Drones have been in the headlines since mid-November and we’ve been hearing about them nonstop since then. This is one of the few stories that doesn’t go away. And that everybody has an opinion about.
In this case, “everybody” means literally “everybody” – from state senators to U.S. Senators, and from armchair philosophers to aeronautic experts and news analysts.
Nationwide Phenomenon
Drones continue to be sighted across the country. John Jacobson, a retired Army veteran, 9/11 survivor, and drone enthusiast, told CBS News that most are easily explained. “I would say 95% of them are either hobby drones, a mistaken identity or a helicopter,” he said. But the other five percent cannot be explained away, and they’re making people very nervous.
Since the surge in sightings began, drones have been spotted hovering over reservoirs, nuclear power plants, sensitive research centers, and other strategic facilities. They appear most often in New Jersey, New York, and in other states along the East Coast. They’ve even been spotted over Pres.-elect Trump’s golf course in New Jersey but also in Florida, Connecticut, and over Air Force bases and other restricted air space around the country.
As of late December, the FBI had received well over 5,000 drone sighting tips and, in order to calm jittery nerves, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued a temporary ban on drones across many communities in New York and New Jersey. So far that hasn’t helped calm nerves.
Many of the people who saw these craft had a variety of opinions about them. But, according to Voyager Space, “As more footage became available, captured from multiple locations and angles, it became clear this was no ordinary phenomenon because they moved with an agility and speed that defied conventional aerodynamics.” In fact, it appears that some of them “sense” when they are being observed and make themselves invisible. Even the military’s most sophisticated equipment cannot track or identify them.
Witnesses have said these objects were eerily silent and had no visible propulsion system. They dart easily between skyscrapers, hover over the Hudson River and, in some instances, form patterns in the sky.
Like A Spy Novel
Stories like these, steeped in secrecy and intrigue, have all the makings of a good spy novel. But in this case, they are real and generate theories and rumors. Prominent people in a variety of fields have shared their opinions of what exactly they are with the public, and following are just a few of them.
One New Jersey State Senator told Forbes Breaking News that he could handle the secrecy, but there’s one question he wants answered: If the drones do not present any threat, as the public is being assured of, why have local governments shut down some air space?
After meeting with government officials, Mayor of Belham, New Jersey, Michael Melham, along with many other mayors and members of the Jersey legislature, said that “We know from police sources that these drones are not emitting radio frequencies. This means they are high tech, something that our government would have or maybe a foreign adversary would. Since they are not emitting radio frequencies, that makes it really difficult to track them and impossible to knock out of the sky.”
Other prominent people have also chimed in. Michael McCaul, the Republican Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee said he believes some of the unidentified craft may be Chinese spy drones. Another Congressperson believes they have been launched by an Iranian mothership. And Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said she shares the public’s frustration about not being told what the mysterious sightings are, because “members of Congress are in the dark, too.”
Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has warned that some of these objects might belong to foreign nations, recalling the Chinese spy balloon incident earlier this year. He also called for more efforts to understand if these drones pose a threat to national security.
Definitely Alien
One of the most unique and original theories about the mystery craft was suggested by a respected doctor in Lakewood. According to his theory, the U.S. military has such sophisticated technology that it’s impossible that they are unaware of their exact details and simply don’t want to make them public. However, he suggested that in some cases there may be an alien connection.
“The only scenario that I can see to fit the facts here is that a small number of these sightings are alien UFOs that are testing our societal reaction to, or preparing us for, revealing themselves soon,” he tweeted.
Another fascinating UFO-related theory was made public circa 1990 and relates an anecdote that happened years before with Wernher von Braun. In case you don’t recognize the name, he invented the lethal V2 rocket in WWII and was considered the best rocket scientist in his time. The anecdote was recalled in an interview with his assistant, named Klein.
After the War, von Braun moved to America. He began working for NASA and was credited with playing a major role in developing the rocket that carried U.S. astronauts to the Moon. Subsequently, he worked for a defense firm called Fairchild Industries, and was one of the very few people allowed entry into an area called the “War Room,” where top secret defense matters and plans were made and analyzed. Von Braun died in 1977, but at some point, a production company wanted to do a biography about him, and they contacted Klein for anecdotes and information.
Klein could not help because, essentially, von Braun hardly ever talked about himself or about his work. But she did recall one time when he spoke a bit about the military industrial complex.
Von Braun said that in the future, they would need an issue to convince Congress to spend a great deal of money on defense, and he chuckled when he said the issue would be that the Soviets were posing a major threat to the U.S. But eventually that threat would ease and they would need to drum up another issue to get more funds. And he laughed as he said they would claim terrorists are planning to bring down the country and that the defense industry had to be ready. And after that, they would need to fabricate yet another issue, and he guffawed when he said it would be that aliens from space are about to attack and we have to arm ourselves.
This anecdote appeared a long time ago on the palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot. I searched for it recently but, unfortunately, it seems to have been taken down.
So what’s the bottom line vis-a-vis all the mysterious drones? No one can say for sure. But just maybe von Braun’s observations decades ago are as relevant today as they were then. Maybe even more so!
Sources: apnews.com; cbsnews.com; forbesbreakingnews.com; indianexpress.com; matzav.com; wdsu.com; zerohedge.com
Gerald Harris is a financial and feature writer. Gerald can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
