A puzzling spate of drone sightings along the US East Coast is “not outrageous,” President Joe Biden said.
the Viewings in recent weeks They have occurred in New Jersey and a number of neighboring states, sometimes around air force bases. This phenomenon has given rise to a number of conspiracy theories about foreign involvement.
Authorities have not provided many specific answers, other than to say that the sightings are not always of drones, and that they do not believe there is a threat to national security or that a foreign power is at work.
Members of the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, who received a closed-door briefing on Tuesday, joined Biden on Wednesday in trying to reassure the public.
Among the committee members who spoke to reporters afterward was Chrissy Holahan, a Democrat.
“So far, they have found nothing to suggest the presence of foreign influence, foreign actors, or even little green men working for the American people,” The Hill quoted her as saying.
Biden said in his statements to the media: “We are following this matter closely, but so far there is no sense of danger.”
He stressed that the observations are not evidence of any violations. “There are a lot of drones allowed out there,” he said. “I think someone started it and they all — everyone wanted in on the deal.”
In recent days, sightings have led to the temporary closure of Stewart International Airport in New York and Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
Government agencies previously said they had “not identified anything unusual.” They agreed with Biden that many of the drones seen were being flown legally by amateurs and law enforcement officials, adding that people were also spotting “manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars that were mistakenly reported as aircraft.” “Unmanned.”
But audience questions still remain. Earlier in the week, Noel Thomas, a New Jersey man, described to the BBC his experience of spotting a UFO in the sky. He said it was the size of a school bus, rectangular in shape with flashing lights, and “definitely something I'd never seen before.”
A police officer in the same state said: “We are just looking for some common sense answers so that people can go on with their lives and not live in this hysteria that we are living in.”
As the uncertainty persists, state governments are calling for more power to deal with small, unmanned aircraft spotted in the skies. Earlier this week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said officials had sent her a drone detection system.
Among those who expressed doubts was President-elect Donald Trump, who said the government “knows what's going on” but “for some reason doesn't want to comment.” But he said he “couldn't imagine that he was the enemy.”
The Pentagon previously denied a New Jersey lawmaker's claim that the potential drones came specifically from an Iranian “mother ship,” while an FBI official said there may have been a “slight overreaction” on the matter. .
