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In a letter to the governor sent on Wednesday, Dec. 11, Kuhl said he wants Murphy to work with President Joe Biden to impose a ‘Drone No Fly Zone’ for civilian and commercial drone operations over New Jersey.
"The continued uncertainty regarding the origins of the mysterious drones appearing across New Jersey including where they take off and land is of great concern," Kuhl said. "As you noted, these drones 'are very sophisticated' and continue to be spotted near critical infrastructure facilities including power plants, reservoirs, emergency operations centers, and military installations. Given the continued uncertainty and the potential national security risk these drones pose, we need our leaders at the state and federal levels to be proactive until this matter is fully investigated."
At a press briefing Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was "aware" of the drone issue.
"We’re closely tracking the activity and coordinating closely with relevant agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and FBI, to investigate these incidents," Jean-Pierre said. "Obviously, this is something that DHS and FBI are tracking very, very closely."
Jean-Pierre said the federal government determined the drones were not controlled by foreign entities after Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-NJ, said the drones were from Iran.
At a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Dec. 10, Robert Wheeler, assistant FBI director, said the bureau did not know much about the drones.
"We do not attribute that to an individual or a group yet. we're investigating, but I don't have an answer of who's responsible for that of, one or more people that are responsible for those, drone flights," said Wheeler.
"That’s crazy, that’s madness that we don’t know what these drones are," Rep. Anthony Gonzales, R-Texas, shot back. "There are a lot of Americans that are very frustrated right now."
Wheeler said the FBI has received more than 3,000 reports of drone sightings. Wheeler said he didn't believe the public was at risk.
"But we just don't know," Wheeler said. "And that's the concerning part of it."
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