NEW JERSEY – The mysterious drones that were seen flying all across New Jersey and throughout the East Coast were “authorized to be flown by the FAA,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
The White House held its first official news briefing of President Donald Trump’s second administration Tuesday afternoon. In a statement read by Leavitt, the president said the drones flying over the state were “not the enemy.”
“I do have news directly from the president of the United States that was just shared with me in the Oval Office, from President Trump directly, an update on the New Jersey drones,” Leavitt said.
“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,” she added. “In time, it got worse due to curiosity. This was not the enemy.”
The drone activity was first reported on November 19 by the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office when patrol officers observed drone activity during the previous night. The sightings then gained heavy attention on social media, with speculation ranging from the drones being a new military technology tested by the government to them being operated by a foreign power.
In December 2024, The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department of Defense issued a joint statement claiming they received more than 5,000 reports of drone sightings but that only 100 leads were generated.
Photo courtesy Jersey Coast Emergency News
“There are more than one million drones lawfully registered with the FAA in the United States and there are thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones lawfully in the sky on any given day. With the technology landscape evolving, we expect that number to increase over time,” the statement said.
In the statement, authorities determined that the sightings included commercial drones operating lawfully, hobbyist drones and law enforcement drones, as well as planes, helicopters and stars mistakenly reported as drones.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy also had commented on drones, which were sited near sensitive sites such as a military research facility. He expressed that the situation is frustrating; however, he assured residents that the unidentified flying objects don’t appear to pose a public safety concern.
Concerns continued to grow as the drone sightings did not falter throughout December. At the time, Trump suggested that the government was hiding information from the public.
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