KITTERY, Maine — Dozens of reported drone sightings coming out of New Jersey have prompted the White House to hold two multi-agency press briefings in the last week.
In the latest meeting from Dec. 14, the FBI, DHS, and FAA reiterated they do not believe the drones spotted pose a threat to national security. However, the agencies are continuing to investigate the origins and operators of these drones.
Representatives from those agencies did, however, announce the sightings have been drastically increasing.
An FBI official said they have received about 5,000 tips through a national tip line, but less than 100 of those have been deemed worthy of investigating.
Some of those reports are now coming out of Maine.
Ken and Judy Galle were aware of the sightings out of New Jersey, but their home in Kittery is hundreds of miles away.
That's why on the evening of Dec. 12, they were surprised to see one of the drones flying just down the street from their house.
"She looks out the window and says, 'What's that?'" Ken Galle recalled. "And I'm looking out the windshield and I say, 'That looks a lot like one of those drones!'"
The couple said they spotted it while driving down Haley Road. They described the drone as large, shaped like a rectangle with lights at all four corners. It was quiet, flying a couple hundred feet up in the sky.
It appeared to the Galles that the strange phenomenon had made its way to Maine, and they aren't the only ones who think so.
NEWS CENTER Maine has received reports directly and seen posts on social media that allege these drones have been spotted all over the state, including Portland, Auburn, and the Waterville area.
Federal agencies did not mention Maine specifically in Saturday's meeting, but an FBI official described some of the public concern as a "slight overreaction" fueled by panic.
Federal officials emphasize that drones are far more common than people may realize. The FAA reports there are more than 1 million drones legally operating in the U.S., used for everything from surveys to scientific monitoring.
In Scarborough, for example, drones were recently used to survey beaches.
"The drone being used was probably about a foot to 18 inches around—fairly small," Jami Fitch, Scarborough’s sustainability manager, said.
Still, that description doesn't match what the Galles said they saw.
"This was huge. I can't say this was the size of a car like some people have said, but it might have been 10 to 12 feet long," Ken Galle said.
While White House agencies do believe some of the claims may be suspicious, they are still investigating. Not much is known yet about who may be operating those drones or where they are coming from.
"I'm not worried about it, but it certainly is concerning that we as a nation don't know what these things are," Ken Galle said.
In a joint statement on Dec. 12, the Department of Homeland Security and FBI insisted there is no national security threat. However, they did acknowledge the investigation has revealed a gap.
The statement reads: "While there is no known malicious activity occurring in New Jersey, the reported sightings there do, however, highlight the insufficiency of current authorities."
For people like the Galles, the lack of answers is unsettling.
"Can they follow them on radar? Where are they landing? Where are they going? Where are they coming from?" Ken Galle asked.
Federal agencies have mentioned the possibility of introducing legislation that would extend and expand their authorities to identify and mitigate potential drone threats.