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NextImg:FBI grilled over drone budget as New Jersey incidents stump bureau

The FBI allocates only about $500,000 of its $11 billion budget for counter-drone capabilities, a senior bureau official told House lawmakers Tuesday, who heard the agency still has not determined who is responsible for a series of drone incursions in New Jersey.

Robert Wheeler Jr., the assistant director of the Critical Incident Response Group in the FBI, faced difficult questions about the incursions, which started last month, during a joint hearing by the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence and Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security.

During the testimony, Wheeler was drawn on the amount of money the agency has dedicated toward anti-drone capabilities. Wheeler specified that the “technical part of [the] operational budget” is “just less than $500,000.”

The admission received scrutiny from lawmakers.

“That doesn’t seem nearly adequate. Why do you feel like there isn’t much within the FBI to keep up with modern warfare and modern threats?” Rep. Eli Craine (R-AZ) asked Wheeler during the hearing. “Warfare has changed drastically right now, overseas, especially with Ukraine and Russia and the development of drone technology. Why isn’t the FBI taking this threat seriously, and that’s obviously reflected by the budget that you guys have assigned to counter-drone technology?”

Wheeler said they have received over 3,000 tips from the public and the drones were “described as being slightly larger than a commercially available drone, fixed wing, as well as rotary.”

The FBI’s Newark office is working with state and local law enforcement officials to conduct the investigation.

Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) said his office and law enforcement are taking the situation “deadly seriously.”

“The minute you get eyes on them, they go dark. And, you know, we’re obviously most concerned about sensitive targets and sensitive, critical infrastructure,” he said on Monday. “We’ve got military assets, we’ve got utility assets, we’ve got the president-elect’s, one of his homes, here.”

The governor also said there were 49 reports of drones on Sunday alone, mostly in Hunterdon County. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Wheeler was asked if he thought the public was at risk due to this threat, and the FBI assistant director said he didn’t know: “There’s nothing that is known that would lead me to say that, but we just don’t know and that’s the concerning part.”

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) said it’s “crazy” and “madness that we don’t know what these drones are.”