The Biden administration's dismissal of accounts of an unexplained drone swarm following a U.S. Coast Guard rescue vessel has sparked a wave of discontent among Coast Guardsmen stationed in Barnegat Light.
The incident, which transpired earlier this month, has left many sailors demanding both answers and respect.
According to the Gateway Pundit, the incident began as a routine patrol but quickly escalated into an eerie encounter. A Coast Guard member, who chose to remain anonymous, expressed his frustration to The New York Post over the administration's casual disregard of their firsthand experiences. "Its the implication thats insulting, the Guardsman said. Its implying were making sh-t up, when the ones making up sh-t are down in Washington, D.C.
The incident in question involved an alleged fleet of 12 to 30 drones shadowing a 47-foot Coast Guard rescue vessel during an Atlantic Ocean patrol. The sailor recounted that the drones appeared suddenly around 9 p.m., maintained a steady pace with the vessel cruising at 20 knots, and maneuvered in a way no commercial aircraft could.
Im terrible with measurements, but [the swarm] was about 80 to 100 feet above us. They had four propellers. Seven feet across. The flashing lights, like youve seen. The festive green, red, and white lights, the sailor described. Commercial airplanes dont move like that, he said. Ive been out there [on the water] when planes were coming in for landings in New York, and trust me, you can tell the difference. Were not idiots, we know what drones look and sound like.
Despite these detailed accounts, federal officials, including White House spokesman John Kirby, dismissed the reports. Kirby suggested that the sightings were likely misidentifications of manned aircraft, such as incoming airliners, helicopters, or even stars, asserting that forensic analysis did not indicate the presence of drones.
Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include 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. We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast," according to the joint statement from DHS, FBI, FAA & DoD.
However, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) raised alarms over unidentified drones observed near U.S. military installations, suggesting they may be adversarial and likely of Chinese origin. McCaul wrote, Probably not. I think theyre going to say they dont know. And thats a concern in and of itself, that if we have drones flying around military bases and we cant identify where they came from or whos responsible for them. I know there are a lot of commercial drones out there, and Secretary Mayorkas has talked about this.
He continued, Thats fine. But the ones flying over our military bases. By definition, I would say, are adversarial. We need to know who is behind that because I believe theyre spy drones. The PRC, Chinese Chinese China is very good at this stuff. We know they bought land around military bases. This would be very consistent with their policy over the last couple of years.
In a surprising twist, Belleville Mayor Michael Melham (R) suggested the drones may be connected to missing radioactive material. There wasand there isan alert thats out right now that radioactive material in New Jersey has gone missing. On December second, it was a shipment. It arrived at its destination, the container was damaged, and it was empty. So potentially were looking for that, Melham said. This assertion adds another layer of complexity to an already perplexing situation, leaving more questions than answers in its wake.
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