Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urged Congress to allocate more resources for the DHS to track drones.
On Monday, Mayorkas dismissed fears regarding drone sightings around the Northeast, saying a preliminary investigation showed no threat. Despite this, Mayorkas asked for more funding to monitor drones, ostensibly for any future threats. He said the scare highlighted the current lack of resources.
“We need Congress to better resource the departments that are involved in this,” he told Axios. “State and local authorities need the ability to detect and counter any malicious drone activity with appropriate safeguards.”
Mayorkas also dismissed the theory that a lack of coordination between different government agencies could explain the confusion, saying coordination is “effective right now.”
On Sunday, Mayorkas asked for greater jurisdiction to deal with any possible drone threat, as some measures are set to expire.
“We need them extended and expanded,” he said, referring to authorities that allow the DHS to detect, identify, monitor, and track an unmanned aerial vehicle without prior consent. “We want state and local authorities to also have the ability to counter drone activity under federal supervision. That is one important element that we have requested, and we’ve heard it echoed by the state and local officials themselves.”
Residents across the Northeast have expressed alarm over a sudden deluge of mysterious drone sightings. Residents of New York, New Jersey, and now Pennsylvania and Maryland have all reported sightings in recent weeks. Local lawmakers and members of Congress have voiced concerns about national security, speculating a foreign actor could be flying the drones.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) went the furthest in his criticisms, alleging that high-level sources told him the drones came from an Iranian “mothership.”
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“That mothership … is off the East Coast of the United States of America. They’ve launched drones into everything that we can see or hear,” he said last week. “These are from high sources. I don’t say this lightly.”
The Pentagon was quick to dismiss the claims, saying there was no evidence of that. The White House reported that out of 5,000 reported sightings, all but 100 were manned aircraft, such as planes. It has repeatedly said the drones represent no threat, though many have found its dismissals inadequate.