UFO sightings alarm NJ: Police video shows army of 55 drones on the coast
✅ Rep. Chris Smith went to Island Beach State Park to see the drones
✅ Lawmaker concerned about what the drones could do
✅ Gov. Phil Murphy could be doing more to get information, according to Smith
A congressman says he was "deeply concerned" after police video recorded an army of 55 drones coming from New Jersey's ocean coast. Dozens of those drones also trailed a U.S. Coast Guard vessel.
The comments by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. 4th District, come as state homeland security officials are set to brief mayors across the state in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday morning.
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The drone sightings have been reported across New Jersey since Thanksgiving, in places such as military bases, the residence of President-elect Donald Trump, power lines, a reservoir and police stations. The FBI says it is investigating and taking tips.
Gov. Phil Murphy says the drones to not appear to be posing a threat, but officials have not said whether they know who is behind the flights.
READ MORE: Shoot them down! Congressman demands military action against drones
55 drones vs. the Coast Guard
Smith said that police body cam video captured 55 drones coming in from the ocean off Island Beach State Park on Sunday night. The commanding officer for the Barnegat Coast Guard station, James Corbisiero, told Smith that between 20 and 30 of them followed one of the station's 47-foot rescue boats.
Smith said that given the Coast Guard deals with drug runners what would be the rules of engagement with the drone.
"This isn't some amateur out there flying a few of these things. There's so many, and they're so big," Smith said. "You just don't know the intent of these drones."
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Congressman concerned about terrorism
"I have a deja vu feeling right now, God forbid, there be any kind of terrorism act. But we have such a porous shoreline and access to our country. And what is being done to really aggressively mitigate that danger," Smith said.
Smith recalled a bill he wrote in 1998 known as the Embassy Security Act after al Qaeda launched terrorist attacks on the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and in Nairobi. Smith recalls being told at the time by Admiral William James Crowe Jr., the joint chiefs of staff chairman for presidents Ronald Reagan and H.W. Bush, that nobody ever thought those locations would be targeted by terrorists. Requests for beefed-up security went unheeded by the Clinton Administration before the attacks, according to Smith.
Smith ticked off the number of military facilities in New Jersey at risk including Naval Weapons Station Earle in Colts Neck, the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, the Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County, a decommissioned nuclear waste site near Berkeley, U.S Coast Guard stations plus National Guard training facilities.
"We have to treat this with a presumption of potential hostile threat. You gotta presume. You don't sit there and say, 'well, it'll be OK.' No, it won't be and I learned that lesson during those bombings," Smith said.
Smith said Murphy could also be doing more in his communication with the federal government.
"I think he needs to demand that the Biden administration and the Secretary of Defense need to make this a priority right now. Don't just say Homeland Security is handling it," Smith said.
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