Drone Wave

The New Jersey drone wave: thousands of reports, a federal 'no threat' verdict, and an unclosed file

Beginning in mid-November 2024, residents across northern New Jersey report waves of large, slow, often car-sized 'drones' at night, with early clusters near Picatinny Arsenal. The FBI logs thousands of tips, the FAA restricts airspace, and a December 12 joint DHS/FBI statement finds no threat and attributes many sightings to misidentified manned aircraft. A January 2025 White House statement calling the flights 'authorized' closes the news cycle without reconciling the record.