The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has temporarily banned drones over some of New York’s “critical infrastructure sites.”
“This action is purely precautionary; there are no threats to these sites,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said in a statement on Thursday. The ban will last through Jan. 18.
“While we have not detected any public safety or national security threats, we will continue aggressively monitoring the situation as we call on Congress to pass legislation to give states and local law enforcement the authority and resources they need to manage this evolving technology. Public safety is my top priority and I will stop at nothing to keep my constituents safe,” she added.
The FAA issued a similar monthlong ban on drones in parts of New Jersey earlier on Thursday.
The bans come as drones have reportedly been spotted in New Jersey and New York in recent weeks. Earlier this week, Hochul has said that the Biden-Harris administration had sent a drone detection system to the state, NewsNation reported.
Officials in the U.S. have insisted that the drones do not belong to the U.S. military and are also not the property of foreign governments. The Department of Homeland Security, FBI, Department of Defense and FAA issued a joint statement earlier this week about drones amid growing concerns.
Lawmakers and residents have been pushing for more government transparency and answers about what these objects are as the number of places sightings have taken place continues to grow.
The sightings in New York closed the runways at Stewart International Airport for roughly an hour last week as more than 40 million Americans are expected to travel by air during the upcoming holidays, though the closures did not seem to impact flight traffic. At the time, Hochul said the sightings had “gone too far.”
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