The unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) sightings.

I’m Isaac Saul, and this is Tangle: an independent, nonpartisan, subscriber-supported politics newsletter that summarizes the best arguments from across the political spectrum on the news of the day — then “my take.”

Are you new here? Get free emails to your inbox daily. Would you rather listen? You can find our podcast here.

Today's read: 14 minutes.

Correction.

On Friday, we identified Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) as (R-NC). This error came as the result of our editors testing out a tool to prevent misidentifying errors — again — and the error persisted despite multiple editors confirming that Hawley was identified correctly in our draft. Our testing process on these errors has now produced more errors than it has caught and we are scrapping the project.

This is our 123rd correction in Tangle's 280-week history and our first correction since November 26. We track corrections and place them at the top of the newsletter in an effort to maximize transparency with readers.

Speaking of Friday…

We’ve gotten a deluge of feedback on our coverage of the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. On Friday, we released a members-only post responding to some of your criticisms and also sharing some arguments for our readers to consider on their own. If you’re not yet a member, you can read a free preview of the article — but you’ll be asked to subscribe to read the whole thing. Read it here, or listen to it here (for premium podcast subscribers).

Quick hits.

1. Israel reportedly carried out 75 strikes on Syrian weapons depots and air defenses over the weekend. The Israel Defense Forces said the strikes are intended to prevent extremists from seizing control of Syria’s weaponry, while the head of the rebel coalition currently leading Syria said Israel is carrying out “unwarranted” attacks. (The strikes)
2. The Justice Department inspector general released a report finding that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) assigned three informants to be present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, though none were authorized to break the law or encouraged others to do so. Furthermore, no undercover agents were present. The report also found that the FBI could have done more to gather intelligence from its network of informants prior to the Capitol riot. (The report)
3. ABC reached a settlement with President-elect Donald Trump over allegedly defamatory remarks made by anchor George Stephanopoulos. ABC will pay $15 million to a Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Trump. (The settlement)
4. South Korea's parliament voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol for his declaration of martial law earlier this month. The country’s constitutional court will now review the impeachment and decide if he will be removed from office. (The impeachment)
5. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) underwent hip replacement surgery in Germany after a fall during an official engagement in Luxembourg over the weekend. (The surgery) Separately, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was injured in a fall in the Capitol on Tuesday. McConnell has since resumed his normal schedule. (The injury)

Today's topic.

The unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) sightings. For several weeks, residents of New Jersey and other East Coast states have reported seeing possible drones flying over residential neighborhoods and restricted areas. While federal officials have stated that the aircraft do not pose a public safety risk, a lack of specificity in the response has created uncertainty about their origins and nature. Overall, UAPs have been reported in at least six states: Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the first sightings occurred on November 18 and have reportedly continued every night since then, including near the Picatinny Arsenal, a military research and manufacturing facility, and President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course. Additionally, Stewart International Airport in New York temporarily shut down its runways on Friday after UAP reports in the area. 

On Thursday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security issued a joint statement affirming that the reported drone sightings do not appear to “pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus,” adding that the agencies and other federal authorities are continuing to investigate the reports. They also suggested the objects could be manned aircraft and not drones. Separately, the Department of Defense said the U.S. military was not responsible for the activities. 

The absence of clear answers from authorities has led to widespread speculation to explain the sightings. Many people assume the sightings are of real drones; some have suggested that foreign governments could be responsible, while others have proposed more benign actors, such as pranksters, hobbyists, or copycats. On Saturday, Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) posted on X that aircraft he observed while investigating the sightings in New Jersey “were almost certainly planes” after analyzing flight data from the area. Meanwhile, Mike Ghassali, the mayor of Montvale, New Jersey, shared findings from federal agencies that some of the reported objects appear to fly in a coordinated pattern and can remain in flight for up to six hours. 

Authorities in impacted states have announced various measures to investigate the sightings. Connecticut and New York are deploying drone detection systems, while Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D), and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) announced that state authorities are collaborating with federal agencies to respond to residents’ concerns. 

Other political leaders, including President-elect  Trump, have called on the federal government to shoot down the objects. “Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge. I don’t think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) echoed Trump’s statement, commenting, “We should be doing some very urgent intelligence analysis and take them out of the skies, especially if they’re flying over airports or military bases.” 

Today, we’ll explore perspectives from the left and right about the aircraft sightings. Then, my take.

What the left is saying.

• The left is concerned about the issues raised by the aircraft sightings, with many arguing that the U.S. needs better policies to respond to drone threats.
• Some say the lack of clear answers from federal authorities is alarming.
• Others note the privacy issues raised by drones. 

In The Washington Post, Max Boot said “New Jersey needs to get a grip. But our drone defenses need work.”

“Mass hysteria is a recurring feature of American life. In 1938, it was about an alien invasion — sparked by Orson Welles’s radio drama ‘The War of the Worlds.’ In the 1950s, it was flying saucers. Today, it’s drones — another form of UFO, or unidentified flying object. New Jersey, in particular, has been gripped in recent days by alarmism about large, mysterious drones that are supposedly overflying the state,” Boot wrote. “Though the New Jersey drone threat is at the very least greatly exaggerated, there are genuine domestic security concerns about the proliferation of drones. More than 1.7 million drones are registered for commercial and recreational use in the United States, and it’s not hard to imagine some of them being employed for espionage or even terrorist attacks.”

“The Defense Department, the DHS, the FBI and the Energy Department all have responsibilities to protect various domestic targets from drones, but they also are all extremely limited in their authorities and resources to actually interdict potential threats,” Boot said. “The limited powers that the FAA has to counter drone threats are due to expire on Dec. 20. The Biden administration is supporting bipartisan legislation in both houses of Congress that would authorize the DHS to create a pilot counter-drone program in cooperation with state and local partners. But the legislation has been held up by civil liberties concerns from both the left and the right.”

In The Philadelphia Inquirer, Gregory T. Goins wrote “I’m a UFO researcher from New Jersey. The drone situation is out of control.”

“As a UFO researcher for over a decade, I’m being asked by friends, family, and neighbors to explain what’s happening in our community. While I don’t have all the answers (and neither does the FBI, which is currently investigating), I try to reassure people that there’s likely nothing to fear,” Goins said. “But the truth is, I am concerned — and I’m also searching for answers… These incidents follow a troubling pattern: dozens of aircraft varying in size and shape, emitting bright lights, and persisting for days or weeks. After years of such events around U.S. sites equipped with the most advanced sensors available, you’d think the military could offer some answers to ease public concern.”

“I acknowledge that national security implications must be considered before sharing sensitive intelligence information with the public. Revealing what we know — or don’t know — about these objects could risk tipping our hand to adversaries,” Goins wrote. “But when unidentified aircraft are penetrating our defenses and arriving at our doorsteps with impunity, it’s time for the Pentagon to show its cards. As citizens, we deserve the truth. And we’re prepared to handle it.”

In MSNBC, Neil Richards and Ryan Durrie called the issue “a privacy wake-up call.”

“Anxiety about these unexplained flying objects is certainly understandable, as are calls for the investigation and regulation of the drone flights. There may be laws that are being broken here, and if no laws are being broken, maybe we need better laws. At their core, though, a lot of the concern here boils down to the need to better protect our privacy,” Richards and Durrie said. “New Jerseyans — like all Americans — don’t want others snooping in their private affairs, whether via mysterious flying video cameras hovering over their patios, data brokers scooping up their health and location data, or old-fashioned Peeping Toms.”

“Privacy matters because information is power, and information about people means power over those people, regardless of whether we are talking about drone cameras watching us in our homes, social networks sharing sensitive data about us with advertisers, or artificial intelligence algorithms using our data to generate scores about our eligibility for health insurance, jobs or access to loans,” Richards and Durrie wrote. “Hopefully, we'll get to the bottom of this mystery soon. But at the very least, the New Jersey drone mystery should be a wake-up call. We need our elected officials to act thoughtfully to protect our privacy against new technological threats, aerial and otherwise.”

What the right is saying.

• The right is alarmed by the possible drone sightings and critical of the government’s response.
• Some say speculation about the aircraft as UFOs distracts from important national security issues.
• Others say the Biden administration has characteristically faltered in its handling of the issue.

In Fox News, Rebecca Grant said “America has a drone problem, and no one is in charge.”

“America’s got a drone problem. Some are actually airplanes. Some drones are legal and no threat to you and me. Some are flown by drug cartels dropping off fentanyl in San Diego. Gen. Greg Guillot, Commander, U.S. Northern Command, told the Senate more than 1,000 drones per month cross the southern border. Other drones belong to the police, or to the military,” Grant wrote. “But without question, the U.S. is vulnerable to a national security threat from drones in a way we’ve never experienced before. While many U.S. military installations have anti-drone systems, the rest of the country doesn’t. A new plan for countering drones in U.S. airspace should be top priority for President-elect Trump’s incoming Cabinet.”

“What worries me is the pattern emerging of sightings of multiple drones, operating at low altitude, with persistent and coordinated overwatch, near military bases and critical infrastructure,” Grant said. “The White House can’t be trusted. It doesn’t feel like this last-gasp Biden White House is working the problem. Ever since the Chinese spy balloon traipsed from Montana to South Carolina in 2023, Americans have realized that our skies are not always safe.   We are a low-trust society. The lack of transparency is almost worse than the drones.”

In The Wall Street Journal, Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. wrote about “mystery drones and nuclear stability.”

“The good news: House and Senate subcommittees are taking seriously mysterious drones seen flying near military sites around the country, joined by increasingly hysterical sightings in New York and New Jersey. The bad news: The subcommittees are the ones addicted to conflating any unexplained sightings in the sky with the always-crowd-pleasing vigil for alien visitors,” Jenkins said. “A serious country would have gotten serious after a one-ton Chinese spy balloon was tracked over the U.S. for days last year. Instead a realistic discussion was sidelined by a Biden White House statement saying it had no evidence that aliens were involved.”

“Sorry to disappoint, but if 100% of identified objects aren’t alien spacecraft, perhaps 100% of unidentified objects also aren’t alien spacecraft. Many sightings will continue to be too ephemeral or poorly documented to be resolved, thereby keeping the UFOers happy. But an unappreciated urgency is starting to attach to making sense of those sightings that might herald destabilizing new technologies or otherwise give rise to fears, suspicions and hysterias that could erode the margin of nuclear restraint in a confrontation.”

In The Washington Examiner, Christopher Tremoglie criticized “Biden’s inadequate answers on New Jersey drones.”

“Under normal circumstances, widespread reports of drones flying over the mid-Atlantic region would cause concern. Small, unmanned, flying objects hovering over cities in one of the most densely populated areas in the country raise many red flags. However, the fact that the Biden administration is seemingly clueless about who or what is behind the apparent drone invasion is arguably even more alarming,” Tremoglie said. “It’s a sign of gross incompetence, negligence, or an outright dereliction of duty. Unfortunately, with the Biden administration, one can never tell which it is.”

“Perhaps the biggest question is how and why these breaches and security vulnerabilities keep happening, particularly under Biden’s watch. First, there was the aforementioned Chinese spy balloon, and nearly two years later, numerous unidentified drone sightings are happening on the East Coast. Biden has directed this country to spend billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, sending weapons, defense systems, and other defense devices to help a foreign country, yet the United States cannot even protect itself from aerial espionage.”

My take.

Reminder: "My take" is a section where I give myself space to share my own personal opinion. If you have feedback, criticism or compliments, don't unsubscribe. Write in by replying to this email, or leave a comment.

• As someone interested in UFOs, I’m sorry to say that this story is mostly driven by mass hysteria.
• Most of these sightings are benign, but I do think a significant handful are probably our military testing new drones.
• I have a few theories why the federal government is so cagey in its response, but I doubt that we’re seeing foreign tech — or aliens.

Well, I know what many of you are thinking: I must be going nuts right now!

Longtime readers know that I enjoy a good conspiracy, and I follow a rule that everyone gets one genuine conspiracy theory to believe. If you want to think we never made it to the moon, or JFK was killed by the CIA or that the government is spraying chemtrails, you can go right ahead. If you believe more than one such conspiracy, you risk the dreaded “conspiracy theorist” label — but everyone is allowed to be skeptical, have a little fun, and buy into something.

My one conspiracy? I think the government has encountered evidence of extraterrestrial life or technology and is keeping it from the public. This is a very fun conspiracy theory to "believe," since I'm only a half-serious hobbyist believer. I've written about my alien curiosity in Tangle here and here, and — in the Tangle spirit — I've also interviewed the famous UFO skeptic Mick West, who spends his days explaining (very effectively) why people like me are idiots.

I really wish I could sit here and tell you this is it — the moment we've been waiting for — some revelation about an unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) that is going to blow the doors off the whole story. But, alas, I really don't think it is. My leading theory is that these sightings are just the intersection of the U.S. government testing some drones it doesn't want us to know about and, well, mass hysteria.

It's genuinely hard to overstate how much public panic is driving this story. I live in Philadelphia and grew up just north of here. My wife grew up in north Jersey. Between the two of us, we have a lot of friends and family in the area of all these sightings. Many of those same people started blowing up my phone when these sightings were first reported, since they know "weird things flying in the sky" is an irresistible story to me.

A lot of those messages included videos and photos (most of which were obviously planes or helicopters) or texts from people curious about what I thought. After a couple of weeks of UAP in the news, most of my friends had their own UAP story — a remarkable occurrence.

In fact, while driving to New York City last week, I was absolutely, 100% certain I saw an odd-looking hovering ball of light in the sky that then suddenly took off deep into space above I-95. I didn't say anything, assuming my brain was playing tricks on me. A few minutes later, one of my buddies swore he saw a drone that "looked like a shooting star." Tangle editor Ari Weitzman claimed he had a similar experience this weekend in Vermont (Ari insists the local Air National Guard base makes this plausible).

So, what do I think is more likely: Everyone I know is suddenly spotting foreign technology, alien aircraft or new U.S. military material in the sky and our foreign adversaries, the aliens, and/or the U.S. government don't care? Or we are all collectively hyping each other up into seeing things that maybe we wouldn't even have noticed a few weeks ago? 

I'm fairly certain it's the latter.

That's not to say nothing is happening. Some odd details, like military bases closing over the weekend or smaller airports having to shut down, suggest the U.S. government doesn't fully know what is going on out there. At the very least, there is an apparent gap between what New Jersey congressmen or governors know and what the federal government knows, since everyone is demanding answers from each other.

If something unusual is truly behind these sightings, the most compelling explanation I've come across is that the U.S. government is testing technology like the Pterodynamics XP-4: advanced Navy drones that look and move differently from airplanes, fighter jets or helicopters, and would cause obvious alarm if citizens start to spot them in the sky — especially in densely populated areas like New Jersey. 

If the explanation were really that simple, though, it'd raise the obvious question of why the U.S. government wouldn’t just say "these are ours" and calm everyone down. A few reasons come to mind: 1) They don't want our adversaries knowing what we’re working on. 2) They want to test the public reaction to these drones, and better understand what they can and can't get away with. 3) The panic is the point, as it could lead to more funding for the federal government’s military.

I know #3 sounds a bit paranoid, but as I was listening to White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby explain that the federal government didn't know what the drones were, I was struck by one of his closing remarks:

"The reported sightings there do however highlight a gap in authorities," Kirby said. "And so we urge Congress to pass important legislation that will extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities so that we are better prepared to identify and mitigate any potential threats to airports or other critical infrastructure."

Maybe Kirby is taking advantage of an opportunity here. Or, maybe, the opportunity is something the U.S. government created — happily — by running some tests over our most densely populated state.

Whatever explains the federal government’s response, I bet that the vast majority of the sightings are of conventional aircraft that just look odd with all of our senses on high alert — and that the few genuine UAP are aircraft our military is testing not far from its own bases. The aforementioned Mick West actually released a video last night explaining how every high-profile incident he looked into weren’t even drones but matched the flight records of planes or helicopters (and in one case, an out-of-focus Venus). 

In the most basic sense, I highly, highly doubt that swarms of drones and unidentifiable objects could hover around the largest metropolitan area in the U.S., circle the president-elect's golf courses and fly over military bases for more than a minute without seeing the business end of U.S. military might. Even if you think President Biden is a weak-kneed lame duck, I don’t think the DoD would let that fly — if you’ll pardon the expression.

So, for now, I'm sitting back and waiting. And I’m certainly not ringing any alarms about foreign (or alien) invasions.

Take the survey: What do you think about the UAP sightings? Let us know!

Disagree? That's okay. My opinion is just one of many. Write in and let us know why, and we'll consider publishing your feedback.

Help share Tangle.

I'm a firm believer that our politics would be a little bit better if everyone were reading balanced news that allows room for debate, disagreement, and multiple perspectives. If you can take 15 seconds to share Tangle with a few friends I'd really appreciate it — just click the button below and pick some people to email it to!

• Email Tangle to a friend by clicking here.
• Share Tangle on X/Twitter by clicking here.
• Share Tangle on Facebook by clicking here.

Your questions, answered.

Q: It appears to me from watching the results of your surveys that your audience is shifting very leftward. Should I be concerned? Can you really hold to a more centralist position with that happening?

— Tony from Kirksville, MO

Tangle: I don’t think you need to be concerned about our content or editorials changing. We think we’re seeing a similar leftward shift, which makes sense to us as we grew a lot recently following This American Life’s episode about Tangle and that a larger proportion of those listeners lean left than right (not all of you lovely new readers! Just a larger proportion).

But rest assured that our content and coverage approach won’t change, for a few reasons.

First, we don’t really concern ourselves with trying to hold the centrist position on every issue. Sometimes, I might land on the left or the right depending on what the issue is; different editors on our staff will be similarly biased, depending on the issue or the person. What we are concerned with is being fair and sharing a wide range of perspectives in every edition. Audience feedback is one helpful way to gauge that balance, yes; but it isn’t the only way.

We’re big believers that our process itself is what produces even-handed and empathetic takes that our readers connect with and can trust. That process will always be the same: Read commentary from all across the political spectrum, consider the best arguments of each side, and ask ourselves where we could be wrong.  

So while Tangle won’t change, we do want to keep our readership balanced. Our north star is to be a big-tent news organization read and trusted by people regardless of their political affiliation, which our format lends itself to. That means we’re planning to spend a little more energy advertising and reaching a conservative crowd in the coming months — not exclusively, but enough to try to tip the scales back.

Want to have a question answered in the newsletter? You can reply to this email (it goes straight to our inbox) or fill out this form.

Under the radar.

Between 2021 and 2023, annual net migration in the United States has been the highest in the country’s history, according to a new analysis from The New York Times. Data from the Congressional Budget Office shows that net migrations — the number of people coming to the U.S. minus the number leaving — averaged 2.4 million people annually during the first three years of the Biden administration, a faster pace than any other period on record (dating back to the 1850s). The numbers include both authorized and unauthorized migrants, and The Times reported that approximately 60% of the immigrants who have entered the country since 2021 were unauthorized. The analysis suggests that the Biden administration’s decision to loosen asylum rules played a major role in the surge. The New York Times has the story.

Numbers.

• 791,597. The total number of drones registered with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as of October 1, 2024.
• 387,746. The number of recreational drones registered with the FAA.
• 8%. The percentage of Americans who own a drone. 
• 400. The maximum height off the ground, in feet, that drones can be flown in most locations per FAA guidelines. 
• 5,000. The approximate number of tips received by the Federal Bureau of Investigation related to possible drone sightings in recent weeks, of which fewer than 100 have been deemed “worthy of further investigative activity.”
• 54%. The percentage of U.S. adults who think drones should not be allowed to fly near private residences, according to a 2017 Pew Research survey. 
• 1,133,647. The number of drone-use violations recorded in the United States in 2024, according to Dedrone.
• 729,111. Of those violations, the number that involved operating a drone above 400 feet. 
• 664,286. Of those violations, the number that involved flying a drone in controlled airspace around airports without authorization. 

The extras.

• One year ago today we had just covered Trump’s immunity case going to the Supreme Court.
• The most clicked link in Thursday’s newsletter was the ad in the free version for Brad’s Deals.
• Nothing to do with politics: The most popular Christmas cookies in each state.
• Yesterday’s survey: 3,171 readers responded to our survey on ending birthright citizenship with 63% disagreeing in principle and on the legal merits. “I don't like the answer options. I agree in principle and believe a legally merited method of making that happen is through a constitutional amendment that removes the ‘born in the US’ or further clarifies it to people here illegally,” one respondent said.

Have a nice day.

John’s Crazy Socks recently became the world’s largest online sock retailer. The company’s name comes from its founder: 28-year-old John Cronin, an entrepreneur who has Down Syndrome. Running the company together with his family, Cronin includes handwritten thank-you notes and candy in orders, with themes from Christmas to Harry Potter. Cronin has donated over $800,000 of the company’s socks to a variety of charities, including the Special Olympics. The Entrepreneur has the story. 

Don't forget...

📣 Share Tangle on Twitter here, Facebook here, or LinkedIn here.

🎧 We have a podcast you can listen to here.

🎥 Follow us on Instagram here or subscribe to our YouTube channel here

💵 If you like our newsletter, drop some love in our tip jar.

🎉 Want to reach 275,000+ people? Fill out this form to advertise with us.

📫 Forward this to a friend and tell them to subscribe (hint: it's here).

🛍 Love clothes, stickers and mugs? Go to our merch store!