Drone sightings aren't just in Northeast anymore: California, Utah see reports

The boom in drone sightings ignited a month ago in New Jersey that quickly spread across the Northeast has swept across the nation, and military bases are front and center amid the chaos and controversy.

Last week a drone incursion over Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio forced the closure of its airspace for several hours. In Utah, drones were recently spotted near Hill Air Force Base. Base spokesperson Thomas Mullican, in an email to USA TODAY, said the drones "have not impacted Hill AFB operations," adding that measures were being taken to safeguard base personnel, equipment and infrastructure.

In California, residents of Venice Beach reported seeing unexplained drones Sunday, and Rep. Paul Ruiz, D-Calif., expressed concern this week over recent sightings in the Coachella Valley.

Camp Pendleton, 40 miles north of San Diego, saw at least six drone incursions over its airspace last week alone, a spokesperson for the Marine base told USA TODAY in an email. Capt. James Sartain said there was "no threat to installation operations and no impact to air and ground operations."

President Biden: 'Nothing nefarious' with drone sightings

President Joe Biden dismissed conspiracy theories surrounding the rash of drone sightings after President-elect Donald Trump claimed the federal government appeared to be withholding information on the reports.

“Nothing nefarious, apparently," Biden said Tuesday when queried by reporters at the White House. "We’re following it closely. So far no sense of danger.”

Biden's comment reaffirmed a joint statement issued this week by the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, FAA and the Pentagon saying that ? based on preliminary investigations ? the sightings appear to include legal commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones, as well as airplanes, helicopters and "stars mistakenly reported as drones."

No threat of national security or public safety had been determined from more than 5,000 reported sightings, the statement said.

Tips pour in over 5,000 drone sightings: Reason to worry? Government says no.

Trump says he doesn't think drones can be traced to 'the enemy'

On Monday, Trump said the Biden administration knew more than it was revealing publicly. Trump said he believes the military knows where drones are coming from and where they are going.

"For some reason, they don't want to comment," Trump said. "And I think they'd be better off saying what it is. Our military knows. And our president knows."

Trump said the Biden administration wants to "keep people in suspense." But he said he did not believe the drones belonged to "the enemy."

"If it was the enemy, they'd blast it out. Even if they were late, they'd blast it," Trump said. "Something strange is going on. For some reason they don't want to tell the people, and they should."

House speaker Johnson wants more answers from White House

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday railed against the Biden administration's handling of the drone controversy.

"I'm the speaker of the House. I have the exact same frustration that you do and all of us do. We don't have the answers," Johnson said on "Fox and Friends." "The administration is not providing it."

Johnson said he set up a briefing between DOD, DHS and FBI with members last week but received no satisfactory answers to his questions.

"They just say, don't worry about it. It's not foreign entities. There's not a vessel offshore doing this and they're not collecting data," Johnson said. "OK, then what is it? ... We got to protect Americans, protect our intelligence, of course, and our data and everything else."

House Intelligence panel holds closed hearing on drones

The House Intelligence Committee received a closed-door briefing on drones Tuesday with representatives from Justice, Defense and Homeland Security departments. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said lawmakers were told the drone activity was not "federal government operations" and that there was "zero evidence" of laws being broken.

Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said at a public briefing Tuesday that the drones are not part of any experimental military program. Defense officials, however, say drone activity has been commonplace at sensitive U.S. military sites across the country.

Drone incursions at military bases are common

There have been hundreds, perhaps thousands, of drone incursions at remote military installations, drawing little public attention. But they have disrupted sensitive operations, according to the Pentagon officials who spoke to USA TODAY on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

A critical concern: Foreign adversaries have identified a “seam” in the U.S. response to drone surveillance. U.S. military forces have the authority to take down drones that penetrate airspace over a base and pose a threat. Yet once outside that airspace, the drone becomes the responsibility of local law enforcement. In the vast, sparsely populated areas that are home to many military installations, the response is often too little, and way too late, according to a defense official who has dealt with incursions.

"Just as no one thought about airliners causing harm before 9/11, we need to recognize the negative potential and the lethal potential of drones that we're seeing around the world in their use for military and hostile purposes," said David Deptula, the dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies and a retired 3-star Air Force general. Read more here.

? Tom Vanden Brook and Cybele Mayes-Osterman

Is that a drone in the sky? It could be, but here's what else you might be seeing

Not everything in the air is a drone

Although reported drone sightings in U.S. airspace have risen in recent weeks, there is a strong possibility that the unidentified flying object believed to be a drone was something else. And because the sightings aren't confirmed to be connected, different sightings may have different explanations.

Harry Direen, an electronic and software engineering expert at DireenTech, told USA TODAY he wouldn’t be surprised if people were seeing drones at first, but that once the notion of drones took hold, people assumed any aircraft they couldn’t identify was a drone.

“After what were likely valid sightings of possibly hobbyist drones, every aircraft can then become suspicious,” Direen said.

Contributing: Francesca Chambers, Amaris Encinas and Jeanine Santucci

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Drone sightings aren't just for the Northeast anymore