Drone updates: No national security risk found after 5,000 tips, FBI and other federal agencies say

The thousands of drone sightings reported over the last month in Northeastern states don't appear to be "anything anomalous," nor do they present a national security or public safety risk, federal officials said in a multiagency statement late Monday.

The FBI has received more than 5,000 tips in the last few weeks about drone sightings in New Jersey and other states, said the statement, which was released jointly by the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense.

Those tips have resulted in about 100 leads, with federal investigators supporting state and local officials.

"Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful 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 said.

Uncrewed aerial drones have been lighting up the sky at night in New Jersey and nearby states for weeks, since about mid-November, leading to concern from residents and speculation online. Some had demanded answers from local and state officials for answers.

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have deployed infrared cameras and drone detection technology to ensure the drones flying over the New Jersey and New York area aren't harmful, according to a law enforcement source. Dozens of agencies have been out daily to find answers and track down any operators acting "illegally or with nefarious intent," the FBI said recently.

The agencies are also looking at social media and other photos to determine what exactly is in the photos. Most of the photos and video depict manned aircraft, according to a law enforcement source.

But the newly released statement appeared to take a sober view of the mysterious drone sightings, noting that federal officials have yet to identify "anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast."

"That said, we recognize the concern among many communities," the statement said. "We continue to support state and local authorities with advanced detection technology and support of law enforcement."

The reported drone sightings in New Jersey are not Department of Defense assets, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said during a briefing Tuesday.

Asked whether they could be part of an experimental program, he responded, "To my knowledge, no."

Several members of the House Intelligence Committee who attended a nearly three-hour classified briefing on Tuesday about the drone sightings said they were informed the aircraft flying over the tristate area are not "nefarious" or operated by either the American government or foreign actors.

Government officials insisted most of the activity is "manned aircraft," Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., told reporters.

But the committee didn't receive an answer on who owns and is operating the possible drones, according to ranking member Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn.

"We have no idea who owns these drones, assuming these drones are, in fact, drones. Again, everybody who studied this has arrived at the conclusion that most of these sightings are commercial aircraft," Himes told reporters.

Members of the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense and the FBI were among those at the briefing, Himes said.

Committee members were assured that the drones are not operated by the federal government, according to Himes.

"We asked this question over and over and over again. They are not federal government operations to sniff radiation, gas, recovery, anything else," Himes said.

The officials said there is "zero evidence" of any illegal activity by the drones, according to Himes.

Krishnamoorthi wanted to see more data following the briefing.

"Show us how it's manned aircraft. That's kind of my request of the government, and hopefully they do that," he said.

National security spokesman John Kirby told George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America" on Tuesday that the federal government continues to be "honest and transparent with the American people" about the unexplained drone activity happening along the East Coast.

"After days of going through the various tips, days of looking at analysis, days of increasing our detection capabilities, including visual observers on the ground, we assessed that these drones, these aircraft people are seeing are a mix of law enforcement drones, commercial drones and hobbyists. We continue to see nothing that indicates a public safety risk or national security risk," Kirby said.

Kirby offered a few explanations for why people may be seeing more drones in recent weeks, including simply that there are "an awful lot of drones in the sky."

"There are 1 million drones registered with the FAA here in the United States. Thousands upon thousands fly in our skies legally and lawfully every single day doing all kinds of good things for the public good. The Northeast corridor is one of the busiest," he said.

Kirby also noted that with the sun setting earlier in the winter there is more night sky for people to look up and see things.

President Joe Biden is calling on Congress to work across the aisle to create legislation to deal with "gaps and seams in the authorities between federal and state officials" when it comes to drones in U.S. air space, Kirby said.

ABC News' Calvin Milliner, David Brennan, Luke Barr, Meredith Deliso, Luis Martinez, Matt Seyler, Aaron Katersky, Sarah Kolinovsky, Cheyenne Haslett and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.