6 days Ago By Lisa Rozner
NEW YORK -- Federal lawmakers say they will push for new measures in Congress on Monday to track down the mysterious drones flying across the Tri-State Area and the country . Gov. Kathy Hochul says federal partners are deploying a state-of-the-art detection system to New York state.
On Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he's requesting the Department of Homeland Security deploy a detection system like one known as ROBIN. "Which use not a linear line of sight but 360-degree technology that has a much better chance of detecting these drones. We're asking DHS to bring them to the New York-New Jersey area," Schumer said.
"Would you consider banning sale of them from some of the companies that make the drones?" CBS News New York's Lisa Rozner asked New York's senior senator. "There are hundreds of companies all over the globe that make drones. We don't know which ones these are.
This radar will help us find out which they are and then we can go talk to the companies," Schumer said. Rozner asked DHS if it would grant Schumer's request for a new detection system. A rep responded by saying the agency only responds to congressional inquiries directly via "official channels.
" Hochul said Sunday the state needs Congress to pass the a bill which would give New York the authority to detect, track or even destroy unmanned aircraft systems. That legislation has been stuck in committees, but Schumer's office said with him as co-sponsor now, it could pass by the end of the year. On CBS' Face The Nation , Republican Congressman Mike Waltz of Florida said defense agencies are pointing the finger at each other and under President-elect Donald Trump.
"We need to take a hard look at our homeland defenses. President Trump has talked about an iron dome for America that needs to include drones as well, not just adversarial actions like hypersonic missiles. We need to have an all-of-the-above protection of U.
S. airspace," Waltz said. The FBI says it has received approximately 5,000 tips on the aircraft sightings , and of those, less than 100 leads were deemed worthy of further investigation.
The DHS secretary said on ABC This Week that the agency knows of "no foreign involvement." The Department of Defense also said the military is "prohibited from conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations in the U.S.
" The South Bronx is now part of the multiple places in the Northeast where clusters of drones have been spotted . "They're huge, too, so I don't know what's going on," resident Jeff Garcia said. "I believe it's sabotage because all of a sudden we getting all of these drones coming from somewhere," resident Donna McCoy said.
"Is it like recording people? Or they just going around sitting there looking at you?" JJ Mines-Evans added. Lisa Rozner joined CBS News New York in 2017. She covers a wide range of stories.
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