As drone sightings over New Jersey continue to raise questions, a new tool could bring answers about the source of these flying vehicles — if the government could get it off the ground.
Earlier this year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began requiring all unmanned aircraft systems to be equipped with Remote ID technology, which makes every equipped drone uniquely identifiable to authorities, like a license plate on a car.
The FAA announced that it would provide a database that could be accessed by local law enforcement, but nearly one year later, local authorities still can’t get into it themselves.
“The FAA is working on developing Remote ID data sharing capabilities for law enforcement so they can have access to FAA registration information,” the agency said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“To be clear, [authorities] have uncovered no such malicious activity or intent at this stage,” the DHS and FBI said in a joint statement on Thursday. “While there is no known malicious activity occurring in New Jersey, the reported sightings there do, however, highlight the insufficiency of current authorities.”
Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
