What’s New
The mysterious drones spotted over New York and New Jersey have a “really scary undertone,” a defense tech CEO has said.
Appearing on CNN on Monday, Joel Anderson, the chief executive of ZeroMark, a defense company specializing in auto-aiming counter-drone technology, said law enforcement and federal agencies lacked the “kinetic responses necessary” to react to drone threats.
Newsweek has contacted the FBI and Anderson for comment via email and social media, respectively.
Why It Matters
In recent weeks, a wave of drone activity has been reported across New York and New Jersey. Speculation is growing over why the number of sightings has increased, where the drones may have come from and who is flying them.
With federal officials offering few answers about the matter and state and local officials having little authority to manage the situation, people are becoming increasingly worried about the sightings. This has led to rampant speculation among members of the public, experts and lawmakers—with some even turning to conspiracy theories—to explain the phenomenon.
What To Know
Appearing on CNN NewsNight With Abby Phillip on Monday evening, Anderson said the standard technology used by federal agencies might not be sufficient to counter “hardened” drones.
“A common method for drones to be taken out of the sky via law enforcement and agencies is with electromagnetic weapons, like jammers and spoofers and microwaves, but they don’t work against drones that are hardened,” Anderson said.
He said “hardened” drones had engineering solutions to prevent them from being countered—for example, using copper tape to protect against microwave counter-drone technology.
“And that, I think, is a really scary undertone to this whole drone mystery, is that we lack the kinetic responses necessary with our law enforcement and federal agencies, although the DOD [Department of Defense] does maintain that,” Anderson said.
ZeroMark, Anderson’s company, builds auto-aiming firearms to shoot down fast-moving drones with bullets.
What People Are Saying
White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said in a news briefing: “The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are investigating these sightings, and they’re working closely with state and local law enforcement to provide resources, using numerous detection methods to better understand their origin.”
Robert Wheeler Jr., the assistant director of the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group, told Congress: “I am cognizant, and we all are in the FBI, of what this threat can look like. Anywhere across the spectrum of sophisticated state actors, adversaries that want to hurt us, all the way through counterterrorism matters, cyber, WMD, criminal, all the way down to a nuisance drone that could cause harm.”
President-elect Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge. I don’t think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!”
What Happens Next
Public pressure on both federal and state agencies to provide definitive answers is likely to grow in the coming weeks, as lawmakers and the public continue to speculate about the potential threat the mysterious drones could pose to national security.
The post Drone Mystery Has ‘Really Scary Undertone,’ Defense Tech CEO Warns appeared first on Newsweek.
