White House attempts to 'explain' mystery drone sightings: The FAA authorized 'em

'Research and various other reasons' behind hullabaloo ... but why didn't someone say that a month ago?

Time to pack it up and go home, drone conspiracy theorists: The White House has finally offered an explanation for those mysterious New Jersey drone sightings from late last year - though its rather vague statement raises more questions than it answers.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt held the first press briefing of Trump's second term yesterday, kicking off with what she said was news "directly from the President."

"After research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for research and various other reasons," Leavitt said. "Many of these drones were also hobbyists, recreational and private individuals that enjoy flying drones."

Leavitt suggested public "curiosity" amplified the situation, adding, "This was not the enemy," before moving on to unrelated business.  

The fervor over unidentified drones in the skies over New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania began in December, with the rumor mill suggesting some of the craft were as large as sport utility vehicles (SUVs). Officials from the FBI, FAA, and state authorities all acknowledged the sightings, but claimed the cause was unknown. 

Some were spotted near airports and military facilities, others near Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, prompting the then-President-elect to claim the government knew what was going on but wasn't telling the public - or him, apparently.

"The government knows what is happening," Trump asserted during the uproar, and before inauguration. "For some reason they don't want to comment … they want to keep people in suspense." 

The FBI, which set up a tip line early in its investigation, claimed to receive more than 5,000 reports, of which fewer than 100 were deemed actionable. The agency did say that a pattern of unidentified drones had shown up in the flight paths of several major area airports, suggesting many reports were just commercial planes misidentified as drones.

We'd be willing to bet a large number of them were indeed plane sightings.

Thanks for the 'explanation'

"They don't want to tell the people, and they should," Trump said of the drone mystery before taking office. The White House's explanation of the drones - that they were FAA-authorized flights - doesn't do much to fulfill Trump's assertion that the US ought to have explained things, especially given the FAA's previous assertions on the matter. 

US aviation officials said in December that, while they didn't believe there was anything anomalous about the sightings, they were still following up on leads and investigating the matter. 

"We recognize the concern among many communities," the FAA said last month. "We have sent advanced detection technology to the region. And we have sent trained visual observers."

None of the FAA's statements acknowledged that the mystery flights were authorized by the agency for "research and various other reasons." These were flights that officials should have known about and could have disclosed earlier instead of letting speculation spiral.

We asked the FAA to explain, but it told us to reach out to the White House. The White House, in turn, declined to comment on the record beyond what was said by Leavitt yesterday. 

So, that's that, then: Mystery solved - if you buy the government's vague official story. Trump didn't believe it a month ago. Now we'll just have to be satisfied with research, "various other reasons," hobbyists and overly-enthusiastic spotters being to blame for all that sound and fury that officially signified nothing. ®