More alarmist NJ drone theories floated by lawmakers turn out to be a dud

☑️ The White House refutes another New Jersey drone theory

☑️ Congressman disagrees with their conclusion

☑️ Police respond to a false report of a crashed drone at the Jersey Shore

The White House has knocked down another drone theory promulgated by a New Jersey congressman, saying that a report of drones tailing a Coast Guard ship was a case of people getting confused by typical flight traffic out of a busy New York City airport.

The Coast Guard story was one of several in recent weeks that helped fuel the frenzy in New Jersey over the supposed drone sightings, many of which have turned out not to be drones at all.

The shooting down of the Coast Guard story promoted by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. 4th District, came days after another congressman was forced to take back his theory about Iran sending enemy drones into the Garden State and on the same week that a theory about drones searching for radioactive material was shown to be unfounded.

Smith, who had been meeting with local officials regarding the drone sightings, said that the Barnegat Coast Guard station commanding officer reported that about a dozen or so drones had followed one of the station's 47-foot rescue boats.

Smith revealed this along with his story about seeing a police video that had recorded at least 50 drones coming out of the ocean on Dec. 8.

The Department of Homeland Security, FBI, FAA, and the Department of Defense have insisted that the numerous drone sightings around New Jersey are a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones.

The drones Smith saw are no exception, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told Fox News on Tuesday.

"We did the forensics on that. It turns out that it was air traffic going into JFK and not drones at all. Some of these initial sightings you want to take all the facts down and then you gotta start working your way through the evidence and seeing if it tracks to something else," Kirby said.

Smith, however, said the Coast Guard official was convinced that drones followed the boat.

"According to the officer who briefed me, several drones—between 13 and 30 of them—followed the Coast Guard boat as it traveled along the coast. He told me that the drones were an estimated 100 feet from the vessel and were keeping up with the boat at an estimated cruising speed of 20 knots (or approximately 23 mph),” Smith said.

“The officer reported that the boat turned to return, and the drones followed. At one point, the drones were flashing their headlights at the boat. He told me that the drones were between 4 and 8 feet in wingspan and appeared between 9 to11 p.m."

Congressman, wrong about Iran, insists on coverup

The Pentagon denied a claim by U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J. 2nd District, that the drones were coming from a missing Iranian drone mothership off the U.S. coast. He doubled down on the claim with New Jersey 101.5's Bill Spadea and said the information came from individuals who are "credible, well-placed, have top security clearance."

Van Drew walked back the idea the next day, acknowledging new satellite imagery shows all three of Iran's drone ships are anchored off its coast, 6,500 miles from the Jersey Shore.

On Wednesday, however, Van Drew pushed back at Kirby's explanations, accusing him of "sheer incompetence, willful ignorance, or a cover-up."

"People are reporting drones, some the size of SUVs, and instead of addressing those legitimate concerns, the administration is brushing them off and treating Americans like they are delusional. It is unacceptable."

Van Drew said that if the drones are part of a "government operation" not every detail needs to be disclosed but some level of transparency is expected.

"We have seen this happen before. They downplayed the Chinese spy balloon, assuring us it was not a threat, and then let it drift over our country for weeks collecting intelligence. To now dismiss these drones as routine is the height of arrogance and it is disrespectful to the people of America," Van Drew said.

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Searches for drones turn up nothing

A report of a drone crashing into the ocean this week was unfounded.

Point Pleasant Beach police said they were called around 5:10 p.m Tuesday but officers could not locate any craft. The U.S. Coast Guard, State Police and FBI were notified about the supposed crash. Witnesses told New Jersey 101.5 that two Blackhawk helicopters were part of the search during the evening.

Assemblyman Paul Kinitra, R-Ocean, shared pictures of craft over the Lake of the Lillies section.

A drone was reported to have crashed in Hillsborough on Dec. 12 after hitting high-tension power lines by the Lowe's store on Route 206. A search did not locate any drone, according to Hillsborough police.

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