FAA expands ban on drones in New Jersey for reasons that remain unclear

The mystery surrounding the apparent sudden proliferation of drone activity in New Jersey deepened Tuesday when the FAA announced that it was expanding its list of areas in New Jersey where drone flights are banned, adding another nine towns to the restricted area.

The mystery regarding the drones began in November, when widespread reports of heavy and unexplained drone activity began circulating online, with numerous viral videos showing drones hovering over people’s homes with no apparent justification.

The reports led to an FBI investigation, which claimed that the drones presented “no threat to public safety” and furthermore claimed that the majority of reports it investigated were actually airplanes, stars, or “authorized drones.”

Nonetheless, the FAA began issuing a series of restrictions on drone flights in various locations in New Jersey for reasons that can best be described as vague and evasive. A total of 57 such restrictions have been issued since the start of the controversy. In the largest such restriction, the FAA announced in mid-December that it was banning drone flights for one month over two dozen New Jersey towns. The stated reason for these restrictions was that they were requested by “federal security partners” in order to protect “critical New Jersey infrastructure,” but no further elaboration was given.

The answers are even less clear regarding the new restrictions. When NJ.com attempted to find a reason for the restrictions, they described their efforts to get answers thusly:

It is unclear why the new restrictions were deemed necessary. The FAA referred questions to the federal Department of Homeland Security, which referred those questions back to the FAA. An FBI spokeswoman referred questions on the restrictions to the FAA.

The new restrictions cover the towns of Atlantic Highlands, Belford, Fort Hancock in Middletown, Highlands, Linden, Paulsboro, Port Reading in Woodbridge, South Kearny, and Westville.

The FAA did not immediately return a request for comment on the reason for the restrictions.