Will we ever find out who is behind the New Jersey drone mystery? Gov. Murphy & President Trump hope so

President Donald Trump remarked on the issue on Monday while signing executive orders in the Oval Office.

Jim Murdoch

Jan 23, 2025, 10:32 PM

Updated 3 hr ago

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Drone sightings continue across the Garden State, but both President Donald Trump and Gov. Phil Murphy said this week that there doesn’t seem to be anything nefarious.
Wall Township local Mario Kinkela isn’t a skeptic but says the long-awaited answer to the drone mystery doesn't top his list of priorities.
“Back when it was happening, was that in December? I went outside at night and looking at the sky and I didn’t see any,” said Kinkela. “They don’t know until they know. I’m OK with that, I’m not going to lose sleep.”
Video taken from 2:30 a.m. Thursday in Hamilton, Mercer County shows what appears to be several objects still grabbing the attention of skygazers.
“Let me start with what I think is a legitimate concern that we learned in graphic detail in the month of December,” the governor said, during his “Ask Gov. Murphy” show with anchor Eric Landskroner.
FULL COVERAGE: Drones Over New Jersey
“Our nation is not properly set up to defend against any drone incursions,” said the governor.
The president remarked on the issue on Monday while signing executive orders in the Oval Office.
"I would like to find out what it is and tell the people. I can't imagine it's an enemy or there would have been...people would have been getting blown up all over,” Trump said.
While drone sightings seem to have slowed down, a lot of what people are seeing, especially over the Jersey Shore, can be explained.
For example, Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy says there have been a lot of reports of low-flying military aircraft activity over the beaches heading to and from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
The governor says the deployment of sophisticated drone tracking equipment a month ago turned up nothing of significance, rather, the main issue is how vulnerable the sightings show the country to be from unmanned aircraft.
“As a nation, this is a wakeup call and we better heed it,” said Murphy.