The drone sightings over New Jersey have prompted a litany of conspiracy theories to fly across the internet - including a government psychological operation to aliens to a foreign military threat.
Right-wing commentators are spreading the theories as sightings continue to be reported across the East Coast. The Federal Aviation Administration has said that the first sighting took place on November 18 close to Morris County, New Jersey, with sightings subsequently being reported in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security said in a joint statement Thursday that there’s “no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC News Sunday, “There’s no question that people are seeing drones.”
“I want to assure the American public that we in the federal government have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings,” he added.
“Some of those drone sightings are, in fact, drones. Some are manned aircraft that are commonly mistaken for drones,” Mayorkas said. “But there’s no question that drones are being sighted.”
“We deploy personnel, technology, and, if there is any reason for concern, if we identify any foreign involvement or criminal activity, we will communicate with the American public accordingly,” the secretary noted. “Right now, we are not aware of any. If we become aware of any, we will communicate accordingly and take appropriate action.”
But that hasn’t stopped the sharing of increasingly bizarre conspiracy theories.
Project Blue Beam
Comedian Roseanne Barr helped push the conspiracy theory advocated for by Infowars Alex Jones. The theory has been around for decades and posits that the government will enact a fake alien invasion to induce societal panic to put in place authoritarian measures.
Jones claims that the project will start with holograms, while Barr appears to think that drone sightings are the beginning of this plan.
“Now you see why I mention Project Blue Beam every week on my podcast…..” Barr wrote on X Saturday.
Ufologist and retired physician Dr. Steven Greer appeared on Jones’s show last week claiming that “They all have this agenda to want to control the world through one calamity after the other, and the big one they’ve been planning is the hoax of an alien threat from outer space.”
Aliens
Daily Wire commentator Matt Walsh suggested that the drones are extraterrestrial.
“Anyone who thinks the drones over Jersey are extraterrestrial is extra stupid,” Jeremy Boreing wrote on X.
“I agree. Anyone who merely thinks they’re aliens is stupid. I know they’re aliens. There’s literally no other plausible explanation,” Walsh responded.
A number of videos generated by artificial intelligence have been shared on YouTube to suggest that an alien invasion is underway.
Drone warfare training
Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X on December 12, “It’s a slap in the face that the Pentagon continues to tell the American people they don’t know who is flying the drones over New Jersey.”
“I think the Pentagon absolutely knows, but they’re full of crap. And if they actually don’t know, these officials should resign in disgrace. Luckily, in just a few more weeks, we will have people in charge who can tell us what this is,” she added.
“The government is in control of the drones and refuses to tell the American people what is going on. It really is that bad,” she added Sunday.
She also suggested that the drones are part of the U.S. military and that they were training for drone warfare.
“The government needs to come clean and tell the American people what is going on. That’s the most infuriating part to me. The government lies and hides everything while the people have to pay for it all,” she wrote on X.
A foreign threat
New Jersey Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew suggested on Fox News last week that the drones are coming from an Iranian “mothership.” The former Democrat also argued that the Pentagon is hiding what’s really going on.
“We aren’t being told the truth,” Van Drew said. “They are dealing with the American public like we’re stupid.”
The Pentagon rejected that claim.
“There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there’s no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States,” spokesperson Sabrina Singh said, according to The Daily Beast.
Stopping Trump from getting into office
A post on X by user Peggy Dodson included a video of air traffic at an airport, which she said was evidence that the drones are “something the Biden administration is using along with the dark exos to create something that will stop Trump getting into office.”
The post has been viewed millions of times, according to X.
Detecting radiation
Others are suggesting that the government is using drones to detect radiation as they expect an explosion of a dirty bomb.
‘Biblically accurate angels’
One YouTube user shared a video with the title “Biblically Accurate Angels Are Haunting New Jersey” and X user @beckibella wrote that “these are not “#drones” they are #Orbs either represent highly advanced terrestrial technologies, either military or private sector, using mechanisms beyond publicly known capabilities. Or they are Interdimensional or Spiritual Entities or a combination of both.”
