EXCLUSIVE
An Aussie expert on UFOs warns that official attempts to dismiss hordes of mystery UFO-like lights plaguing the USA as conventional drones is 'complete bulls*'.
And best-selling author Ross Coulthard warns that the craft may have already invaded skies over key Australian military installations.
America's north-east has been struck by a wave of the unexplained objects, with more than 5000 sightings reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation across several states in the last few weeks alone.
The FBI joined with the US Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense on Tuesday to dismiss the sightings as a mix of professional and amateur drones and mistaken reports.
'Having closely examined technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess the sightings include commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones,' the joint statement read.
'We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk.'
But many state and local officials are not buying that explanation.
Neither is world-leading Australian UFO expert Ross Coulthart, who rubbished the official government claims that the objects were 'legal' drones.
'That's a load of s* - and a complete cover up,' the five-times Walkley Award-winning investigative journalist told Daily Mail Australia.
The flying objects, like these ones seen in the evening sky near Lebanon Township, New Jersey, are larger than drones used by hobbyists, witnesses have noted, raising questions about their proximity to critical infrastructure and sensitive sites.
'This is an attempt by the government to stop this story going any further.
'How can they maintain that these are legal drones when clearly they are operating illegally over sensitive US military bases and they are powerless to bring them down? Somebody is not telling the truth.
'I have been speaking to local police, FBI agents, Homeland Security personal and politicians who say the line that Homeland Security is putting out is complete B.S.
'It's an attempt by some idiot high up in government to shut this all down - but quite frankly we don't know what these anomalous objects are.'
The former 60 Minutes star reporter said there was no evidence the 'anomalous objects', which had the ability to 'go dark' when approached, were drones, or even human technology.
He warned similar unexplained objects had also been sighted over key military bases in Australia, including joint US-Australians installations at Pine Gap and the Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt just north of Exmouth in the country's west.
Pine Gap, south-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, is a satellite tracking station operated by US intelligence agencies in partnership with Australia.
Established in 1970 when 400 American families were moved to central Australia, Pine Gap is now the most important overseas US intelligence facility.
Coulthart warns similar objects have been spotted over key military installations in Australia including the joint US-operated Pine Gap site just outside Alice Springs
The base has been used by personnel to watch and listen to intelligence that could be of interest to the five eyes alliance
The Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt provides radio transmission to the Unites States Navy and Royal Australian Navy ships and submarines in the western Pacific Ocean and eastern Indian Ocean.
'The (US sightings) are very similar to the ones I have learned about in Australia but it is too early to draw any specific parallels,' he said.
Mr Coulthart said he suspected political forces within the White House were attempting to delay addressing the issue properly until outgoing US president Joe Biden had officially handed over power to Donald Trump next month.
'The government are flat out lying and their own people on the frontlines are now calling them out on the lies,' he said.
'The age of denial and lying to the public is over.'
US journalist and author Michael Shellenberger said he had obtained a recording of the White House's drone briefing for New Jersey mayors which included the FBI, DHS and FAA.
'The mayors are livid. One of them got up there and said, "I had two automobile-sized drones hovering over my house",' Shellenberger told Fox News commentator Jesse Watters.
On Saturday, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul stated: 'I will do whatever it takes to ensure New Yorkers remain safe,' in a post on X.
The FBI and other agencies are investigating the strange activity but officially insist they are 'legal drones'
'New York is investigating these incidents, but the federal government needs to grant us the powers to deal with the drones directly,' she added.
Other state representatives have called for the US military to shoot the drones down.
'We have the capability to shoot them now, but to do it in a place where there would not be any threat to anybody on the ground. Just do it,' New Jersey representative Chris Smith said.
'I think we're dismissing this very prematurely. We need answers, and that was days ago. We still don't have any answers. Crickets.'
In a stern warning to the public, New Jersey's State Police and the FBI's Newark office have insisted the public stop trying to take down the state's mystery drones.
'We're seeing an increase in pilots of manned aircraft being hit in the eyes with lasers, because people on the ground think they see a drone,' Nelson Delgado, the acting special agent-in-charge of the Newark FBI office, said in a video message.
'We are also concerned that people will take matters into their own hands and fire a weapon at an aircraft.'