Biden’s shadow communications strategy is creating a drone conspiracy crisis

If you read between the lines, the federal government thinks there’s a good possibility that irresponsible drone pilots are out there looking for a viral TikTok moment. 

Over the weekend, the White House held a hastily scheduled Zoom conference between reporters and FBI, DHS and FAA officials who gave a background briefing on the spate of drone sightings that have dominated the news for nearly a month. On Friday, Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan called on the federal government to take action and shared a video of what appeared to be dozens of drones outside of his home.

The White House didn’t say the Zoom meeting with reporters was a result of the Hogan inquiry, and I won’t speculate. Correlation is not necessarily causation, but we all have our suspicions. After the White House and its representatives briefed reporters Saturday, it was apparent the federal government believes that most sightings are of manned aircraft in normal air traffic patterns for nearby airports and that the confirmed drone sightings do not constitute a national security threat. But, they also admit they have no idea who’s piloting the drones seen along the eastern seaboard.

National Security spokesperson John Kirby said as much in the White House Brady briefing room Thursday. “The analysis thus far, in an investigation that is ongoing, has not revealed any national security or malicious intent or criminal activity,” he explained. 

How can the government be so sure the drone pilots aren’t engaged in criminal activity, have malicious intent, or aren’t a security threat if they don’t know who’s flying the drones? Well, according to DOD, DHS, FBI, and FAA officials on the weekend call, the information gathered thus far confirms the drones aren’t being launched from foreign powers from a secret Iranian mothership at sea — nor from a secret airbase at the North Pole set to find out who’s naughty or nice. Apologies to “Red One.”

Instead, the DOD officials claim it was “irresponsible” of the drone pilots and that they were very frustrated with the flights, making it sound like a bunch of stoned or drunk teenagers are having fun at everyone else’s expense. So, maybe it is someone doing the naughty or nice list thing.

Obviously the administration wants to take it seriously since even government officials have seen the drones. And, the alphabet agencies, as the DOD official stressed, want to make sure that people do not panic. That was actually one of the first questions asked of officials in the very short weekend briefing (only three reporters got to ask questions). The first reporter sounded as panicked as possible and the government officials sounded like school teachers trying to calm down a kindergartner after they’ve soiled themselves in class.

The second reporter who asked a question got in the only decent one: Can the government confirm that there have been sightings over U.S. military bases? The DOD official speaking on background confirmed that Picatinny Arsenal, the army facility in Morris County, NJ had recorded sightings, as had Naval Weapons Station Earle.

The FBI official briefing reporters confirmed more than 5,000 reports had been filed since the first sighting on November 18, and said that those sightings had generated fewer than 100 leads. Most of those were on the ground “and very few from pilots,” in the air, reporters were told.

How few? No one asked. What were the nature of those reports from pilots? No one asked. Were these professional or private pilots? No one asked.

Those are key questions as corporate and airline pilots as well as private pilots are trained aerial observers and their reports are important as the government tracks down the causes of and solutions to the ongoing mystery.

Government officials, being government officials, of course, expressed concern (on background, as all of the briefing was) about having enough legislative authority to go after whoever is piloting the drones for whatever reason. The DOD official complained about not having the ability to coordinate with civilian authorities. The FAA official reminded everyone that most anyone can fly a drone up to 400 ft AGL (above ground level) in daylight or at night without restrictions – as long as the drone is kept within eyesight and avoids manned aircraft. 

“So far they (the drone pilots) haven’t done anything illegal,” reporters were told. 

Panic, of course, is part of the lexicon in every news story these days, and Kirby had to deal with a bunch of it in the briefing room Thursday as reporters asked about military installations NORTHCOM reaction, national security threats and basically sounded like squealing pigs who had their short hairs tugged out with rusty pliers.

“We understand that people are concerned . . .what I can tell you as we sit here today . . . is we haven’t seen any indication thus far that there’s a public safety risk,” Kirby said.

Then he kind of stepped in it when he stated there has “been no evidence of any of this activity in or near restricted airspaces,” when, as the DOD confirmed Saturday there indeed had been.

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he was misinformed when he stepped into the briefing room and spoke with reporters on Thursday. Or, perhaps the government had not yet confirmed what everyone else suspected to be true.

But the bottom line is that the public, already wary of anything said by anyone in the government, is adversely affected by the spouting of misinformation. The administration didn’t help itself with the Zoom briefing on Saturday either. None of the people speaking for the government would go on the record. Everyone spoke from the shadows of “for background only” with all comments attributable to “FBI official” or etc. The briefing began with a two-minute explanation on this shadowy condition of speaking to an issue that concerns millions of curious Americans.

Sure, you can downplay it, laugh at it and evade it. But that’s how conspiracies are born and for those who still don’t get it, on a broader scope, this is why millions of voters do not trust our government and vote for shady con artists who take advantage of the misinformation and lack of transparency.

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Adam Kinzinger, speaking on Bluesky social media Saturday put it this way; “Why is it that when you disprove the conspiracies about the drones with the fact that it’s not aliens or Iran, the MAGAS get angry at you? Shouldn’t you be happy they aren’t Iranian or alien? Do they really just wish chaos and destruction on us all? If so, what is so broken in the? Why so angry?”

What Kinzinger doesn’t get, and what many refuse to understand is that the cult is going to cult no matter what. And the cult simply doesn’t believe you – for a variety of reasons including the fact that our government has a long history, through many administrations,  of not being transparent.

Is there a serious problem with drones in New Jersey? Let me break down what I know covering the military and the federal government for 40 years, and as a private pilot and an amateur pilot of radio-controlled aircraft like small drones; Probably not. 

There is no indication, so far, anywhere that these are aliens, foreign actors from secret offshore bases or Santa Claus checking out landing patterns for Christmas Eve. Of course, that could all change with any solid evidence. 

I want to know what the pilot witnesses told investigators. These are trained observers and their statements are among the most valuable we could hear. Meanwhile, the government has ample ability and opportunity to counter drones. If there were a serious problem with national security, then the story would probably be about someone on our military bases shooting down the drones — not that the drones were playing hide and seek.

We have not been told if these drones had payloads, cameras or anything else onboard. Maybe it is just a bunch of recalcitrant teenagers. I was one once. I could see that. Or it could be someone trying to photograph highways, homes and military bases. There are plenty of examples of that for innocent and nefarious reasons.

I’m fairly certain it isn’t Santa Claus, but who knows? The government is so shadowy in its explanation of this mystery – I could almost see a spokesman saying, “Be serious. Santa Claus? We can neither confirm or deny that. We are dedicating the appropriate resources to finding out what is behind this mystery that we take very seriously.” The funny thing is, they’d probably never realize how whatever they say in the shadows translates to those who are already looking for a conspiracy in which to believe.

So, you may conclude it is best to continue the practice of shadow communication since people are going to believe what they want anyway.

But, I prefer speaking plainly. I only wish our government did as well. I am pretty sure that’s why some of them are on the naughty list.