The mysterious drone sightings that cropped up over New Jersey starting late last year were “not the enemy,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday during the inaugural press briefing of President Donald Trump’s second administration.
Instead, Leavitt said, the drones in the Garden State that caused a national uproar were authorized to be in flight by the Federal Aviation Administration. That news, Leavitt added, came “directly from the president of the United States.”
“After research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA for research and various other reasons,” Leavitt told reporters Tuesday. “Many of the drones were also hobbyists, recreational, and private individuals that enjoy flying drones.”
The fervor over the highly publicized New Jersey drone sightings, Leavitt added, “got worse due to curiosity.”
“This was not the enemy,” she said.
Sightings of large drones flying over northern New Jersey began in mid-November, causing alarm among residents. In December, state officials said that there had been between four and 180 reported drone sightings per night since the sightings began, though some reports likely concerned the same drones.
By early December, the FBI began investigating reports of what had been called “car-sized” drones buzzing around the Garden State. Concerns over the apparent phenomenon grew over the sightings’ close proximity to then-President-elect Trump’s Bedminster golf course and the Picatinny Arsenal, a U.S. military research and manufacturing facility, as well as local city infrastructure.
Sightings also cropped up in the Philly suburbs, South Jersey, and New York’s Staten Island.
Officials said last month that while the drones annoyed and concerned onlookers, they had not posed a safety threat. U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R., N.J.) in mid-December suggested the drones be shot down, which is illegal, and sent a letter to then-President Joe Biden regarding unconfirmed reports that foreign adversaries were in control of the drones.
But following a briefing from state and federal officials last month, New Jersey Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia wrote in a recap that it was unclear who was behind the flights.
“We know nothing, PERIOD,” Fantasia wrote. “To state that there is no known or credible threat is incredibly misleading, and I informed all officials of that sentiment.”
Days before the winter holidays, the FBI said it determined that many turned out to be small planes, hobbyist drones, helicopters, stars, and law enforcement aircraft.
“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,” multiple government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, said in a joint statement last month. “We have not identified 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.”
The FAA, meanwhile, later announced nearly two dozen temporary flight restrictions across New Jersey affecting drones. The agency previously implemented temporary restrictions near Bedminster and the Picatinny Arsenal following the November sightings.
At a gathering of Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida ahead of his inauguration, Trump said he would give a report on the drone situation “about one day” into his administration.
“I think it’s ridiculous that they are not telling you about what’s going on with the drones,” he said.
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