US President Donald Trump has shared that the drones which were first seen floating above New Jersey in November were authorized for “research” conduct and “various other reasons”.
The drones had first appeared to be flying over military bases and Trump’s golf course in Bedminster, which had sparked fears of foreign threats for American citizens watching. Some of the drones were also flown by “hobbyists”.
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The FAA had been authorized to fly them
During the first press briefing of Trump’s new administration, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had been authorized to fly the drones.
They were authorized for “research and various other reasons” according to Leavitt.
Not all of them were for research
Leavitt also explained that many of the drones were flown by “hobbyists, recreational and private individuals that enjoy flying drones” and that “in time, it got worse due to curiosity,” according to the BBC.
Leavitt added that this information had come “directly from the president of the United States that was just shared with me in the Oval Office”.
More questions were raised
The vague explanation for the flying devices caused more questions to be raised.
This is especially since the FAA had failed to mention the alleged research when it had originally received reports of the drones from worried citizens back in November.
They had attributed them to hobbyists
Last month, the FAA had said the sightings were “lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, law enforcement drones, manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones”.
While the White House has confirmed some of them were in fact hobbyists, the FAA had failed to mention the aim of conducting research.
Leavitt assured the public
Due to panic which arose after many people in New Jersey spotted the drones, the White House Press Secretary had to assure people that “this was not the enemy.”
This is because many had linked the drones to China or Iran, when they were just devices authorized by the FAA.
She spoke on Tuesday
On Tuesday 28 January, Leavitt read Trump’s dictation at her first briefing, saying, “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.”
The Biden administration couldn’t verify
After the sightings were speculated to be from foreign countries, the Biden administration had said in December that there was nothing to worry about regarding the drones, but claimed it was unable to verify the nature of any crafts from the reports.
Trump delivered his promise
Although the explanation to the drones is quite ambiguous, as there was no explanation regarding what the research or the ‘various other reasons’ were, this delivers on Trump’s promise to disclose the source of the drones. He had made this promise before the election.
He started investigating on the first day
“I would like to find out what it is and tell the people. In fact, I’d like to do that,” Trump had said on his first day back in the Oval Office.
He put his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, on the case investigating the source of the drones.
The UFOs turned out to be authorized
In mid-November when the FBI said it had received more than 3,000 reports in a week about the UFOs, it claimed it didn’t know who the drones belonged to, with the US military insisting it wasn’t theirs.
Leavitt said the Trump administration researched and studied the situation and were the ones to find out the drones were government authorized. Many people are subsequently confused as to why this was not revealed earlier.
