FAA temporarily bans drones in multiple New Jersey cities

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday issued temporary bans on drone activity in cities across New Jersey, citing “special security reasons” for the restrictions.

Temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) apply to Camden, Gloucester City, Winslow Township, Evesham, Hancock’s Bridge, Westampton, Burlington and Hamilton. 

Drone activity is also temporarily prohibited in Bridgewater, Cedar Grove, North Brunswick, Metuchen, Westampton, South Brunswick, Edison, Branchburg, Sewaren, Jersey City, Harrison, Elizabeth, Bayonne, Clifton and Kearny.

The action came after the FAA earlier this week joined other federal agencies in declaring the drone sightings were a combination of ‘lawful’ drones, other aircraft and stars.

“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,” the FAA wrote in a Tuesday statement with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Defense. 

“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.”

Those comments followed a push from lawmakers for answers from federal agencies regarding the increase in mysterious drone sightings.

A measure allowing state and local law enforcement to act on the recent spike in drone sightings was included in a temporary spending package that was ultimately scuttled Wednesday.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Wednesday also blocked an effort by Senate Democrats to pass legislation to authorize state and local authorities to track drones spotted over New Jersey, New York and other states.

Paul argued the bill would have expanded the government’s surveillance powers and downplayed concerns that the drones pose a threat to the public.

“We continue to assess there is no public safety threat relating to the reported drone sightings,” a DHS spokesperson told The Hill in a statement on Thursday.

“In coordination with the FAA and our critical infrastructure partners who requested temporary flight restrictions over their facilities, out of an abundance of caution, the FAA has issued temporary flight restrictions over some critical infrastructure facilities in New Jersey.”

Updated at 2:47 p.m. EST