Drones Over New Jersey?

It's almost hard to avoid the story about drones being reported in New Jersey and other states.  All except for the time required to read and try to extract a real meaning out of the news coverage - that's pretty easy to avoid.  So a trip to a place that ought to be fairly reasonable in its coverage seemed to be in order. Not a local news outlet, or one of the big network names maybe a site more objective?  

Unable to find one I thought would be ideal, I avoided the main media outlets and went to Forbes and "Mystery drones over New Jersey and nearby states"

What Exactly Do We Know About The Drones?

Almost nothing, New Jersey Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia said on X Wednesday. Fantasia’s post was a lengthy summary of a legislative meeting with the Department of Homeland Security about the mysterious sightings. She described the government’s investigation strategy, which includes a coordinated effort led by the FBI with state police, the Office of Homeland Security and the U.S. Coast Guard. She described the dozens of nightly sightings as “coordinated” operations of drones “up to 6 [feet] in diameter” flying for six to seven hours—distances of 15 miles—unrelated to “hobbyists” or the Department of Homeland Security, which “appear to avoid detection by traditional methods (e.g., helicopters, radio frequencies).” They also reportedly aren’t related to military operations, the Picatinny Arsenal said in a statement to NJ Advance Media on Nov. 24.

Dawn Fantasia's post on X is worth the time to read, but all of this ignores the reporting of these drones from New York, Oregon, as well as other states and even other countries, such as the UK and Germany

The FBI and DHS released a statement on Thursday saying the investigation has “no evidence at this time” of “malicious activity” in New Jersey or a “national security or public safety threat.” The statement adds they have not identified “a foreign nexus” for the drones and will continue the investigation. It also said many of the drone sightings have been “cases of mistaken identity,” confusing drones for lawful, identified aircraft.

There are reports of "large and loud" drones that are "the size of SUVs" as opposed to the small, hobbyist class of drones.  There are reports of groups of drones coming off the ocean into New Jersey - I've seen a report of 50 coming ashore together.  There are reports of drones "going dark" and turning off running lights at night, but the mere act of keeping the lights on "most of the time" at night seems like an attempt to avoid collisions.

I'm sure you've seen the congressman saying they're Iranian and coming from a ship at sea.  I find that hard to believe. To borrow a line from the Cold War, "they can't even make a decent clock radio," so how can we expect them to make something as complex as a remote controlled flying drone. 

Besides, I notice that whomever is behind these drones, or whatever they are, they don't fly to areas full of southern, "good ole boys."  It would turn into a giant skeet shooting party.