'Nothing nefarious': Biden seeks to reassure US over drone sighting mystery

A puzzling flurry of evident drone sightings on the US eastbound seashore is "nothing nefarious", says President Joe Biden.

The sightings successful caller weeks person occurred successful New Jersey and a fig of neighbouring states, sometimes astir aerial bases. The improvement has prompted a fig of conspiracy theories astir overseas involvement.

Authorities person not fixed galore definitive answers, different than to accidental the sightings are not ever of drones, and that they bash not judge determination is simply a menace to nationalist information oregon that a overseas powerfulness is astatine work.

Members of the US House Intelligence Committee, who were fixed a closed-door briefing connected Tuesday, joined Biden connected Wednesday successful trying to reassure the public.

Among the committee members who spoke to reporters afterwards were Chrissy Houlahan, a Democrat.

"To date, they haven't recovered thing that would bespeak that there's overseas influence, overseas actors, oregon adjacent small greenish men who are moving connected the American people," she was quoted arsenic saying by The Hill.

Another lawmaker, Connecticut Representative Jim Himes, said "there is zero grounds of laws being broken" by the drones.

He added that the "vast majority" of sightings were mean craft oregon drones being operated lawfully.

Himes said that "millions" of unregistered drones were operating crossed the US, successful summation to 800,000 registered drones that measurement much than fractional a pound.

In his ain comments to the media, Biden said: "We're pursuing this closely, but truthful far, nary consciousness of danger."

He stressed that the sightings were not grounds of immoderate wrongdoing. "There's a batch of drones authorised up there," helium said. "I deliberation 1 started it and they each - everybody wanted to get successful the deal."

In caller days, the sightings person led to the impermanent closures of a Stewart International Airport successful New York and of Patterson Air Force Base successful Ohio.

Government agencies antecedently said they had "not identified thing anomalous". They agreed with Biden that galore drones that had been sighted were lawfully flown by hobbyists and instrumentality enforcement - adding that radical were besides spotting "manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported arsenic drones".

But questions from the nationalist remain. Earlier successful the week, New Jersey antheral Noel Thomas described to the BBC his acquisition of spotting a enigma entity successful the sky. He said it was the size of a schoolhouse bus, rectangular with blinking lights, and "definitely thing I've ne'er seen".

A constabulary serviceman successful the aforesaid authorities said: "We're conscionable looking for immoderate sound, tenable answers truthful that radical could spell astir their beingness and not unrecorded successful this hysteria that we person going."

As the enigma persists, authorities governments are calling for much powerfulness to woody with the small, uncrewed craft being spotted successful the skies. Earlier this week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said officials were sending her a drone detection system.

Among those who person voiced their suspicions are President-elect Donald Trump, who has said the authorities "knows what it happening", but "for immoderate crushed they don't privation to comment". However, helium said helium "can't ideate it's the enemy".

The Pentagon earlier denied the proposition of 1 New Jersey lawmaker that the imaginable drones came specifically from an Iranian "mothership", portion an FBI authoritative said determination whitethorn person been "a flimsy overreaction" connected the topic.