1
00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:11,800
Speaker 1: Everyone. I'm Matt Ford and welcome to the Good Trouble Show.

2
00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:15,320
It's the end of twenty twenty four and mystery drones

3
00:00:15,359 --> 00:00:18,800
are operating above the skies of New Jersey. The White

4
00:00:18,839 --> 00:00:21,480
House is acting as if this is something new, something

5
00:00:21,559 --> 00:00:25,000
they have never seen before, something they are going to

6
00:00:25,039 --> 00:00:26,120
get to the bottom of.

7
00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:31,079
Speaker 2: But are these drone incidents new tonight? A growing mystery

8
00:00:31,079 --> 00:00:34,719
in the night sky over Colorado. Fleets of unidentified drones

9
00:00:34,799 --> 00:00:38,240
reportedly flying in grid patterns, even spotted by law enforcement.

10
00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:43,359
Speaker 3: I had what I related to your own heading towards humor.

11
00:00:43,439 --> 00:00:45,920
Speaker 2: So for this video they shot is the best evidence

12
00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,600
to emerge. The sightings reported across five counties in Colorado,

13
00:00:49,679 --> 00:00:52,600
as many as thirty drones flying in formation, some with

14
00:00:52,679 --> 00:00:54,600
wingspans estimated at six feet.

15
00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:58,640
Speaker 1: That was December of twenty nineteen in Colorado, but it

16
00:00:58,719 --> 00:01:00,200
didn't stop there.

17
00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:04,000
Speaker 4: The enigma puzzling Colorado and Nebraska law enforcement in more

18
00:01:04,079 --> 00:01:08,000
than a dozen counties. Witnesses say the drones typically appear

19
00:01:08,079 --> 00:01:12,079
after sunset, as many as thirty flying information two hundred

20
00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:16,040
to three hundred feet above ground, some with wingspins estimated

21
00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:17,280
at six feet.

22
00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:21,400
Speaker 1: That same December, the drones moved north into Nebraska, operating

23
00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:25,560
well into January of twenty twenty. Again, more reports of

24
00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:29,480
drones up to six feet in size. Let's fast forward

25
00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:31,319
to December of last year.

26
00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:35,640
Speaker 5: New reports that mysterious drones are swarming a US military

27
00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:38,439
base and did so for seventeen days in December of

28
00:01:38,519 --> 00:01:42,640
last year. Wow, new reports of something that happened in

29
00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:46,840
December that breached our national security. The Pentagon says it's

30
00:01:46,879 --> 00:01:49,120
stumped with no idea who was behind it.

31
00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:52,920
Speaker 6: In December twenty twenty three, US Air Force commanders at

32
00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,879
Langley Air Force Base in southern Virginia, home to the

33
00:01:55,959 --> 00:01:59,560
F twenty two raptors, noticed, over a period of seventeen days,

34
00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:03,719
dozen of unidentified drones would begin flying over the base

35
00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:07,239
shortly after dusk each night. The Air Force, by federal law,

36
00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,159
was not allowed to shoot these mystery drones out of

37
00:02:10,159 --> 00:02:13,479
the sky. The White House reportedly called for national security

38
00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,960
meetings to discuss how to address drones possibly sent by

39
00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,360
a foreign adversary. There were concerns about using electronic warfare

40
00:02:21,479 --> 00:02:25,159
or jamming systems for fear of interfering with commercial air

41
00:02:25,199 --> 00:02:28,840
travel over the holidays. Three months earlier, mysterious drones were

42
00:02:28,879 --> 00:02:32,319
also spotted flying over a sensitive nuclear facility in Nevada.

43
00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,199
It is not clear whether these incidents were related.

44
00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:39,120
Speaker 1: The drone incursions at Langley Air Force Base, which lasted

45
00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,759
almost the entire month of December of twenty twenty three,

46
00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:46,039
with so severe the United States Air Force had to

47
00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:49,800
relocate an entire wing of F twenty two fighters to

48
00:02:49,879 --> 00:02:53,159
another base. On top of that, they had NASA fly

49
00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,960
one of their high altitude surveillance planes for hours above

50
00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:00,360
Langley Air Force Base to gather data on these drones.

51
00:03:00,719 --> 00:03:03,479
Let's jump to November of twenty twenty four.

52
00:03:05,879 --> 00:03:09,080
Speaker 7: The US Air Force says unidentified drones have been spotted

53
00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,520
over four joint US and UK military bases in England.

54
00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:14,280
Speaker 8: The mysterious drones.

55
00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:17,840
Speaker 7: Have repeatedly appeared for over a week now. Stephanie Bennett

56
00:03:17,879 --> 00:03:20,759
is live in London, So Stephanie, this is pretty disturbing.

57
00:03:20,759 --> 00:03:22,039
Speaker 8: What do we know about these drones?

58
00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:26,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's exactly right, Julie. I mean the details are

59
00:03:26,319 --> 00:03:29,719
still very limited at this time. We do know that

60
00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,280
the sighting started last week on November twentieth, and they

61
00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:36,599
have really ranged in size, in style and also the

62
00:03:36,639 --> 00:03:39,560
amount that we've been seeing over that last week or

63
00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,680
so now, a senior British official confirm to Fox that

64
00:03:42,759 --> 00:03:47,520
the UK has deployed about sixty troops, including counter drone specialists,

65
00:03:47,719 --> 00:03:49,759
to help determine who is behind this and to help

66
00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,759
defend the air bases, and it fears its potential coordinated operation.

67
00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:56,879
They're describing the incidents as unusual and say this is

68
00:03:56,919 --> 00:04:00,599
a serious set of circumstances. Take a look at map.

69
00:04:00,639 --> 00:04:03,439
The bases are spread across England and are all used

70
00:04:03,479 --> 00:04:06,080
by US Air Force. Now the drones have been seen

71
00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:10,599
over RAF Fairford, laken Heath, Mildenhall and felt Well for

72
00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,759
now Civilian police supported by the UK Ministry of Defense

73
00:04:13,879 --> 00:04:16,600
have launched an investigation and so far we're told there

74
00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,839
has been no impact to residents or infrastructure and they

75
00:04:19,879 --> 00:04:21,800
have not been identified as hostile.

76
00:04:23,199 --> 00:04:26,279
Speaker 9: General Rider, There's been a number of incidents in England

77
00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:31,279
with drones targeting US bases, kind of swarming US bases,

78
00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:35,360
challenging security. Do you believe they have hostile intent? Do

79
00:04:35,399 --> 00:04:37,519
you believe they were sent by a foreign adversary? What

80
00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:39,879
is happening with What can you tell us about these drones?

81
00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:43,600
Speaker 10: What I would tell you, Jennifer, is that they are

82
00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:49,240
being actively monitored installation. Leaders have determined so far that

83
00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:54,240
none of these incursions impact the base residents, the facilities,

84
00:04:54,319 --> 00:04:57,720
or the assets that we have on those bases. We're

85
00:04:57,759 --> 00:05:00,959
of course continuing to work with host nation authorities and

86
00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:04,439
our mission partners to ensure the safety of our personnel,

87
00:05:04,439 --> 00:05:06,319
our facilities, and the equipment.

88
00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:08,680
Speaker 8: You know.

89
00:05:08,759 --> 00:05:10,959
Speaker 10: The bottom line is it's something that we're going to

90
00:05:10,959 --> 00:05:13,800
take seriously. We're continuing to look into it, but as

91
00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:17,439
of right now, has not had any significant mission impact.

92
00:05:17,519 --> 00:05:18,759
Speaker 9: Why not shoot them down?

93
00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:22,519
Speaker 10: Well, I won't get into force protection measures. We of

94
00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:25,639
course always maintain the right to defend ourselves if we

95
00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:28,920
deem something to be a threat, but again we'll continue

96
00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:31,040
to work with the local host nation authorities there.

97
00:05:31,399 --> 00:05:34,199
Speaker 9: Do you think it's linked to the drones that were

98
00:05:34,879 --> 00:05:38,839
cited or three or four different locations back in December

99
00:05:38,879 --> 00:05:41,600
of last year that we reported on recently.

100
00:05:42,399 --> 00:05:42,839
Speaker 8: Yeah, I don't.

101
00:05:42,879 --> 00:05:48,639
Speaker 10: I don't want to speculate and draw unnecessary connections. You know, Again,

102
00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:51,000
this is something that we'll look into. As you know,

103
00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:57,959
small UAS's drones have become something that's you know, relatively

104
00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:02,279
common now across the the landscape. It's something that the

105
00:06:02,319 --> 00:06:05,079
Department has been looking closely at in terms of how

106
00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:09,360
it applies to our facilities, our personnel, whether it's in

107
00:06:09,399 --> 00:06:12,680
combat zones or outside of combat zones. But in terms

108
00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:17,480
of these particular incidents in the UK versus the ones.

109
00:06:17,199 --> 00:06:17,800
Speaker 8: In the States.

110
00:06:17,879 --> 00:06:19,839
Speaker 10: You know, again, I don't want to speculate that there's

111
00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:20,839
any connection.

112
00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:22,560
Speaker 9: Appear to be those of hobbyists.

113
00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:23,199
Speaker 8: Is that correct?

114
00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:27,920
Speaker 10: Again, it would be you know, premature to draw any conclusions.

115
00:06:27,959 --> 00:06:29,680
We've got to see what these are. I mean, it's

116
00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,399
entirely possible that it could be hobbyists or something else.

117
00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:35,079
We just got to look into it.

118
00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,720
Speaker 1: So who knew drone hobbyists were on a world tour

119
00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:42,240
flying drones of military bases. I need to get in

120
00:06:42,319 --> 00:06:43,639
on that seriously.

121
00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:43,920
Speaker 8: Though.

122
00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:48,680
Speaker 1: The point is is that this is nothing new, folks.

123
00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:52,279
This is absolutely nothing new. Every time it happens, the

124
00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:54,959
Pentagon says, we are going to look into it and

125
00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:58,959
we will get right back to you. Well, they never do.

126
00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,959
The Pentagon knows that historically these drone events end about

127
00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:05,920
usually about after two to four weeks, and when they do,

128
00:07:06,319 --> 00:07:09,600
people move on, and the Pentagon is more than happy

129
00:07:09,639 --> 00:07:12,160
to move on as well, hoping that they get no

130
00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:16,040
more questions about this stuff. Guess what? Here we are again,

131
00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:19,399
this time with drones operating with impunity over the skies

132
00:07:19,439 --> 00:07:22,000
of New Jersey. Here to talk about what is flying

133
00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,600
above the homes of the town of Belleville, New Jersey.

134
00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:28,920
Please welcome to the show, Mayor Michael Melhem, Mayor. How

135
00:07:28,959 --> 00:07:29,399
are you, sir?

136
00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:31,720
Speaker 8: I'm doing well. Thank you for having me.

137
00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:36,000
Speaker 1: You're very welcome. So what are the citizens of Bellevue reporting?

138
00:07:36,079 --> 00:07:38,800
And for how long? How long has this been going on?

139
00:07:39,879 --> 00:07:42,399
Speaker 11: I mean you're going on across New Jersey for about

140
00:07:42,439 --> 00:07:45,240
three three and a half weeks now. I must say

141
00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:47,720
it was pretty quiet for us the first couple weeks,

142
00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:52,639
but as of Wednesday we became inundated, I mean Wednesday Thursday,

143
00:07:52,959 --> 00:07:55,360
and it did simmer down a little bit on Friday.

144
00:07:55,439 --> 00:07:59,560
Last night, we've been inundated with swarms and swarms of

145
00:07:59,639 --> 00:08:03,240
drone coming in nightly. It's been a little chaotic here

146
00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:05,800
because people just are curious and they have no.

147
00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:06,600
Speaker 8: Idea what's going on.

148
00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:08,959
Speaker 11: And now it's starting to turn into fear because we

149
00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:12,279
just can't get any transparency from our federal government.

150
00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:14,839
Speaker 1: And that was actually going to be my next question.

151
00:08:14,959 --> 00:08:18,920
Are your citizens are they concerned about this? Are they amused?

152
00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:21,720
Are they concerned? How are they reacting to all of this?

153
00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:24,639
Speaker 11: I could tell you that they are definitely concerned. They're

154
00:08:24,639 --> 00:08:27,600
certainly not amused. I mean, when you have objects flying

155
00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:31,160
objects hovering one hundred feet or a couple hundred feet

156
00:08:31,199 --> 00:08:34,639
above your home, you're definitely not amused about that. And

157
00:08:35,039 --> 00:08:37,679
being that we live in the United States of America,

158
00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:41,039
and we have a fairly substantial federal budget, and we

159
00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:45,440
have a fairly substantial military and defense, you would think

160
00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:48,039
that somebody would be able to give us some answers

161
00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:50,480
as to what is hovering just over our homes.

162
00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:54,200
Speaker 1: Now, it's been reported that these drones have been hovering

163
00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:58,320
over a critical infrastructure in New Jersey. Is this taking

164
00:08:58,360 --> 00:08:59,320
place in Belleville?

165
00:09:00,879 --> 00:09:03,240
Speaker 11: So we do have a critical infrastructure here in Belleville.

166
00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:05,879
We haven't seen them hovering over that critical infrastructure, but

167
00:09:05,919 --> 00:09:09,879
you're absolutely correct. We had a very interesting briefing on Wednesday.

168
00:09:09,879 --> 00:09:11,519
It was a one of a kind briefing where two

169
00:09:11,639 --> 00:09:14,440
hundred mayors were gathered along with every member of our

170
00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:18,039
state legislature. And that was the security briefing. That was unprecedented.

171
00:09:18,279 --> 00:09:20,480
It had never happened before, and One of the first

172
00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:23,639
things that we were told is that these drones are

173
00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:27,480
indeed hovering over critical infrastructure, and depending on how you

174
00:09:27,639 --> 00:09:31,759
digest that, it's either cost for concern or comfort concern

175
00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:33,519
if it would be a foreign actor and we don't

176
00:09:33,519 --> 00:09:37,600
know who that is, or cost for comfort if you

177
00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:40,519
actually believe, like I'm starting to be led to believe

178
00:09:40,759 --> 00:09:45,559
that this might indeed be our military or our defense capabilities,

179
00:09:46,279 --> 00:09:48,039
and therefore you would want them up there as a

180
00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:50,559
countermeasure to what's ever going on. The question is no

181
00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:53,799
longer who's operating the drones. I think that's kind of obvious.

182
00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:56,320
The question is why are they here and why do

183
00:09:56,360 --> 00:09:57,639
they appear to be on patrol.

184
00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,879
Speaker 1: In this meeting, did they offer any specific guidance to

185
00:10:01,919 --> 00:10:04,279
mayors such as yourself as far as how you should

186
00:10:04,279 --> 00:10:07,120
handle this, how you should message to the citizens in

187
00:10:07,159 --> 00:10:07,639
your city.

188
00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:11,679
Speaker 11: Again, this was Wednesday, so lots happened since then, but

189
00:10:11,799 --> 00:10:14,720
during that meeting it was really just we advise you

190
00:10:14,799 --> 00:10:19,360
to engage your residents and inform them that shooting upon

191
00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:22,759
these drones is a federal offense to shoot on an aircraft,

192
00:10:22,799 --> 00:10:26,600
because drones are considered an aircraft when they're in the sky,

193
00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:30,279
and we were advised and told and told to reiterate

194
00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:32,879
the fact that if you do fire upon these, you

195
00:10:32,919 --> 00:10:35,639
are firing on an aircraft and that would be against

196
00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:39,480
federal regulations. And they did make sure they wanted us

197
00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:42,039
to know that you can't fire on drones.

198
00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:45,000
Speaker 8: But that was a couple of days ago. They've since gotten.

199
00:10:45,919 --> 00:10:48,159
Speaker 11: We've gotten clearance on how to now deal with the

200
00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:51,000
downdrone and that kind of made some news yesterday when

201
00:10:51,039 --> 00:10:53,240
we finally got that guidance on how to deal with

202
00:10:53,279 --> 00:10:54,159
a downdrone.

203
00:10:54,879 --> 00:10:58,120
Speaker 1: What is your opinion as far as how the governor

204
00:10:58,159 --> 00:10:59,559
of New Jersey. I know there's been a lot of

205
00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:04,480
criticis leveled at the federal reaction. How do you feel

206
00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:08,759
about how the governor has handled this entire incident that

207
00:11:09,159 --> 00:11:10,240
continues to this day.

208
00:11:11,399 --> 00:11:14,200
Speaker 11: There's been criticism, There's no doubt about that. Early on,

209
00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:17,120
he came out about a week ago and said that

210
00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:19,120
I have no idea what they are, but there's no

211
00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:22,759
cause for concern, which nobody's buying that anymore. And then

212
00:11:22,759 --> 00:11:25,720
when we had that unprecedented briefing. Again, in the history

213
00:11:25,799 --> 00:11:28,720
of New Jersey, every single mayor has never been assembled

214
00:11:28,799 --> 00:11:31,600
under one roof wit members of the state legislature for

215
00:11:31,799 --> 00:11:34,159
security briefing, and the governor was a no show.

216
00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:35,480
Speaker 8: I mean our governor here.

217
00:11:35,639 --> 00:11:39,799
Speaker 11: He did approximately two hundred and fifty press conferences for COVID,

218
00:11:40,039 --> 00:11:42,240
and yet he's still not done a press conference about this.

219
00:11:42,799 --> 00:11:45,559
Speaker 1: Unbelievable. I actually wasn't aware of that. I figured he

220
00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:47,559
had at least been out in front of the public

221
00:11:48,279 --> 00:11:51,279
to discuss this. Now, you caught one of these drones

222
00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:53,559
on your shelf, excuse me, on your I believe your

223
00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:55,519
cell phone, and I'm going to play that clip, and

224
00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:58,159
if you wouldn't mind, just tell us what we're looking

225
00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:01,279
at here and where you took this and when this happened.

226
00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:05,360
Speaker 11: Yeah, this was my first encounter. Actually, I believe this

227
00:12:05,519 --> 00:12:08,440
was on Thursday, a couple of days ago, and I

228
00:12:08,519 --> 00:12:11,080
was home. I heard an interesting sound, a sound that

229
00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:12,200
I had not heard before.

230
00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:13,080
Speaker 8: I got up.

231
00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,720
Speaker 11: I ran to the window, realized didn't have my phone,

232
00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:18,720
doubled back, grabbed my phone. Now, I will say, there's

233
00:12:18,759 --> 00:12:23,039
been whites widespread speculation about that second light, and when

234
00:12:23,039 --> 00:12:25,120
it gets in front of the cloud there, it does

235
00:12:25,159 --> 00:12:30,399
seem like another one comes out right there. You know,

236
00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:32,919
the internet and social media's a buzz with this clip.

237
00:12:33,519 --> 00:12:35,840
I am one to say that I was shooting through

238
00:12:35,879 --> 00:12:38,879
a glass window, and it might very well. I'm no

239
00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:42,159
aviation expert, nor my video expert, but it may very

240
00:12:42,159 --> 00:12:43,720
well be of reflection.

241
00:12:43,799 --> 00:12:45,879
Speaker 8: I was not aware of that when I shot that.

242
00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:49,320
Speaker 11: Actually, this clip went to CNN for an interview, and

243
00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:53,000
it was only after CNN ran it that other people

244
00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:55,639
on the internet and social media start to dissect it.

245
00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:58,440
So I'm not quite sure what that other little orb

246
00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:00,600
is or what that other little light that comes out

247
00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:03,039
of it is. But I did shoot it. I did

248
00:13:03,039 --> 00:13:05,440
see it come right past my house. I heard it,

249
00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:10,240
I saw the lights. These are not manned aircraft. It's

250
00:13:10,279 --> 00:13:14,240
insulting for the administration to tell us here in New

251
00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:16,679
Jersey that we're all nuts, that we're all seeing things

252
00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:20,159
that we can't distinguish the difference between a manned plane

253
00:13:20,759 --> 00:13:24,399
and a drone hovering over our houses. It's insulting, but

254
00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:27,279
that's something that I saw. We have reports here in

255
00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:29,720
bellebel I had a flight attendant called me two days

256
00:13:29,759 --> 00:13:31,879
ago who said, I'm seeing for right now.

257
00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:35,840
Speaker 8: She knows the difference between a plane and a drone.

258
00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:37,960
Speaker 11: And I also had a police officer actually catch one

259
00:13:38,039 --> 00:13:41,799
on video and he's actually a licensed drawn operator. We're

260
00:13:41,799 --> 00:13:45,039
not nuts, we're not seeing things. These are not airplanes.

261
00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:49,960
Speaker 1: And you're quite convinced and what you have seen and

262
00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:53,919
what you were hearing from your constituents that this isn't

263
00:13:53,919 --> 00:14:00,000
sort of normal drone technology or misidentified private or commercial aircraft.

264
00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:02,000
Speaker 8: I'm certain of that. Now.

265
00:14:02,159 --> 00:14:05,840
Speaker 11: I'm not going to say that there is no miss

266
00:14:05,879 --> 00:14:08,639
you know, misreadings here. I mean now in New Jersey, well,

267
00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:10,200
there's paranoid that's spreading.

268
00:14:10,399 --> 00:14:11,720
Speaker 8: People are looking up in the sky.

269
00:14:11,799 --> 00:14:13,840
Speaker 11: I mean, I was going to dinner yesterday and we're

270
00:14:13,879 --> 00:14:15,559
in the parking lot and people are looking up at

271
00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:17,279
the sky. There's a lot of people look in the

272
00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:19,440
sky for the first time, or people that haven't really

273
00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:21,639
focused on the sky in some time, and they got

274
00:14:21,639 --> 00:14:23,720
their phones out there, and everything they see they think

275
00:14:23,759 --> 00:14:27,840
it's a drone. I'm sure there's some miscategorization going on,

276
00:14:28,279 --> 00:14:30,320
but I'm going to tell you that there's definitely drones

277
00:14:30,399 --> 00:14:32,000
up there. I mean the first day I saw it,

278
00:14:32,279 --> 00:14:35,000
which was Wednesday, I went to my balcony I looked

279
00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,200
out and it was the equivalent to looking into a

280
00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:41,200
forest and seeing those lantern bugs, that those lantern flies

281
00:14:42,279 --> 00:14:44,440
with the green and blinking lights coming back at me.

282
00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:48,159
It was it was annerving, to say the least, because

283
00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:50,639
I know exactly what my sky looks like at nighttime

284
00:14:50,679 --> 00:14:51,840
and it wasn't that.

285
00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:56,840
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, it's it's really just amazing that this is

286
00:14:56,879 --> 00:15:00,039
going on and seeing the sort of what I I

287
00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,919
would say, ineptness from the federal government and how it's

288
00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:07,840
responding to this so speaking, which finally, what would you

289
00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:10,639
like to see in terms of a response from the

290
00:15:10,639 --> 00:15:11,480
federal government.

291
00:15:12,399 --> 00:15:14,440
Speaker 8: I mean, I want some transparency at this point.

292
00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:17,320
Speaker 11: I think that the lack of transparency is what's fueling

293
00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:19,320
all these conspiracy theories that are.

294
00:15:19,159 --> 00:15:20,240
Speaker 8: Going out online.

295
00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:24,919
Speaker 11: I've developed a unique line of thought on this, and

296
00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:27,600
I've really taken new account what we were told when

297
00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:30,200
I went to that briefing. We were told, when you

298
00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:31,840
leave here, you can know exactly what to stay in.

299
00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:32,639
Speaker 8: New Jersey knows.

300
00:15:32,879 --> 00:15:35,720
Speaker 11: It was very little, but I did get some nuggets

301
00:15:35,759 --> 00:15:38,120
out of that. I mean, they told us, first and foremost,

302
00:15:38,159 --> 00:15:41,600
they're hovering over critical infrastructure. They told us there's no

303
00:15:41,679 --> 00:15:43,879
credible threat. How they can know that if they don't

304
00:15:43,919 --> 00:15:44,919
know where they're coming from.

305
00:15:45,039 --> 00:15:45,519
Speaker 8: I don't know.

306
00:15:45,559 --> 00:15:49,039
Speaker 11: But when you put that stuff together, hovering over critical infrastructure,

307
00:15:49,399 --> 00:15:52,559
no credible threat. They told us for sure they're not

308
00:15:52,639 --> 00:15:55,039
going to shoot them down, and they also told us

309
00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:58,720
they're not interested in a no flight of a ban

310
00:15:58,879 --> 00:16:04,399
on drones. Put all that together in conjunction with blinking lights,

311
00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:09,720
it adds up to it's probably our government. I mean,

312
00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:12,440
you know, if it was little green men, if it

313
00:16:12,519 --> 00:16:16,159
was something inter terrestrial, you don't need blinking lights. If

314
00:16:16,159 --> 00:16:18,279
it was a foreign adversary looking to do is harm,

315
00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:21,120
you don't need the blinking lights. The fact there's blinking

316
00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,559
lights is almost telling me for sure this is government.

317
00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,120
And if it's government, maybe that actually is comforting to

318
00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:30,639
knowing that they're over our critical infrastructure. But the question

319
00:16:30,879 --> 00:16:34,519
is why are they there? Are they aware of a threat?

320
00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:36,840
You could put a thrown up. You can put a

321
00:16:36,919 --> 00:16:39,360
drawn up in the sky for five minutes to take pictures.

322
00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:41,240
Put a drawn up in the sky for five minutes

323
00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:44,159
and take mapping. The fact that they're patrolling, the fact

324
00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:47,000
that they're moving into grid like pattern, it appears like

325
00:16:47,039 --> 00:16:50,120
they're looking for something. Is our government aware of a

326
00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:53,679
threat and do we have assets that are previously unknown

327
00:16:53,919 --> 00:16:57,320
to members of Congress, United States senators, and certainly the

328
00:16:57,360 --> 00:16:58,200
state of New Jersey.

329
00:16:58,519 --> 00:17:00,000
Speaker 8: Are we deploying.

330
00:16:59,559 --> 00:17:03,679
Speaker 11: Assets up there that are ours that are previously unknown

331
00:17:03,759 --> 00:17:06,240
because they're aware of a threat and they're searching for something.

332
00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:07,200
Speaker 8: That's what we want to know.

333
00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:10,319
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what we want to know for sure, you know.

334
00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:13,240
And I can tell you we actually have been for

335
00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:16,119
about the past month and a half conducting pretty in

336
00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:21,319
depth interviews with the former police chief of a city

337
00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:24,839
that I can't speak of up in Nebraska, and they

338
00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:29,160
had during twenty nineteen and twenty twenty, I can tell

339
00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:34,440
you virtually identical drones swarmed their small towns. These are

340
00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:39,079
towns with maybe a population of three or four thousand

341
00:17:39,839 --> 00:17:43,079
for a literal two week period, so you know. So

342
00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:47,119
this happened twenty nineteen, twenty twenty in both Colorado and Nebraska.

343
00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:51,079
And then, as we recently mentioned in an episode, this

344
00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:55,839
also occurred over Langley Air Force Base last year, this

345
00:17:55,960 --> 00:18:00,400
time exact time last year, where the drones were so

346
00:18:00,519 --> 00:18:05,400
prolific for literally the entire month of December, the United

347
00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:08,640
States Air Force had to relocate an entire wing of

348
00:18:08,839 --> 00:18:12,880
F twenty two fighters to another airport because these things

349
00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:17,319
had completely disrupted all air operations at Langley Air Force BACE,

350
00:18:17,559 --> 00:18:20,920
which is of course an incredibly critical air force base

351
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:25,599
for our national security. So in my opinion, this is

352
00:18:25,599 --> 00:18:28,480
something the government has been well aware of, at least

353
00:18:28,759 --> 00:18:32,880
since twenty nineteen. So you know, they really need to

354
00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:35,680
come clean because they're leaving you guys hanging in the dark.

355
00:18:35,839 --> 00:18:38,559
That's not fair to you. It's not fair to your constituents,

356
00:18:38,759 --> 00:18:40,759
you know, and really it's not fair to you know,

357
00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:44,319
every American. But they please go ahead.

358
00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:46,400
Speaker 11: I'm sorry, it's not I mean, you can't tell me

359
00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:49,519
that they don't know what's flying in our airspace. I mean,

360
00:18:49,559 --> 00:18:52,119
they have technology that they could read your driver's license

361
00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:54,200
number from a mile up in the sky.

362
00:18:54,319 --> 00:18:55,759
Speaker 8: Probably why it's throw in your pocket.

363
00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,200
Speaker 11: So you can't tell me that they don't know what's

364
00:18:58,200 --> 00:18:59,400
flying around our airspace.

365
00:19:00,079 --> 00:19:03,079
Speaker 1: I couldn't agree more. Mayor Melholm, thank you very much

366
00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:06,160
for joining us, and hopefully, hopefully we'll have you back

367
00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:09,359
on and you'll have some answers from the government as

368
00:19:09,359 --> 00:19:11,720
far as what is going on above your town. Thank

369
00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:13,640
you for joining us, Thank you for having me