WASHINGTON – The White House announced on Tuesday that the unidentified drones spotted flying over parts of New Jersey last year were sanctioned by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for research and other activities, and they did not represent a threat to national security.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt explained that numerous drones seen over New Jersey were operated by enthusiasts for recreational activities.

“This situation escalated out of curiosity. They were not a threat,” Leavitt stated during her initial formal press briefing, where she shared this update directly from President Donald Trump.

In December, prior to his inauguration, Trump urged the public to “shoot down” the drones unless the federal government clarified who was operating them. He suggested, without proof, that former President Joe Biden was concealing information about the drones from the public.

However, the conclusion reached by the Trump administration mirrors what Biden’s White House indicated a month earlier.

Former Biden press secretary John Kirby mentioned on December 16, “Our assessment shows that the sightings thus far consist of various lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, along with manned planes, helicopters, and even stars that were wrongly identified as drones.”

Kirby further noted that the Biden administration had “not found anything unusual or any threats to national security or public safety in civilian airspace.”

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