Every cop in America is authorized by the FAA to enforce the FAA rules concerning illegal operation of drones, so the "personnel" issue is silly. It's the entire reason "RemoteID" uses bluetooth to transmit the owner's FAA registration number.

However, since hobbyist drones aren't capable of operating at the altitudes in question, and don't use navigation lights, the only reason Remote ID is relevant is that it indicates how ridiculously simple it is to separate the legal aircraft from the illegal drones -- regardless of what Mayorkas claimed. The fact is, anyone can download an FAA-supported app intended for private pilots, that displays all the legal aircraft in the area, along with any drones, on a map. Any lights you see in the sky that are not on that map represent illegally operating aircraft.

The only question that remains is why our government refuses to do anything about them. The government lies about their inability to enforce their own airspace laws are so absurd that it almost represents proof that they're in on it somehow. And that's the scariest part of this entire episode.

I have spoken to friends and family in Jersey and none of them have seen any.

Because it is illegal to do so.

Mass Hysteria
 

The current drone craze is mostly mass hysteria. The power of suggestion is combining with confirmation bias prompting people to attribute normal events to something unusual and weird. They are seeing normal manned aircraft, and even planets and stars, and convincing themselves they are mysterious drones. Then they get upset that the government isn't tracking the phantoms of their mind down.

The former Governor of Maryland did this, posting video of the Constellation Orion, insisting they were drones. Another indication this is rooted in the power of suggestion is how drone sighting are suddenly popping up everywhere as publicity about the notion spreads. This also explains why there are no clear pictures of any mystery drones.

Mostly aircraft
 

Virtually every video I have seen on the TV news was a commercial or private jet in a landing configuration. Some of the videos were of too poor a quality to be identified. I’m sure some police, TV news, and hobbyists have joined in as well. Still, why does t the government just tell us what they are? If they can’t do that then congress must re-think their appropriations. The government can’t identify these flying craft? Really? I don’t think so. Not on radar? No ADS-b? If they can’t identify them, then they can’t assert that they are not a threat or a hazard to navigation. Hobbyist drones are nothing to be concerned about at all, but they are easily identified and if anything over regulated. We certainly can’t remove the government from the list of suspects. Surveillance by hobbyist drones is completely ridiculous, if you know anything about them at all. Plus, surveillance that is extremely visible and noisy as well? Really?

I predict that in 2025 there will be jihadists taking advantage of these readily available weapons delivery systems to attack infrastructure, stadiums, etc. We are a target rich country and pretty much defenseless against this sort of attack.

After listening to the radio station where they were talking about these drone sightings and the possibility of aliens piloting them, I had this thought. Why would an advanced technology extraterrestrial society travel millions of miles to go to New Jersey???????? New Jersey????????? New Jersey????????????????

It's Santa scoping out all the good boys and girls.

So it’s been over three weeks now and our government doesn’t know anything about them or where they’re from and they keep making excuses! There’s too many for it to just be hobbyists. So either our government is not telling us it’s military or it’s China or a foreign country. But they treat us like idiots when they say they don’t know anything about them or what they are or where they’re from

It’s the government not sharing. If it were some nefarious group or country, do you think they would have blinking lights flashing on them?

it's probably not a great idea to shoot something out of the sky without an absolute understanding of what it is you are shooting down.

Also, since the equipment you are using to shoot it down is heavy, armed, and dangerous, where it lands might be an important consideration.

Other than those two issues, I see no problem in lobbing explosive airborne ordnance in airspace above densely populated areas. It should work out great.

Actually Santa is doing some early testing in NJ

My wife just read your post over my shoulder so now Im in trouble, thanks Bill :rant-rave:

HaHaha!! I love this! I worked for a few years with a woman who was born/raised in Lithuania. She could also speak Russian. When she moved to the U.S. with her family when she was in her teens, guess where they lived? Yup. New Jersey.

I cannot even describe to you what her accent sounded like when she spoke English - but it was largely undecipherable without spending considerable time around her to get used to it. Kinda try to picture Arnold Schwartzenegger with a Joisey accent.

^Concur. This is a significant concern.

I seem to recall an incident (maybe in NJ or NY) a few decades ago when they caught foreign nationals attempting to fire on a U.S. civilian airliner. Can't find anything on the internet search-machine thingy about it though.

Further internet searching is indicating it may have initially been considered a cause for Flight 800 in 1996, but was apparently later to determined to be an electrical short in the central fuel tank.

Easily Defended
 

I understand your concern, but rest assured the country is easily capable of defending itself from drones. Granted, no drones would be able to fly, but they all could be shut down. Just like the old ECMs, GPS and ISMs can be disrupted without much effort. There are also, manual cable dragging techniques that remove the buggers from the sky.

So a drone with an explosive payload is launched a mile away from a packed football stadium. In a couple minutes it will arrive at its target. What's your defense?

put on my helmet.

Valid concern. No defense possible. Nothing can stop that drone. Operator will be at the airport and on a plane to home country X before they're done evacuating victims to medical facilities.

Aside from the phenomenal expense of the tickets, this is sufficient reason to not attend SuperBowls. This thing could sneak in totally unobserved in the dark and distracting lights of the halftime show.

Best stay at home, reinforce the shelter, and stock up on supplies and ammunition.
Tin foil and toilet rolls, a priority! :shrug:

With current consumer grade drones this scenario is more like 10 miles with a 1 lb explosive payload with automated triggering, no operator interaction (remote turned off) for flight and delivery, a false home point broadcasting (to make point of origin impossible to track), and an approach speed of up to 80 kph or better. If one is up to nefarious means then legal limits such as 400 ft max altitude can be thrown out as well, commercially available consumer grade drones can easily reach altitudes of 10,000 ft. There are few more wrinkles that can be added to the scenario that could make it more devastating without work that I'll not discuss here.

I'm a technology junkie with an OCD streak that spend a decade in the security industry doing vulnerability assessments, so yes, I have thought this through and even done proof of concept testing. This is a viable concern if someone is so inclined to understand the technology and it scares the heck out of me. Yes there is evolving anti-drone technology but like most similar technology it is reactive and rarely proactive.

As far as the current rash of sightings go, I've watched dozens of the videos of these "sightings" and every single one was obvious to me to be manned aircraft or other explainable objects. Don't forget, we are talking about New Jersey (I've family there and have lived there for several years).

Thanks Don. Good to know that my thinking is not that far off - on the other hand, not so good.
My other concern is that once it happens there will be a spate of copycat events.

The sick copycats will definitely be a problem.
FYI, the Ukrainians have been using this method for a while - $1000 drone + $500 had grenade placed properly will take out a $20,000,000 tank, a pretty good ROI.

100% this.

A (very) large percentage of these YouTube videos are actually planes & such mis-identified as drones.

But there is less than a zero chance that nation states such as China are flying car-sized drones around New Jersey & the government is unaware, can't identify them, and/or is allowing it.

IF there are unidentified drones flying around secretly at night, it's being done by some government agency.

Where are the "Jewish space lasers" when you need them?
😮😡😠🤬

Drones Every Night
 

We see the drones in the same spot every night. Just walked outside at dusk and can see them in the sky way up. Is this a drone club here?

Anyone notice that there has not been much said lately about the drone activity up in the northeast? What changed?

They were not drones?

The wording. Look up "gravitic propulsion".