President Joe Biden seeks to reassure the United States about the drone mystery

A disconcerting flurry of apparent drone sightings along the US East Coast is “nothing dire,” says President Joe Biden.

He sightings in recent weeks They have occurred in New Jersey and several neighboring states, sometimes around air bases. The phenomenon has sparked a number of conspiracy theories about foreign involvement.

Authorities have not given many definitive answers, other than to say that the sightings are not always from drones and that they do not believe there is a threat to national security or that a foreign power is at work.

Members of the US House Intelligence Committee, who received a closed-door briefing on Tuesday, joined Biden on Wednesday to try to reassure the public.

Among the committee members who spoke to reporters afterward was Chrissy Houlahan, a Democrat.

“To date, they have found nothing to indicate that there is foreign influence, foreign actors or even little green men at work on the American people,” he said, quoted by The Hill.

Another lawmaker, Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, said there is “no evidence that drones have broken any laws.”

He added that the “vast majority” of the sightings were regular aircraft or legally operated drones.

Himes said “millions” of unregistered drones were operating across the United States, in addition to 800,000 registered drones weighing more than half a pound.

In his own comments to the media, Biden said: “We are following this closely, but so far there is no sense of danger.”

He stressed that the sightings were not evidence of any crime. “There are a lot of licensed drones there,” he said. “I think one started and everyone wanted to sign the deal.”

In recent days, the sightings have prompted the temporary closure of Stewart International Airport in New York and Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

Government agencies previously said they had “not identified anything anomalous.” They agreed with Biden that many drones that had been sighted were being flown legally by amateurs and law enforcement officials, adding that people were also spotting “manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and stars erroneously reported as drones.”

But questions from the public persist. Earlier this week, New Jersey man Noel Thomas described to the BBC his experience spotting a mysterious object in the sky. He said it was the size of a school bus, rectangular with flashing lights and “definitely something I’d never seen before.”

A police officer from the same state said: “We are just looking for solid and reasonable answers so that people can get on with their lives and not live in this hysteria that we are experiencing.”

While the mystery persists, state governments are asking for more power to deal with the small drones seen in the skies. Earlier this week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said officials would send her a drone detection system.

Among those who have expressed suspicions is President-elect Donald Trump, who has said that the government “knows what’s going on,” but “for some reason they don’t want to comment.” However, he said, “I can’t imagine it’s the enemy.”

Previously, the Pentagon denied a New Jersey lawmaker’s suggestion that the potential drones came specifically from an Iranian “mothership,” while an FBI official said there may have been “a slight overreaction” on the issue.