 6 states now. Reported incidents include drones flying near military facilities and 1 even causing a a New York airport to temporarily suspend flights. CNN's Gloria Pazmino is tracking the latest from New York.

Gloria, what do you have?

Well, Fred, the the biggest development so far other than these continued sightings is certainly this arrest out of Boston. The Boston Police Department telling us they arrested 2 men after 1 of their officers, recorded some activity not far from Boston Boston Logan International Airport of a drone flying, dangerously close according to the police department. So that officer deployed some technology, which helped him find the drone's flight information, their owners, and where they were operating from. That led him to Boston Harbor Island. This is a, an uninhabited small island, near Boston.

And once the officer arrived there, he found the 2 suspects who initially tried to flee on foot. They were eventually, captured. 1 of them had a drone in his backpack, and a third is believed to have fled on a small vessel. Now the question here is whether or not this arrest is going to lead to any additional information about some of the drone activity that's been reported over Massachusetts and many of these other states in the northeast. But the question of technology being deployed by a police department is interesting because that is what we have heard from so many local officials asking the federal government to step in and provide more resources.

To that point, here in New York, we heard from governor Kathy Hochul earlier this morning. She said that following conversations with federal partners, New York is now getting some of those resources. Here's a statement from the governor. She said, in response to my calls for additional resources, our federal partners are deploying a state of the art drone detection system to New York State. This system will support state and federal law enforcement in their investigation.

Now my sources here in New York, tell me the governor and Department of Homeland Secretary secretary Alejandro Mayorkas spoke twice on Saturday regarding these incidents. We have not learned anything else about what kind of technology this is specifically. I was told that because it is a matter of national security, they cannot share more about what these, technology or how they work. But we are still hearing a lot of frustration from other lawmakers, regarding the lack of information and what they say is a lack of transparency from the federal government. Take a listen.

There's a lot of us who are pretty frustrated right now. You know, the answer we don't know is not a good enough answer. When people are anxious, when they're nervous, and this has been true, you know, since we've been a species on this planet, people will fill a vacuum with, you know, their fears and anxieties and conspiracy theories. And, oh my god, there's an Iranian mothership hovering off the, coast of Asbury Park, or it's the Russians or it's the Chinese.

The administration has repeatedly assured people that they are safe. However, 1, we need a briefing, for the members of the senate to figure out what's going on here. 2, we need more transparency.

So, we'll see, Fred, if we, start to get some of that transparency that these lawmakers are calling for over the next several days. In the meantime, we'll also be tracking whether or not the drone activity continues to be reported, which should say some of these, federal agencies have said that they believe some of these sightings have actually just been small airplanes and that they are not, posing any sort of danger to local communities.

We've seen all these videos. Most of them, you know, they're dark. They're difficult to tell, in some cases, what we're actually seeing. What do you examine when you see, these, videos that have been posted and, people are curious about them. Is it easy to tell?

Manned aircraft versus drone?

Well, first of all, if you're seeing lights, you know, it tells you that you're working with either a sophisticated person who wants to be seen or maybe some unsophisticated users that are messing around. But the fact if you're seeing lights, it means that it's very likely not a foreign threat. They would be dark, meaning you would not be able to see them.

Okay.

Correct.

Okay. So alright. So then in some of these reports from people, whether they're, you know, recording this stuff on their phone or otherwise, sometimes they're describing that they're seeing things that are as big as a car or bus, you know, in in the air. Commercial drones versus military drones, are they ever that kind of size, or are those likely manned aircraft?

Well, it's possible. I personally have worked on military drones the size of regular helicopters. So it's possible, but I think 1 of the things that you've seen a lot are people who talk about the rotating lights. That is

another dead giveaway. If it's a rotating light, it is a manned aircraft because

you don't find those lights on drones. And it's also human perception is very we're all blind at night, and so lights can give you the appearance that something is much bigger, even mostly because it may be further away. So I don't think that while it's possible and certainly Picatinny is near there, I think that, like, you know, it's it's it's not gonna be people don't wanna hear this, but probably a significant number are manned aircraft. Although I do think that they are legitimately seeing drones.

Okay. And and then there are different kinds of drones. Right? Commercial versus private and and military as you mentioned. And is it the case that most drones are flying within the operator's visual line of sight and within a range of, say, maybe 1 to 2 miles?

Yes. For most for the most part. I mean, this goes back to those unsophisticated actors that we were talking about. I've done a ton of work on drones being used to drop contraband into prisons. And, typically, these unsophisticated actors, they need the lights to be able to figure out what they're doing.

Mhmm. And and they're almost always about a mile away from the aircraft. And and it's also possible I think people forget. Look. Donald Trump loves robots.

He had those Spot robots, down in Florida, and it's very possible that his security people are also trying to use drones that maybe coordinate with Spot, the robot dog, or trying to figure out a perimeter access. It's very possible that these unsophisticated actors are also trying to figure out what stress test, what's happening at the golf course there. So, you know, I it it there could be military operations. There could be, people trying to use this at, the golf course there. There could be people trying to stress test.

But I from all of my experience working with, the prisons in America, I'm pretty darn sure that if it's somebody doing something bad, these are very unsophisticated actors.

And do you have the confidence in the FAA or even Homeland Security that if, this were a danger, you know, opposing a national threat that, they would be able to detect that in any and all of these objects that are in the air and convey that to the American public?

I think as if if this were a legitimate threat, we would be seeing different kinds of action. It's actually not difficult to track these. You do have to have some, equipment to do radio frequency tracking, But because of the requirement for the operator to be so close, once you get 1 of these devices out there that can detect the strength of the signal and it shows you the direction of the signal, it's actually pretty easy to run these people down. I think that 1 of the things that we're seeing now that you're starting to see kind of reports explode everywhere remember, I work a lot with unsophisticated actors. They are feeding off of these newscast.

I have been not wanting to do these interviews because I don't wanna keep making the problem worse.

Mhmm.

But most of the sophisticated actors I know are out there. Every time they see a news report, then they go out. They go to Boston. They go to North Carolina and Washington DC because now they're just feeding into the dystopia that's being created out of this.

Yeah. And and 1 way of looking at this maybe perhaps you're helping to set the record straight. Yes.

That's why. And I also want to tell people if you're really worried that a drone is nearby at night, doing something that it shouldn't, shine a bright light right at it. Because if you'll shine a bright light right at it, it cannot see anything.

Let's talk to an expert about this, former FBI counter drone chief Rob D'Amico joining us now. Rob, thanks so much for being here. I first just wanna get your thoughts on kind of this it's not aligned in terms of the public interest, the public concern, and also from local officials. I talked to a a mayor yesterday, very concerned, and really minimal answers or explanations from the government. What do you make of all of that?

There's so much to unpack here. 1, I think it started with, a couple incidences that I truly think 99% were manned aircraft, low flying satellites or planets because looking up at the sky, it's so hard at night to figure out what a drone is. But then I think the hysteria has now caused people to start flying drones, either find drones or really to add to the chaos. Now you're getting a bunch of, politicians, just, you know, because they don't feel like they're being informed throwing stuff out there. Like, the governor in New York was talking about this radar system.

Radar alone doesn't work. Our systems in the FBI, we used ones that had radar, that had RF radio frequency, had, visual because there's so many gaps in how, drones are detected. You need a multisensor thing. I I was an advisor for a company called D drone that combines all of them to 1 common sight picture that really needs to be trained on. And and we in FBI, we went to congress asking them to provide funds to train state and locals because it's such a an advanced technology, that we thought the the FBI could train the state and locals to do it.

But it it gets into such a mess now, but I think the 1 good thing coming out of this is people are starting to get attention to drones are gonna be an issue, especially when big companies like UPS and Amazon wanna do deliveries by them.

Yeah. The drones really will be an issue. I'd also wanna ask you. We just heard in that clip that Gloria was reporting on, this the current senate majority leader Chuck Schumer talk asking the government to deploy what he was calling the Robin. Would would something like that make a difference?

Okay. The Robin's radar. So when when we incorporate a radar system to our counter drone system, you have to really fine tune it. We were discovering, like, AC units on top of buildings because the radar was picking up the spinning of the fans as propellers. So, again, 1 system alone, 1 sensor alone does not work.

Radar, RF, visual, and you can have some other ones in there that as as technology gets more advanced, you plug it in, and they all need to work, cooperatively to to look at all the pictures. So if it picks up radar, the video, camera gets slew to it and you can confirm it by, visual if it's a, a drone. Or if it RF is picking up the controller and the drone, again, the video would slew to it. The radar would slew to it. So it's a multisensor approach that gets very complex.

It needs you need a lot of training for it, but it it is out there, but it's just not 1 thing at all that's gonna fix this. And we talked about the radio frequency gaps. We had our own FCC saying that we couldn't even look at some radio frequencies that maybe foreign, assets use for their drones.

And so I think also to what you're getting at here is it it takes a lot to really figure out what these drones are doing, where they come from to identify them. And I think that's where people are getting so frustrated is it seems like we should know more, and we really don't. We don't know where these are coming from.

That that is a problem, but it's also hard to prove a negative because I still think the majority are false spottings. Everything that they they've been looking at is when they line it up with the the flight plans, we used to use an app, radar flight radar 24, and it shows all the planes over your area, including government and, commercial and small planes. And it's amazing that how many airplanes can be over 1 single area. They now they might be, set off by altitude, but from the ground, they all look the same. Or if they're all coming in, I saw 1 video where they're saying that drones were lined up.

Well, that's planes in approach pattern. They're miles apart, but when you look at them from a certain angle, they look all on top of each other. So, again, it it it's tough, and it is a technology. I had the best guys out there that were working because that's all they worked was counter drones. That training can go to state and locals, but it it's gonna take some time and funding.

And I think congress really has to get ahold of in order to go in the future with what drones are gonna be used by. They talk about drones being able, like, taxis, go pick someone up. You're gonna have to figure all this out and what that airspace looks like to deconflict.

Yeah. And it sounds like what you're saying is regardless of how what the outcome is here, we're not properly prepared for the future with drones that we need that you think that more should be done, more funding, more training,

all of

these things. I I do. I mean, even, with the the systems that the FBI had for special events, and that's what the the bureau was looking at was weaponized drones. There were still gaps in that technology. I'm not gonna go into them.

I don't wanna give that away, but there's still gaps in there that you have to account for, and you have to have a layered defense. You have to have multilayers sensors, and you have to have multilayer mitigation systems to be able to control all those drones that may pretend, provide a threat to something.

And our next guest has been pushing federal agencies for more answers about the drone sightings. He told CNN this past week, they're not providing enough information to the public, and the public is concerned. Congressman Josh Gottheimer joining us now. He's a Democrat from New Jersey, which is the state where most of these drone sightings have been happening. He also sits on the house intelligence committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for being here with us. Good to see you. What do you know?

To make. Great to

see you. Good to have you. What do you know?

I mean, listen. What I know is I've been hearing from literally 100 and 100 of my constituents, who are completely frustrated by the lack of information from the FBI and from Homeland Security on what all these drones are. I mean, I I've had briefings, as I've said, that makes me feel confident, based on those briefings that there's not an imminent threat to public safety, but it doesn't answer the question, where are all these drones coming from that people are seeing, and why aren't we doing a better job of tracking them and understanding that? And most importantly, why aren't isn't the FBI coming clean with the public instead of, as you know, first telling them that they're seeing things, which I think is insulting and ridiculous. And I was glad that the head of homeland security, came out today, the secretary, and said that people are seeing drones because I'm hearing from law enforcement, from folks that they're seeing these drones.

So the question is, are these are these new drones? Are they people putting up the recreational drones? Then just given the size that I'm hearing about of the size of these drones, you know, I think these things are beyond recreational if if it's true what people are saying to me about what they're seeing with their own eyes. So I'm in the in the business of actually listening to people instead of trying to insult them claim that this is not happening.

Yeah. I mean, I there has been this idea that, okay. Wait. Maybe people yes. There could be some drones, but now everybody's paying attention.

And so maybe people are just seeing what they think are drones but aren't and that sort of kind of line of thinking or these are manned aircrafts. But, you know, again, I've talked to other people, a mayor yesterday, who has seen it with his own eyes and is absolutely convinced. And as the secretary said today, as you noted, that these are these are drones that are flying above people's homes.

Of course. And and by the way, listen. Yes. Some of them may be manned aircraft, some of them may be helicopters, but it doesn't make any sense when when I spoke to some law enforcement last night and called me. They saw them with their own eyes above them, a large drone.

So, you know, listen. I'm gonna believe them. The question is, you know, what are they? And let's make sure we get that information in that briefing and also give local law enforcement the tools they need both to track these drones and and to deal with them. Right?

Working with federal partners to get them out of the sky, and to make sure they're not flying over places. I'm not talking about recreational drones at the beach. I'm talking about large drones that are unlicensed or unregistered. Let's make sure that they're not flying over critical infrastructure, like dams or, reservoirs or or over military bases or airports as you just talked about a minute ago, or, of course, through any reconnaissance missions and or over people's homes and invading their privacy. You know, these these are real issues.

It can't be the wild west of drones out there in Jersey or anywhere else. We gotta get to the bottom of this, and and people deserve answers.

Yeah. It's I and I hear you when you say you've had these briefings. You do well, you're you do feel, confident that they're not an imminent threat. It is just this idea, though, I think, where people's frustration, I'm sure this is what you're hearing too, is kind of this disbelief that no 1 can explain what it is. Right?

No. I mean, that what what the frustration rightly is is why is the FBI and DHS and the FAA as I've asked them to do get out there and do a real proper public briefing, not put out a statement. I mean, a real proper public briefing when they when they answer questions and say, here's what everything we know. Here's how we're tracking these. Here's why we believe and, you know, based on the briefings they're giving me, why there's no imminent threat because there's ways they can scan for, of course, weapons or other, imminent threats to public safety and give that information out to the public and then explain what they think is going on here because there's no way we don't have this information, or I hope we do.

I have a classified briefing, I believe, early this week. I'm getting but I've asked for to get more information. But but the bottom line is this. You gotta give the tools to local law enforcement. They're doing a great job out there.

We gotta coordinate better. We gotta give more information to the public. And the bottom line is we need laws in place that give law enforcement the tools to be able to use these resources. That say if you're gonna throw up a drone over a base, a military base or over critical infrastructure, you're gonna pay the price for it, and just and, of course, just be transparent with people.

Why don't you think they're being transparent with people? Because I you're right. I do think that's clearly, they're able to give you this information in a in a classified briefing or in a briefing, but they're not able to tell the public. And without information, you know what happens with the with the information vacuum.

I mean, I'm with you. Exactly. You're just leaving a vacuum out there. You know, a couple days ago, the federal government was saying people are seeing things. There's no drones.

Right? I don't remember this. Just a couple days ago. Then, of course, secretary of Homeland Security comes out today and says, nope. Indeed, people are seeing drones, and and we believe them.

So it's they're a little all over the place, and I'm I'm really trying to figure that out. And and, frankly, all I care about is that they correct it, get out there, and give the information. I'm not sure why they're not, and that's 1 of the questions I keep asking them, but I'm gonna keep being out there pressing them until they do the right thing and come out and give this information to the public. Explain to people what what this is, what's going on, and and make sure that they feel comfortable. Because, otherwise, as you just said, you you leave a vacuum and people worry, and I don't want people worrying about this.

They shouldn't have to to sit around worrying about this.

Yeah. And and then just lastly, we had a a former FBI, official on last, a couple hours ago, and and he was talking about the fact that, look, they they need more funding. They need to be trained. This is the future. Drones are here to stay.

We're only gonna see more of them. And his assessment was that we're not properly prepared for all of this. Do you agree with that? And do you think that there should be more funding to provide for training in all of this and and and making sure that federally and locally, we're prepared for the future here?

It's 1 of the things after this began that I introduced legislation on, and I've introduced legislation in the past on to call for more resources, more funding for local law enforcement to make sure they have the tools they need to track. Right? Because there should be some tracking system. Think just like our airport tracking. Right?

We should base we'll have to coordinate a tracking of all these drones and to and to have the tools to respond. Right? To be able, if necessary, work with local partners to get these drones out of the sky. Right? Because if they're flying over some place they shouldn't be, we gotta get them out of there and not threaten anyone's public safe people who are threat public safety or national security.

And, also, you don't want these drones flying around collecting, doing reconnaissance and and collecting information on people. There's a lot of good uses for drones, proper uses for drones. Right? We we know what majors major events and law enforcement uses them properly, and and, you know, people use them for fun at the at the beach in the summer and small very small drones. Right?

But there's a huge difference between large drones flying above that are unregistered, unlicensed. We don't know where they're from. They're unwelcome there, and and someone using it recreationally. And we gotta draw a line there and be very clear that this can't be the wild west of drones in our country.

Yeah. Alright. Congressman Josh Gottheimer, thanks for your time tonight. We appreciate it.

Thanks, Jessica. Take care.