It seems everyone has a theory on the nocturnal drone sightings that have alarmed residents in the Northeast. They’re from our government, they’re from a foreign country, they’re planes, they’re just normal drones, they’re extraordinary craft that elude regular detection.

One thing we are sure of: The Biden Administration has dropped the ball on transparency and communication.

Speculation can bloom only when there’s a lack of leadership, or when people don’t trust the powers that be.

There have been more than 5,000 sightings reported on the East Coast states in recent weeks, according to a statement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security.

But White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby led off the weekend by saying there was nothing to fear and that people may be imagining things, according to reports. Over 5,000 sightings is a heck of a lot of imagination.

Michael Mastronardy, sheriff of Ocean County, New Jersey, said he sent his own “industrial grade” drone into the air late last week in a bid to follow one of 50 unmanned aerial vehicles a local cop saw “coming off the ocean.”

The mysterious drones swiftly maneuvered out of their clutches, Mastronardy told News Nation reporter Rich McHugh.

In an interview with Fox News Live on Saturday, former CIA operations officer Laura Ballman theorized that the phenomena might be part of a “classified exercise” mounted by the Biden Administration.

New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim went out on drone patrol with local police late last week and said he believes some lights in the sky he came across were possibly drones, but most others — after “deeper analysis” — appear to have just been planes, the New York Post reported.

The latest word from the White House: “…these aircraft people are seeing are a mix of law enforcement drones, commercial drones and hobbyists. We continue to see nothing that indicates a public safety risk or national security risk,” Kirby said.

“There are 1 million drones registered with the FAA here in the United States. Thousands upon thousands fly in our skies legally and lawfully every single day doing all kinds of good things for the public good. The Northeast corridor is one of the busiest,” he said.

Lots of drones doing lots of good things. Yet, sources told CNN Monday, the US government is sending drone detection and tracking systems to two military facilities in New Jersey. There are also helicopters monitoring drones in Pennsylvania.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he’s asking the Department of Homeland Security to deploy special detection systems that use 360-degree technology to detect drones.

New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), a retired Navy helicopter commander, slammed the Biden administration for a lack of “coordination and communication,” concerning the drones and/or planes, The Hill reported.

“After weeks of unidentified-drone sightings over New Jersey…the drones remain unidentified,” she said.

This may all be reduced to memes in weeks, or be remembered as the Great Drone Scare of ’24. But one thing is certain: when it comes to taking action, it’s the local pols who are stepping up for concerned constituents and not the feds.

And that’s not our imagination.

Editorial cartoon by Gary Varvel (Creators Syndicate)