Congress members blast FBI ‘amateur hour’ response to growing drones threat

Mystery drones are “wreaking havoc all across” the US, but it’s the FBI’s repsonse that has left many baffled.

The FBI has admitted it has a budget of less than $500,000 to defend the nation against waves of suspicious drones plaguing New York City, New Jersey, military bases and the Mexican border.

A US Homeland Affairs committee was “mind-boggled” when it was revealed that security forces were shockingly under-resourced to defend against drone attacks, including an incident where up to 30 drones stalked a Coast Guard boat this week.

Committee members slammed the FBI for spending only a fraction of its $12 billion budget on “counter-drone” efforts, despite dozens of reports of large unidentified drones looming over New York and New Jersey in recent weeks.

“Why isn’t the FBI taking this more seriously? That is obviously reflected in the budget.” Congressman Eli Crane questioned.

Mystery drones have been flying over the New York City skyline. Picture: X

They’ve also been spotted over the New Jersey skyline. Picture: X

FBI Critical Incident Response leader, Robert Wheeler Jr, admitted the FBI still didn’t know the origin of the drones, noting some were “larger than a commercially available drone”.

New Jersey Rep. Brain Bergen stormed out midway through the hearing and told reporters it was the “biggest amateur hour I have ever seen about anything.”

“The biggest waste of five hours in my life … this is a complete lack of effort, in my opinion, of trying to figure this out,” he told the press.

Congressman Tony Gonzales said the lack of answers made him feel like he was “in the Twilight Zone”.

“You’re telling me we don’t know what the hell these drones are in New Jersey. That’s crazy! It is madness that we don’t know,” he said.

With authorities offering no explanations, some have come to their own conclusions about the origin of the mysterious drones. A New Jersey congressman claimed that an Iranian mothership off the east coast of the US was launching the drones.

The Homeland Security House Committee heard that drones, otherwise known as Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), were wreaking havoc all across the nation.

Congressman August Pfleuger told the room that the FBI had just recently arrested a white supremacist in Tennessee who “planned to use a drone with an explosive payload to attack a power grid”.

Customs and Border Patrol top official Keith Jones said his organisation had detected nearly 1000 suspicious UASs at the Mexican border every week, but had only intercepted 60 so far in FY24.

The moment a US fighter jet shoots down suspected Chinese spy balloon in 2023. Picture: Angela Mosley

Some of those UASs were being used by Narcos gangs to smuggle weapons and drugs into the country. Others were spying on the border from Mexican airspace without ever crossing into US territory, which meant Border forces had no power to intervene.

Mr Jones said some of the UASs plaguing the border were “potentially collecting information for the government of China”, as most of the drones used by Cartels were made by China.

He also revealed that Customs and Border Protection had a “zero” budget dedicated to dealing with the UAS problem.

New York Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis was “astounded” that there wasn’t more action being taken, noting an incident in 2023 when a Chinese Spy Balloon flew over multiple military installations.

“It is very concerning that we could be having this happen again. I, it’s astounding to me that this is even happening without any type of intervention,” Ms Malliotakis said.

Originally published as Congress members blast FBI ‘amateur hour’ response to growing drones threat