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Drones in New Jersey skies – something or nothing?

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

For weeks now, residents in New Jersey and across the Northeast have looked up to the night sky and seen drones, dozens of car-sized drones flying above critical infrastructure like reservoirs and military bases.

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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: ...One low looks pretty close, right?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: So I - this one's going to fly over us right now.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: You think so?

DETROW: That is footage captured by one New Jersey resident, U.S. Senator Andy Kim, who spent his Thursday night drone hunting with local police in a rural part of the state and posting about it on social media. Naturally, these mysterious drones have raised some questions. Where are they coming from? Who's flying them? Why? Federal officials say they don't have answers to those questions but say they see no evidence so far of a national security threat. Here's Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas speaking on ABC earlier today.

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ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS: There's no question that people are seeing drones, and I want to assure the American public that we in the federal government have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology to assist the New Jersey state police in addressing the drone sightings.

DETROW: So in the era of see-something-say-something, the Feds seem to be assuring the public that there is nothing to see here. Local firefighters do say do not approach any drones that have crashed into the ground.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Scott Detrow is a White House correspondent for NPR and co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.