After U.S. military officials reported they’re unsure who is behind the increasing number of drones reported in the skies above New York and New Jersey, Sen. Chuck Schumer on Sunday called for new technology to help local officials “determine what the heck is going on.”
The Senate majority leader advocated for the Department of Homeland Security to deploy a special drone-detection technology called “Robin” in local airspace, which is also used to track the movement of birds.
“Our local people who have questions about these drones should not have to shake an 8-ball for an answer,” he said during a news conference.
Schumer’s demand came two days after New York’s Stewart Airport was temporarily shut down due to drone activity, prompting Gov. Kathy Hochul to call for action from the federal government.
Federal officials announced Sunday they would deploy a new drone detection system in New York after calls from Hochul for more resources.
U.S. Defense Department officials wrote in a press release on Saturday they’ve confirmed drone sightings above New Jersey’s Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle. Drones have also been reported recently above President-elect Donald Trump’s Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey.
“We have no intelligence or observations that would indicate that they were aligned with a foreign actor or that they had malicious intent,” the release said, while also noting the military has “not been able to locate or identify the operators or the points of origin.”
The Defense Department release also claimed the military is “prohibited from conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations in the United States which might be used to determine the origins of who might be flying the drones.”
But Schumer said he wants to deploy technology that helps give local governments answers.
He said state and local leaders currently do not have the authority to use drone detection systems like the one he’s calling for, and said he plans to co-sponsor a bill in Congress that would extend drone detection privileges to local officials.
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