Former NJ governor slams Mayorkas dismissing drone concerns: 'It's just wrong'
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie slammed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' dismissal of the drone activity and said that to suggest it wasn't unusual activity was ridiculous.
"Is this a mass hysteria of some sort?" ABC News host George Stephanopoulos asked the former governor. The ABC News host also just spoke to Mayorkas, who said the public had no reason to be concerned about the drones and that they hadn't seen any unusual activity.
Dozens of drones have been spotted flying throughout New Jersey over the last few weeks, as government officials have yet to determine where they're coming from or who operates them.
"Here’s why, George," Christie said. "Because of answers like the secretary just gave. They’re not answering the questions."
"To say this is not unusual activity, it’s just wrong. I’ve lived in New Jersey my whole life. This is the first time that I’ve noticed drones over my house. And I was in a restaurant in Monmouth County on Friday night, had people at the bar coming up to me and saying, ‘Gov. Murphy won’t tell me anything. The president won’t tell me anything,’" Christie said.
Christie detailed his own experience, and said he had stopped drones flying over his house in New Jersey a couple of days ago.
"The Biden Administration and state authorities have to be more vocal and let people know exactly what they’re doing. This interview this morning was a bit of a better step, but I think much too little too late, and when people see this kind of activity, it’s a new-ish technology to most people, and they’re worried about it and concerned," he added.
Stephanopoulos asked, "so you don't think it's the kind of thing where once people become focused on it, they actually see things that they wouldn’t necessarily pay attention to in the past?"
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Christie said it might be "some of that," but said people, including himself, were seeing drones fly above their homes for the first time in their lives.
The former governor said if he was still governor he'd want "our state police to be able to have the authority to bring those drones down and find out why they’re doing what they’re doing, and of course, you would have to coordinate with the FAA."
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"What we’re going to find, George, is you’re going to have individuals acting as drone vigilantes, and they’ll start taking them down. That’s not what they want, because they’re now an important part of commerce and law enforcement uses them frequently for surveillance and other things. We need to be able to operate in a safe way, and we’re not doing that," he added.