The Federal Aviation Administration issued temporary flight restrictions prohibiting drone flights over parts of New Jersey following an influx of sightings in recent weeks. The notice, which expires Jan. 17, 2025, said drone operations in support of national defense, homeland security, law enforcement, firefighting, search and rescue or disaster response missions are not included in the restrictions. Commercial drone operations are allowed with a valid statement of work, but there must be an approved special governmental interest airspace waiver and all applicable FAA regulations must be followed. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the White House, and more broadly the U.S. government, does not seem concerned about the increased sightings in New Jersey and other northeastern states. "Look, I'm the speaker of the House. I have the exact same frustrations that you do and all of us do. We don't have the answers. The administration is not providing them," Johnson said in a Fox News appearance.

'Fox & Friends First' host Carley Shimkus discusses the Fox Flight Team joining the search for UAPs in the Northeast and a classified briefing for lawmakers stating nothing'nefarious' is happening in New Jersey skies. Congress is set to pass legislation to avert a government shutdown that will reauthorize the government's ability to intercept and track unauthorized drones and crack down on U.S. investment in China. The 1,500 page continuing resolution (CR), which will fund the government until March 14, includes a provision reauthorizing a Department of Homeland Security program allowing agencies to coordinate and counter threats from drones. That authority, passed in 2018, was set to expire Friday – at a time when concerns about drone incursions are at an all-time high. However, it is a simple reauthorization of a program many drone experts say is outdated.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., joins'Fox & Friends' to discuss the disagreement over the House spending bill, Paris Hilton's push to pass a bill cracking down on abusive youth facilities, and concerns over mystery drone sightings. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Wednesday rebuffed the Biden-Harris administration's response to recent drone sightings in New Jersey, decrying how federal authorities have given no clear answers to Congress on their origin. In a Fox News appearance, Johnson agreed that the White House, and more broadly the U.S. government, does not seem concerned about the increased sightings in New Jersey and elsewhere in the Northeast. "Look, I'm the speaker of the House. I have the exact same frustrations that you do and all of us do. We don't have the answers. The administration is not providing them," Johnson said.

The FBI field office in Newark urged New Jersey residents this week not to shoot down drones or point lasers at manned aircraft, taking to social media to warn against the dangerous -- and possibly deadly -- activity, which comes amid an uptick in reported drone sightings along the U.S. East Coast. The drone sightings have prompted a collective sense of panic among residents, who have taken to social media to share photos and videos of believed drones captured in the darkened U.S. skies. The shared sense of fear-mongering has also prompted some vigilante-like responses, with some social media users documenting efforts to take matters into their own hands, including via laser beam. In the statement, released by the FBI and New Jersey State Police, authorities expressly warned against such activities, citing an increase in pilots of manned aircraft in the area who have been hit in the eyes with lasers after being misidentified as a drone by someone on the ground. New Jersey State Assemblyman Paul Kanitra took a photo of what appears to be multiple drones hovering in the New Jersey sky on Thursday, Dec. 13. Officials said there is also a concern that people on the ground could also mistakenly fire weapons at what they believe to be an Unmanned Aircraft Systems, or UAS, but is in fact a manned aircraft.

Suspicious drone sightings in states across the Northeast in recent weeks may be coming from inside the United States, according to a military expert. Civilians and lawmakers have reported drone sightings in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Ohio and other states, with local and federal law enforcement offering little information about the aerial activity, most of which has been spotted at night. Some of the drones are as large as 6 feet in diameter, according to New Jersey state Rep. Dawn Fantasia, who was briefed on the matter last week. "The concern is definitely valid. One thing I do believe, I believe the government knows the source of these drones, and I believe the source of these drones is from inside the U.S., especially the larger drones," Col. William Dunn, president of Strategic Resilience Group, a government consulting group, told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., joins'America's Newsroom' to call out the Defense Department for failing to act in response to the mystery drones that have sparked concerns over national security. The mysterious drone phenomenon centered in New Jersey has prompted government officials to issue fresh calls for expanded power as their counter-drone authorization is set to expire this week. The current drone-countering authorities -- authorized as part of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 -- grant both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) authority to use advanced detection technologies to identify, track and intercept drones that aren't complying with the law. The 2018 measure exempts the agencies from other laws that prevent interference with aircraft and wiretapping without a warrant. It expires on Dec. 20, and lawmakers must attach a last-minute extension to a stopgap spending bill to fund the government this week in order to prevent a lapse.

A New Jersey drone pilot says his device lost power and was forced to descend from a restricted chunk of airspace while the mystery flier he was trying to investigate managed to stay airborne despite a signal designed to shut down legal drones. Michael B, a podcaster and paranormal investigator behind the Terror Talk Productions YouTube channel, lives near the Picatinny Arsenal, an Army facility near where dozens of sightings have been reported in recent weeks. He was flying in the area, attempting to get a closer look at a larger, unidentified object he believes is a drone. "There was a drone just hanging out," he told FOX 5 New York. "I had full battery life. Not 3 minutes into the flight, I lost control of the drone."

New Jersey resident Kristen Cobo captures video of approximately 8 suspected drones over a farm near her home on Dec. 12. Drone experts have little idea what the dozens of drone sightings over New Jersey could be, but have ruled out the possibility that they might be the work of a classified government program. They say the lack of a clear image or any residual hardware makes it difficult to make any guesses. "Until something is found, it's really difficult to say," said Brett Velicovich, Fox News contributor and CEO of Expert Drones. "We haven't seen any clear images."

Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich speaks with White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby about the mysterious drones in the Garden State on'The Story.' A U.S. Senator from Connecticut said the mysterious drones spotted recently flying over states in the mid-Atlantic region should be "shot down, if necessary." In an interview on Capitol Hill Thursday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said intelligence analysis is needed on the drones and the U.S. must act "more aggressively" against the sightings that have been reported. "We should be doing some very smart intelligence analysis and take them out of the skies, especially if they're flying over airports or military bases," the senator said. "They should be shot down, if necessary, because they're flying over sensitive areas."

A social media user filmed what appeared to be drones flying over the Fairfield train station. Several drones were allegedly spotted in the skies above a Connecticut suburb on Thursday night, adding to recent drone sightings that have perplexed locals and raised questions about possible national security and public safety concerns. A social media user on X posted videos of possible drones in Fairfield, 55 miles northeast of New York City. Drones hovering over New Jersey and near Staten Island, New York in recent weeks have raised concerns amid a lack of clarity over their origin. A social media user said she filmed several drones hovering over Fairfield, Connecticut on Thursday night.