A Democratic lawmaker from New Jersey is calling on President Biden to deploy MQ-9 Reaper drones and other detection technologies to patrol the skies above her home state. She also says that the White House’s assertion that the drones raising alarms among New Jersey residents are not a threat makes no sense, given that the same officials say they do not know where the drones are coming from. 

Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, who currently is running for governor of New Jersey, was first elected to the House in 2018. She previously served for nine years in the U.S. Navy as a helicopter pilot. 

“After weeks of unidentified-drone sightings over New Jersey, two things are clear: One, the drones remain unidentified and, two, the people of New Jersey need clearer, more consistent communication as to what our government is learning and doing about the drones. New Jerseyans’ patience is getting very thin, including my own,” Ms. Sherrill said in a statement Monday. 

Ms. Sherrill says the MQ-9 Reaper drones — also known as Predator drones — currently in Customs and Border Patrol’s possession can and should be used for detection and tracking purposes so that her constituents can get more answers about what these drones are, where they’re coming from, and what their intentions are. 

“The FBI, which is currently leading the investigation into the drone incursions, should immediately and formally request the use of the required number of CBP MQ-9 Reaper drones, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, to track these [drones] and identify their locations of origin,” Ms. Sherrill says. “As they track the unidentified drones with the Reapers, federal partners should coordinate directly with New Jersey law enforcement agencies to respond swiftly to the drone landing locations.”

She says one of the greatest failures so far in the drone response has been the lack of “a clear reporting process” to both members of Congress and members of the public. 

On Monday, Ms. Sherrill told CNBC that the White House cannot claim the drones are harmless without also disclosing the nature of the drones themselves. The spokesman for the National Security Council, Rear Admiral John Kirby, faced criticism in recent days for claiming that the drones pose no immediate threat despite him saying that he does not know where they came from or what they’re doing. 

“‘Don’t worry, they’re not a threat,’” Ms. Sherrill said, repeating the White House’s position on the drones. “W’e don’t know what they are.’” 

“It just can’t both be true,” she told CNBC on Monday. 

President Trump weighed in on the drones on Monday during a press conference, saying that he thinks the military knows what the drones are and just isn’t disclosing the information it has. 

“The government knows what is happening. Look, our military knows where they took off from. If it’s a garage they can go right into that garage. They know where it came from and where it went. For some reason they don’t want to comment,” Trump said. 

The Biden administration has been lambasted by other members of the New Jersey delegation since the mysterious drones began appearing in the state over the course of the last month. Since the first drones were reported in mid-November, nearly every state between Massachusetts and Virginia along the East Coast has said they have heard similar reports of the mystery drones from their citizens. 

“There is a growing sense of uncertainty and urgency across the state — from constituents and local officials alike — despite assurances that the drones pose no known threats to public safety,” Senator Booker wrote in a letter to the secretaries of transportation and homeland security, as well as the FBI director, on December 10. “As such, I urge you to share any relevant information about these drone sightings with the public. Without transparency, I believe that rumors, fear, and misinformation will continue to spread.”

“While not receiving any feedback/info from federal officials, I reached out to civilian aviators/others for analysis,” a New Jersey senator, Andy Kim, wrote on X. “Press releases from federal agencies that don’t share analysis of evidence and instead just reiterate statements aren’t helpful in this moment. We have a lot of distrust in politics/government right now, and we need [the] federal [government] to respect the right for the public to be informed.”