The mysterious drones spotted in northern New Jersey late last year were authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration FAA and were not dispatched by foreign enemies of the U.S., the White House confirmed on Tuesday, ending months of speculation.
“After research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by FAA for research and various other purposes,” White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt said during a press briefing on Tuesday. “Many of these drones were also hobbyists, recreational, and private individuals that enjoy flying drones. In time, it got worse due to curiosity. This was not the enemy.”
Drone sightings puzzled the nation late last year, when New Jersey residents reported seeing multiple large drones beginning in mid-November. Former White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said in December that the administration had “not been able to, and neither have state or local law enforcement authorities, corroborate any of the reported visual sightings.”
“To the contrary,” Kirby reported at the time, “upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully… there are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted airspace.”
Although the Biden administration skirted around the origin of the drones, then-president-elect Donald Trump claimed that “the government knows what is happening.”
“Look, our military knows where they took off from, if it’s a garage they can go right into that garage. They know where it came from and where it went,” Trump said in December. “And for some reason, they don’t want to comment. I think they’d be better off saying what it is,” he added. “Our military knows, and our president knows, and for some reason they want to keep people in suspense.”
Former Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told CNN last year that the drones did not constitute “nefarious activity,” and added that the federal government “deployed additional resources, personnel, technology, to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the” reportedly FAA-authorized drone sightings.
Trump vowed on his Inauguration Day to find out what happened with the drones and share the information with the public. “I don’t know why they wouldn’t have said what it was,” he said at the time.