Richard Arnold: US correspondent says local officials aren't convinced at messaging over drone sightings

It's drone-mania in the US, after many mysterious sightings in New Jersey and the East Coast over the last month.

Associated Press reports there's been sightings in multiple states, including at a military research and manufacturing facility and at President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course.

Homeland Security and the FBI both say there's no evidence the sightings pose a national security threat.

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Heather du Plessis Allan many local officials aren't convinced.

He says the New York Governor's been calling for further investigations and rolling out drone detection technology.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Out of the US Richard.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Arnold, Morning, Richard, Good morning, Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Right, what's the latest with the drones.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Yeah, we're at this again, right, We're a story of
the moment, the flurry of drones sightings over the northeast
here and the seeming inability of the government to throw
any light on what's going on. The Head of Homeland
Security Handro Mayorcus is out today saying the government is
looking into it. Beyond that, though, he's saying, well, very little.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
If there is any reason for concern, If we identify
any foreign involvement or criminal activity, we will communicate with
the American public accordingly. Right now, we are not aware
of any.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
That is not satisfying people. New York's Governor Kathy Hochel
says in a statement, this has gone on. It's become
such a concern now that Stuart Airport in upstate New
York was shut down for a brief period this week
in amid safety concerns. These drones seem to be flying
around in significant numbers. Is one witness.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
They keep coming and I've seen I don't even know
how many I've seen.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Today, drones everywhere. One Democratic Senator Andy Kim went out
to do a drone survey, so he's serious about it.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
We're counting oftentimes five sixths seven or more at any
given time.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, he later admitted that much of what he was
seeing actually was regular aircraft, so it's getting a little
bit crazy. National Security aid John Kirby saying we.

Speaker 4 (01:18):
Have no evidence at this time that the reported drone
sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat,
or have a foreign nexus. It appears that many of
the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being
operated lawfully.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Is it a bird? Is the playing Well? However, some
local officials again are not convinced by the government assurances.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
They're either lying or they're incompetent, or they're both.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
And Senator Richard Blumenthal also is getting into the act
on this is what he says.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
The lack of information is absolutely unacceptable.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Well, New York's governor now says that, in response to
her calls for further investigation, state of the art drone
detection systems of being deployed in her state. You know,
about a million drones are registered in the US. Amazon,
of course, has been testing ways to send stuff to
people that they buy online, so it lands in their
front yards via drone. Can you imagine if the skies
suddenly were just filled with drones carrying pizza?

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Richard, listen, I see there's been a huge tornado in
northern California. Now that's that's unusual for that part of
the world, isn't.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
It doesn't happen. You know, we hear all the time
how the weather is changing, and yeah, this is different.
San Francisco issued its first ever tornado warning. This is
part of the country where this is not supposed to be.
A twister has hit south of the Bay City, near
Santa Cruz is where this happened.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
There it blows stop plates.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
We saw that white car over there. Yeah, about fifteen days.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, cars were flying. A couple of dozen were overturned.
This was an F one, so afar from the biggest tornadoes,
but enough to cause some injuries, is what they're reporting.

Speaker 4 (02:58):
Now you have a couple of serious injuries.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
One person was transported to the hospital and critical injuries.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
You know, people in San Francisco are used to earthquakes,
but this has caused some uproar. Meantime, southern California is
experiencing warmer than usual temps while heavy snowstorms are battering
much of the US, including Lake Tahoe in the West
and big, big storms in the Midwest and Northeast right now.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Good stuff, Hey Richard, thanks for running us through to
appreciate it. That's Richard Arnold, our US correspondent.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
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