Recent sightings of UAS systems in and around New Jersey have caused significant concern and a public relations nightmare for local and Federal authorities. The problem is that no one or agency can define what is happening, causing the general population issues and concerns. Why wouldn’t it? Several scenarios have been presented by the media, including foreign actor surveillance, commercial entities conducting surveillance or testing operations, US military or intelligence agencies conducting testing or covert operations, and any number of other theories, including UFOs. The bottom line is that no one can explain what is happening, and no one is mitigating this issue. The FBI is investigating, and several local and federal authorities are involved. It is shaking the trust in our security agencies.
One objective of any threat against an enemy is to create doubt and a lack of trust in a nation’s security and military organizations. Our inability to identify and mitigate these incidents reveals a vulnerability in our security systems. In short, there is no current C/UAS system in the United States, or that is the message/perception of the response to these events.
For years, an “alphabet soup” of agencies has been responsible for countering the threat of hostile UAS activity. Over-regulation, multiagency working groups that go nowhere; agencies that do not want to step up and accept the role of taking the lead in this threat, offices that test and evaluate systems; congressional groups that present legislation that goes nowhere, to name just a few instances of building a bureaucracy that doesn’t seem to be able to handle a steady stream of unknown UAS activities over sensitive areas and general populations but indeed has spent millions or perhaps billions of US tax payers’ money on building a system that seems incapable of actually working.
After all these years of building, funding, and populating a C/UAS network of government offices, regulatory units, technical offices, and legislative offices, we have yet to be able to operationalize a counter-UAS threat. “I currently define this as a New Jersey incident as a threat because it is unknown, and it has tested and caused doubt in the capabilities of our security apparatus.”
We have seen the damage that UAS can do in Ukraine, Israel, and the Middle East focused on military and civilian targets. For years, “lip service” has been paid to how we tackle this issue by our government and political entities. Millions/Billions of dollars have been spent developing strategies, working groups, conferences, threat assessments, etc. Yet when incidents like these recent events occur, and authorities seem incapable of identifying, coordinating, or mitigating events, it creates doubt among the public. Suppose we cannot reduce these events now. How can the public expect the security agencies to reduce a real UAS threat, as seen in countless war zones or against terrorism or criminal activities?
So, what now? Accept the status quo or learn from these mistakes? The answer is to learn from our mistakes. Develop clear actions to take and implement these actions. I view the top three lessons learned from the New Jersey incidents that must be immediately answered and resolved to be:
- Inability to identify, categorize, or assess a significant UAS threat.
- Inability to provide command, control, and coordination on this threat from the local to the federal level.
- Inability to mitigate the UAS threat and ensure confidence with the public on countering the UAS threat
There are many more lessons to be learned in our response to the UAS threat, and hopefully, this is a wake-up call for our security infrastructure. We are making the same mistake that plagues large bureaucracies and governments. We have become less nimble and have significantly decreased our ability to rapidly respond to the next threat. We should not wait until people and infrastructure are destroyed by a UAS threat. Our security agencies must act now in coordination with our legislative bodies. Put one agency in charge of C/UAS, give them what they need, and let the rest support the operations. The multiagency consensus approach is certainly not working now.
Below is a summary of reporting on the New Jersey incidents:
– Residents in New Jersey have reported dozens of sightings of large drones consistently flying in night skies throughout much of the state over the last few weeks. Similar sightings are being claimed on social media in Pennsylvania and New York’s Staten Island.
-the FBI oversees a multiagency investigation and has asked the public to report sightings directly to that agency.
-No sightings have been reported in Delaware as of Monday, Dec. 10, according to the Delaware State Police.
It is unclear why the drones were flying near the large reservoir in Clinton and other county buildings or if they are related to the other mysterious drone sightings reported around the state this month. But county officials said the sightings are concerning.
– For several weeks, New Jersey residents have seen mysterious drones hovering over their homes and neighborhoods at night. The drones, sometimes traveling in groups, have been spotted nightly in some areas.
The FBI is leading the investigation and has asked for the public’s tips to determine whether the drones pose a threat to residents.
The governor said 49 sightings were reported in the state on Sunday, but some were duplicates or were not actually drones.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., joined law enforcement leaders in his district on Monday on Long Beach Island. He had been one of the key figures leading efforts to investigate the source and possible risks associated with the drone activity.
– “I have been speaking with Ocean County Sheriff Mike Mastronardy, Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden, and national security officials located in the area to discuss the widespread reports of unidentified drone activity across my central New Jersey congressional district and our state,” Smith said in a statement. “Understandably, New Jersey residents are very alarmed at this significant and reoccurring phenomenon – and the tepid response from our state and federal agencies so far is totally unacceptable. As we saw with the Chinese spy balloon last year, our fiercest adversaries will stop at nothing to surveil our homeland and threaten our national security.” – Rep. Chris Smith
But Smith said that while the source of the drone activity is yet to be determined, communication channels between authorities, including law enforcement officials and federal partners, must be “drastically improved” to quickly address the challenges with unmanned aerial systems.
– “I don’t blame people for being frustrated,” Gov. Phil Murphy told the media Monday. “It’s frustrating that we don’t have more information on where they’re coming from or what they’re doing.”
He added, “We’ve gotten good cooperation from the feds, but we need more.”
1 The drones are highly sophisticated, Murphy said, part of the reason there are so few answers.
2 “The minute you get eyes on them, they go dark,” he said, stressing that there is no known threat.
Three hours after those comments, authorities said another 20 to 25 drones were seen moving through Western Monmouth County.
The drone unit has detected drones that are three to four feet long, twice the size of those in the unit, although another law enforcement agency reported one as large as eight feet long. The unidentified drones have been seen in Berkeley, Lacey, Lavallette, Point Pleasant Beach, and Toms River, he said.