Unidentified drones continue to fly over certain areas of the USA, fueling speculation and questions. Faced with the panic of many Americans, the White House wanted to reassure: all the devices observed in the sky operate within a legal framework. "All operate legally and in an authorized manner", asserted John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, at a press conference. These clarifications followed requests from Donald Trump, who urged the Biden administration to provide more details on this intriguing phenomenon, widely discussed on social networks.
As a reminder, since mid-November, several reports of drones have been reported in the New Jersey, including near the Picatinny Arsenal and over President-elect Donald Trump's Bedminster Golf Course. Local authorities said there were 12 sightings on Saturday and just one on Sunday. The phenomenon has sparked controversy, with some criticizing the federal government for its lack of transparency on these incidents.
"The government knows what's going on", Donald Trump said from his Florida residence, adding that "The military and the president are informed, but for some reason they prefer to keep it a secret."The 78-year-old president-elect had even announced that he was canceling his planned weekend trip to his New Jersey golf course, citing concerns about the proximity of drones. "Something strange is happening", he had estimated.
Defense spokesman John Kirby said the area was already under a no-fly zone and said the majority of drones in the country were operating in compliance with current regulations, whether for recreational, commercial or security purposes. “There are over a million legal drones flying in the United States, and thousands of them operate in full compliance every day.”, he said. Reports in the northeastern United States sometimes included confusion with airplanes, helicopters or even stars, and no serious security threats were detected.
The federal government has deployed specialized teams and advanced technology to investigate these incidents in New Jersey and other states. John Kirby revealed that the FBI has received more than 5 000 reports recently, but that only about a hundred of them had been deemed credible and required in-depth investigation.
Some Republican lawmakers have raised the possibility of foreign threats, though they have not provided any evidence. However, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have said there is no evidence to suggest a threat to national or public security or a connection to a foreign power.
The climate is reminiscent of the events of February 2023, when the United States shot down a Chinese balloon suspected of espionage, an accusation that Beijing firmly rejected.
Another important detail: Instagram or X accounts relay videos created by Artificial Intelligence. We have seen videos of a Pelican D77-TC flying over Las Vegas. But this plane does not exist: it comes from the famous video game Halo, from Microsoft…
