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(NewsNation) — The House Intelligence Committee had a classified briefing connected Capitol Hill Tuesday implicit the drone sightings successful New Jersey and crossed the eastbound United States, but lawmakers were left with much questions than answers.
Intelligence officials and FBI officials accidental there's nary menace successful our nighttime skies. Federal authorities said Monday evening that sightings person been identified arsenic ineligible commercialized drones, hobbyist drones, instrumentality enforcement drones, arsenic manned aircraft, helicopters and adjacent stars.
"I deliberation the FBI, the quality community, is taking this precise seriously, is looking astatine each report, and to date, there's nary grounds that there's thing nefarious going on," Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., said.
Still, respective lawmakers told NewsNation they judge determination needs to beryllium caller authorities to amended show drones successful U.S. airspace, arsenic good arsenic to determine what tin beryllium flown there.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is pushing for a measure to springiness section authorities much powerfulness to respond to and way drones arsenic well.
"We're really reasonably good, but we tin beryllium amended astir monitoring restricted airspace," Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn.,said.
Michael Melham, the politician of Belleville, New Jersey floated the thought that the drones mightiness beryllium connected to radioactive worldly successful an interrogation with "Good Day New York." He reiterated these claims on "Morning successful America" Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported radioactive worldly contained successful aesculapian instrumentality utilized for crab scans was mislaid successful transit. On Dec. 3, an an Eckert & Ziegler exemplary HEGL-0132 instrumentality was sent for disposal from Nazha Cancer Center successful Newfield New Jersey. However, the shipping instrumentality it was successful arrived astatine its destination "damaged and empty," according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
"We cognize we person drones flying successful a grid-like pattern. In my opinion, they're looking for something," Melham said connected "Good Day New York." "What mightiness they beryllium looking for? Maybe that's radioactive material."
The Department of Energy and different officials told ABC News that Melham's mentation has been disproven. In addition, a doc astatine the Nazha Cancer Center said to ABC that the missing worldly was recovered and disposed of properly.
Dr. James Dalzell told ABC the instrumentality was shipped by Fed-Ex, which temporarily misplaced it. The instrumentality was recovered aboriginal and sent to the manufacturer, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said. According to the NJDEP, drones were not utilized to find the radioactive material, ABC wrote.
Former CIA operations serviceman Laura Ballman said connected "Morning successful America" that she has seen "0 evidence" that the drones are related to atomic material.
"I would caution the nationalist to beryllium highly skeptical of those kinds of theories," Ballman said successful an interrogation with NewsNation's Markie Martin.
Melham said connected NewsNation Wednesday that helium wasn't the 1 who brought up the radioactive worldly during the "Good Day New York" interview.
"I simply said that I judge (the government) is searching and sniffing something," Melham said. "There's nary uncertainty successful my caput that our national authorities has assets that person the quality to cognize wherever thing is connected the ground."
NewsNation anchor Markie Martin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
