Trump's update on NJ drones: 'This was not the enemy'
President Donald Trump's administration has released an update on the mysterious drones spotted flying over New Jersey beginning last fall:
"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. Many of these drones were also hobbyists, recreational and private individuals that enjoy flying drones. And in time, it got worse due to curiosity. This was not the enemy," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during her first press briefing on Tuesday.
What we don't know:
It is unclear what sort of research was conducted, and Leavitt did not specify what "various other reasons" may be. She also did not detail who owned and piloted the drones.
New Jersey drone mystery
The backstory:
An influx of drone sightings in parts of New Jersey, including Trump's club in Bedminster, left residents and Trump searching for answers.
The drone sightings in November and December originally raised public concerns and even attracted the attention of the FBI. The FAA even issued temporary flight restrictions after the large number of sightings, prohibiting drone flights over parts of New Jersey.
"The FBI Newark, NJ State Police, and NJ Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness are asking for the public to report any information related to the recent sightings of possible drones flying in several areas along the Raritan River," a Dec. 3 FBI statement noted.
What they're saying:
On Monday, Fox News said Trump asked White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to figure out what exactly the sightings were.
"Could we find out what that was, Susie? Why don’t we find out immediately?" Trump said during an interview with Fox News' Peter Doocy.
"I can’t imagine it’s an enemy, or there would have been, you know, people would have gotten blown up, all of them," he added. Maybe they were testing things. I don’t know why. They wouldn’t have said what it was. They had a lot of them flying over Bedminster, which is interesting."
How drone hysteria ‘got worse due to curiosity’
An analysis by the White House, in coordination with the FBI and state and local officials, concluded that "lawful, legal, commercial hobbyist and even law enforcement aircraft activity" was responsible for the sightings, former White House national security communications adviser John Kirby previously told Fox News.
"A lot of people have kind of learned in the last few months . . . that there are a lot of things in the airspace that can be mistaken for drones," Tom Adams, a retired FBI special agent and the director of public safety for DroneShield, a global provider of counter-drone defense solutions, told Fox News Digital.
When the word of drone sightings quickly spread throughout social media and across major news outlets, Adams said he witnessed some "confirmation bias" taking place in relation to the large number of sightings.
"Some of my friends and relatives that are really into the UAP phenomena . . . the unknown aerial phenomena . . . they really wanted it to be drones or aliens, because it fit their narrative," he said.
Adams believes one of the main reasons why so many mistaken sightings were made could be as simple as a lack of knowledge.
"I think that some people were just looking up to see what's in the airspace for the first time," he said. "Drones are still new to a lot of people, and so the rules and regulations for drone use in the United States are also unfamiliar to a lot of people, because they haven't had a need to learn that or experience that."
Adams explained that, especially at night, it's easy to mistake another aircraft in the sky for a drone.
"Many drones have white, red and green lights . . . aircrafts at night have white, red and green lights…other things in the sky, whether it's a celestial body or a low-Earth orbit satellite, they also have white lights," he said. "During the daytime, when you look up at an aircraft in the sky . . . you can also see other features that help you to understand the depth or the distance is away from you . . . you don't have that depth perception at night."
Dr. Will Austin, a national drone expert and the president of Warren County Community College, attributed the misidentifying of drones in the dark sky to the "parallax effect," explaining, "It is extraordinarily tricky at night . . . to identify aircraft, especially when you're untrained. The reason people have a hard time is there's really nothing against the night sky to give you perspective."
Both Adams and Austin said they believe that further public education about drones is needed and may help in reducing the number of erroneous sightings.
- Fox New Digital's Mollie Markowitz
The Source: This article contains reporting from Tuesday's White House press briefing and Fox News.