Answers: New Jersey drone scare explained in new federal documents

🚨 Newly released federal documents explain New Jersey drone sightings

🚨 The White House had answers and didn't release them

🚨 Read the full report below

It appears the mystery of drones over New Jersey was never much of a mystery for federal officials. But new documents suggest they kept most of the important details hidden from the public.

The mass hysteria over New Jersey drone sightings began in November 2024. Reports came from all over: Federal lawmakers, state legislators, local mayors, and social media posts contributed.

And there were real-world consequences to the widespread fears.

Get our free mobile app

New Jersey drone dangers

Thanks to the drone scare, dangerous incidents in New Jersey of people pointing lasers at planes spiked. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there were 59 incidents in December 2024 — that's more than the 49 incidents recorded for all of 2023. 

In early December, a medical helicopter was stopped from landing at Raritan Valley Community College. Fire officials said the medevac, which was transporting a crash victim, was diverted due to drones in the area.

In mid-December, then-President-elect Donald Trump said drone sightings over New Jersey forced him to cancel a trip to his Bedminster golf club. Trump said he believed the government knew more than it was letting on about the drones.

In Belleville, locals speculated that the drone scare could be connected to missing radioactive materials. In the end, there was no drone connection. The item, a GE-68 pin, had been lost in transit and was later found.

No specifics for the public

Concerns that the drones were hostile or nefarious were waved away by the Biden administration, and later the Trump administration, with dismissive explanations about drones actually being commercial aircraft.

As it turns out, internal documents show the drones in these incidents were mostly planes. Still, the public was fed only vague answers and was left to speculate.

In its last full month, the Biden administration chose not to share the details of its findings.

Despite knowing the drones weren't a problem, Biden's National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby pushed for counter-drone legislation.

Donald Trump promised a full report on the drones on the second day of his second term.

Later, Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the drones flying over New Jersey were "authorized" to be there and "not the enemy." And no report ever came.

Answers: What we now know about New Jersey drone sightings

Federal officials had the information to prove many reported drones were actually planes as early as Dec. 17, 2024.

Finally, a newly released internal presentation from the Transportation Security Administration details several of the most well-known incidents and gives specific explanations.

The report was first published online by Reason.com, a libertarian magazine for "free minds and free markets."

"This presentation was part of collaborative law enforcement research in late 2024 to support transportation security," TSA spokesperson Jason Goff said in an email to Reason.

According to the presentation, the Nov. 26, 2024 medevac diversion, which was the first instance of drones causing potential danger for the public, may not have involved drones at all.

Fire officials said there were three drones in the sky; investigators later found that at the same time as the diversion, there were three planes on their way to land nearby at Solberg Airport.

"The alignment of the aircraft gave the appearance to observers on the ground of them hovering in formation while they were actually moving directly at the observers," the report said.

Similar explanations were given for drone sightings at the Salem nuclear plant and the  National Guard Training Center in Sea Girt.

Below is the full presentation from the TSA.

Report a correction 👈 | 👉 Contact our newsroom