White House Reignites “Mystery Drone” Controversy with Puzzling New Statement

Micah Hanks·

mystery drone

Welcome to this week’s double-sized installment of The Intelligence Brief… on Tuesday, the White House issued a new statement regarding the ongoing debate over “mystery drones,” following a rash of alleged sightings late last year that kept many Americans on edge. However, the latest “revelations” only raise more questions about the situation, and in our analysis, we’ll be looking at 1) the White House’s official statement earlier this week, 2) why it left us with few answers about the alleged drone sightings, 3) what we can really infer about the latest “revelations” some in the media have called an acknowledgement of the “truth” about the sightings, and 4) what messages can be discerned from the real mystery drone sightings occurring internationally, and why they remain a concern.

Quote of the Week

“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.” 

– White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt

RECENT NEWS from The Debrief

White House Confirms FAA Authorized Drones Over New Jersey, But Questions Remain

This week, in a surprise statement that reignited the debate over mysterious drone sightings reported by residents of New Jersey late last year, the White House confirmed that the drone operations were authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

On Tuesday, in her inaugural media briefing, President Donald Trump’s new White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt old reporters that “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.”

Leavitt, who said the statement came directly from the President, also said many of the drones seen last year that caused alarm were operated by hobbyists and private individuals, and conceded that public curiosity contributed to a surge in reports.

“This was not the enemy,” Leavitt said, seeking to qualm lingering concerns over whether some of the drone observations could have indicated surveillance or other activities attributable to foreign adversaries of the United States.

Few Answers, but Lots More Questions

The White House statement on Tuesday was met with mixed responses. Curiously—although perhaps predictably—many mainstream news outlets heralded the statement as though it offered new revelations, with headlines proclaiming that the White House had finally acknowledged the “truth” about the sightings that caused such alarm late last year, while emphasizing the lack of evidence linking them to enemy operations.

In reality, Tuesday’s statement really only achieved two things: it appears to have repackaged previous statements issued by federal authorities in December, while deftly adding to the ongoing confusion about “mystery drones” without offering any actual new details.

Back in December, a joint statement from the Department of Defense, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and FAA had already attributed the sightings to a mix of commercial and hobbyist drones, law enforcement aircraft, and misidentified objects—including fixed-wing planes, helicopters, and even celestial bodies. At that time, the agencies based their findings on more than 100 leads, ultimately concluding that all reported drones were either flown lawfully or mistaken identifications.

Although Tuesday’s statement appears to have offered little more than a condensed summary of these findings, Leavitt’s remarks did succeed at introducing new ambiguities. Namely, the White House’s reference to drone flights authorized for “research” and “various other reasons” lacked specifics and left open several questions about the nature of these operations: had the “research” flights been associated with any presently undisclosed official activities being conducted by one or more federal agencies? Also, could the White House’s statement have selected any more frustratingly ambiguous wording than to say there were “various other reasons” for FAA-authorized drone flights, while not offering any specifics?

Ambiguities and Realities

The ambiguity of the White House’s statement left it unclear whether Leavitt was simply reiterating conclusions from the earlier joint assessment, or if the White House was now hinting at previously undisclosed official activities. However, a crucial point in understanding all this has to do with the reason there was a push from within the White House to issue a new statement in the first place.

For several weeks leading up to the inauguration, questions had been directed at then-President-elect Trump about the drone sightings, who at times expressed skepticism about the official explanations that had been issued.

“Our military knows where they took off from,” Trump said from his Mar-a-Lago home in December. “They know where it came from and where it went.” Similarly, while speaking to Republican governors on January 9, Trump said he planned to issue “a report on drones about one day into administration,” adding that he found it “ridiculous that they are not telling you about what’s going on with the drones.” Immediately after returning to the Oval Office on January 20, Trump was again asked about the mystery drones and directed his Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, to investigate.

Given the public interest in the situation and the repeated questions Trump recieved, it seems clear why the White House felt compelled to issue a new statement on drones. However, it also seems clear that the information provided to the new administration offers nothing more than what has already been known about the sightings for several weeks: that many sightings appear to have been of drones that were flown lawfully (in other words, they were operating within FAA regulations, and therefore were “authorized” flights), while a large number of observations of alleged “drones” were actually of aircraft and other objects, which became mistaken for drones “due to curiosity,” according to Leavitt on Tuesday.

This latter point is a factor that has been largely glossed over by mainstream outlets. Indeed, a significant number of sightings attributed to “mysterious drones” were in fact very clearly just airplanes, as The Debrief illustrated as early as December 5 in a previous installment of The Intelligence Brief. However, because of this fact, some commentators have taken things a step further by seemingly concluding that there may not have been any drone sightings at all, and that every alleged “drone” sighting can be attributed to misidentifications. But is that really the case?

Make No Mistake, Mystery Drone Sightings Are Happening

Later in the joint statement issued back in December, federal authorities did acknowledge that “a limited number” of drone sightings have occurred over military installations, including in restricted airspace, while downplaying their significance. Such incursions, the statement read, were “not new,” and the Department of Defense coordinates closely with law enforcement when unauthorized flights occur.

Despite such assurances, just days prior to the release of the statement on December 14, unauthorized drones were detected near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, leading to a temporary airspace shutdown over the base. That incident is believed to have influenced the Pentagon’s decision to acknowledge ongoing drone incursions over military sites in its December statement.

Also, let’s not forget about all the drone sightings that took place in November over U.S. air bases in the United Kingdom, which the Pentagon at one time suggested might have simply been recreational drones flown by English hobbyists. Notably, Lord Coaker, Minister of State with the U.K. Ministry of Defence, noted of the incidents that “It is illegal for drones to be flown near or within the vicinity of these military sites, and people should be aware of that.”

An International Concern

However, the drone problem extends much further beyond just U.S. borders, and the airspace above U.S. facilities overseas. In recent weeks, German officials announced they were planning to shoot down mystery drones after a series of sightings over sensitive German military facilities occurred on Sunday, January 12. This wasn’t the first incident involving unauthorized drones in German airspace: similar sightings also occurred in early December over a U.S. air base at Ramstein in Germany.

Unlike the U.S. official response, Germany has been far more to the point about where they think some of these drones might be originating from, noting that “it cannot be ruled out that military facilities and arms partners or companies are being spied on in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” according to an official statement issued on January 13.

The sightings have not been limited to German airspace, either. On January 3, 2025, Danish police reportedly investigated sightings involving close to 20 drones that were observed flying over the port of Køge, southwest of Copenhagen. Flying in formation, the drones reportedly appeared to have risen from the water and were observed flying for a short time before disappearing over the bay.

The number of unauthorized drone sightings in recent months over sensitive U.S. and foreign facilities certainly does reveal a legitimate concern. The international scope of the situation also seems to preclude the possibility that all the sightings could simply be misidentifications of conventional aircraft or objects, even if a large number of sightings—especially those over the northeastern U.S. late last year—certainly do point to that reality.

Make no mistake: ongoing sightings of drones over sensitive facilities should be taken seriously, and U.S. officials have yet to issue a satisfactory statement—whether in the current administration, or the last one—that fully accounts for all aspects of the situation. In short, it’s high time Americans were finally told the truth about what’s going on.

That concludes this week’s installment of The Intelligence Brief. You can read past editions of our newsletter at our website, or if you found this installment online, don’t forget to subscribe and get future email editions from us here. Also, if you have a tip or other information you’d like to send along directly to me, you can email me at micah [@] thedebrief [dot] org, or reach me on X: @MicahHanks.

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