Joe Biden breaks silence on mysterious drones amid ‘radioactive materials’ scare

Joe Biden has finally addressed the mysterious drones swarming the US, as the FBI, Pentagon and Homeland Security issue a rare joint statement on a radioactive theory.

President Joe Biden broke his silence on mysterious drones swarming parts of the United States, saying they were “nothing nefarious apparently”.

“There are a lot of drones authorised. We are following this closely. So far no sense of danger,” he said.

Residents of the US northeast have for weeks been reporting flights of unidentified drones, a phenomenon that has sparked worries over possible foreign involvement as well as accusations of a US government cover-up.

In a joint statement, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration said there they have not “identified anything anomalous in the drone activity.

“[We] 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,” the statement said.

Joe Biden, pictured yelling out to the press during a Christmas tree Lighting Ceremony, says there’s ‘nothing nefarious’ about the drones. Picture: AFP

“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,” they said.

Top US officials have previously rejected any suggestion of foreign involvement — including far-fetched claims that the drones originated from an Iranian or Chinese “mothership” out at sea — even as public concern has mounted.

But video footage of recent mysterious airborne phenomena has continued to clog social media, with sightings reported in states including New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia.

President-elect Donald Trump has said the US government “knows what is happening,” suggesting there is some sort of cover-up, but outgoing President Joe Biden’s administration has rejected such suggestions.

‘RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS’ THEORY SPARKS CONCERN

Mystery drone sightings in New Jersey may be linked to missing radioactive material, a local mayor said.

Belleville Mayor Michael Melham said the drones flying in a grid-like pattern over his Essex County township appear to be “looking for something”.

“What might they be looking for? Maybe that’s radioactive material,” Melham told Fox TV’s Good Day New York.

“It was a shipment. It arrived at its destination. The container was damaged, and it was empty,” he said.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued an alert earlier this week regarding a piece of medical equipment used for cancer scans that was “lost in transit” on December 2, the New York Post reports.

The outlet says the shipment was being transported from the Nazha Cancer Center in Newfield in Gloucester County in southern New Jersey.

The device, an Eckert & Ziegler model HEGL-0132, was to be properly discarded — but its “shipping container arrived at its destination damaged and empty,” the agency said.

The item, known as a “pin source,” contains a small amount of the radioactive chemical Germanium-68, which is used in PET scanners to calibrate accuracy, the outlet reports.

A photo that purports to show a mystery drone over New Jersey. Picture: X

However, the Post adds, the radiation is unlikely to cause permanent injury as the source is deemed less than a Category 3 on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s scale.

It comes as the Daily Mail reports it obtained a bombshell government report that shows the US Air Force, NASA and FBI knew about incursions from apparent advanced drones over a year ago but have failed to put a stop to them.

The outlet quotes the internal report saying the “detection equipment” and “signal jamming” had “failed”, in a presentation slide titled “lessons learned,”.

The report also notes the drone incursions were “not initially viewed as a crisis”, with a “delay in external resources being deployed” and a “delay in setting up [a] Unified Command Post”, according to the Mail

The outlet says: The report calls for “more training/equipment needed for Ground Intercept Teams”, “better form[s] of communication for field personnel”, a “more robust notification and reporting system among partner agencies” and a ‘better understanding of legal authorities (process) and capabilities of cUAS [anti-drone technology] / detection systems.”

The publication also obtained exclusive images that purport to show a craft photographed by specialist military units over US airbase RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, England last month.

US AIR FORCE BASE CLOSED AIRSPACE AMID DRONE ‘INCURSION’

The United States Air Force grounded activity above a key base – responsible for all foreign and space threats – during the peak of a mysterious drone swarm besieging the country.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, one of the most critical in the US’s network of military locations, shuttered surrounding airspace during the early morning hours over the weekend.

Bob Purtiman, chief of public affairs for the 88th Air Base Wing, said the airspace was restricted for four hours due to sightings of the unidentified drones.

The sightings occurred late Friday into the early hours of Saturday morning, local time, but were not revealed until audio of the incident was reported by The War Zone.

In a recording to the outlet’s YouTube channel, an air traffic controller tells the aircraft “MedFlight 8” to use “use extreme caution for heavy UAS [unmanned aircraft system] movement on the base.”

“Security forces is handling the situation,” the air traffic controller said. “I’ve got to keep the lights down so that security forces can see.”

Mr Purtiman told local broadcaster WHIO that the “small” drones were being monitored, but that “to date, installation leadership has determined none of the incursions impacted base residents, facilities or assets.”

The Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio, is home to the National Air and Space Intelligence Centre [NASIC], the Department of Defence’s primary source for foreign air and space threats.

The mission of the NASIC is to discover and characterise air, space, missile, and cyber threats” by using “unique collection, exploitation, and analytic capabilities not found elsewhere”, according to its website.

Drones have also been seen over Picatinny Arsenal, home of the US Army’s CCDC Armaments Center, and Naval Weapons Station Earle, in New Jersey.

There have been nearly 1,000 reported drone sightings in New Jersey since the sighting first began less than a month ago, according to data collected by the state’s Office of Emergency Management.

The analysis, first reported by The New York Post, revealed 964 unmanned aircraft systems sightings were reported between Nov. 19 and Dec. 13, with the majority — 243 — in suburban Hunterdon County.

On Thursday night alone, 193 drone sightings were called in. The night skies were also busy on Dec. 4, when 141 drones were seen hovering above.

It comes as Donald Trump, who declined to confirm whether he had been given an intelligence briefing as the incoming president, said that President Joe Biden and US government “know what is happening”.

Donald Trump wants the drones shot down. Picture: Getty

“Our military knows where they took off from, if it’s a garage they can go right into that garage. They know where it came from and where it went.

“And for some reason they don’t want to comment. And I think they’d be better off saying what it is. Our military knows, and our president knows, and for some reason they want to keep people in suspense.”

Mr Trump added that he “can’t imagine it’s the enemy” because they would be blasted out of the sky, but that “something strange is going on”.

“For some reason they don’t want to tell the people, and they should because,” he said. “They happen to be over Bedminster,” he added referencing his New Jersey property. “I think I won’t spend the weekend at Bedminster. I’ve decided to cancel my trip.”

US TO DEPLOY ADVANCED TECH TO COUNTER DRONES

US federal officials are set to deploy a high-tech drone detection system to New York State following mysterious drone sightings over the past month.

While the Biden administration has brushed off suggestions the drones are being used nefariously by a foreign adversary, politicians and officials in New York, New Jersey and Maryland have raised the alarm and demanded answers.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas sough to quell growing concerns.

“Some of those drone sightings are, in fact, drones. Some are manned aircraft that are commonly mistaken for drones,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on ABC’s “This Week” program.

“But there’s no question that drones are being sighted,” he said, noting there are more than one million registered in the United States.

US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Picture: AFP

Last week, Donald Trump said the mysterious drones should be shot down.

The President-elect also weighed in by questioning whether the swarms of drones were flying “without our government’s knowledge”.

“I don’t think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!” Mr Trump said in a post on his social media platform.

Earlier this week, New Jersey Republican congressman Jeff Van Drew claimed “highly reliable” sources had told him the drones were coming from an Iranian mothership offshore, an allegation that was rejected by the Pentagon.

A suspected Chinese spy balloon in the sky over Billings, Montana. in February last year. Picture: AFP

Originally published as Joe Biden breaks silence on mysterious drones amid ‘radioactive materials’ scare