President Joe Biden says a puzzling series of apparent drone sightings along the U.S. East Coast is “not something nefarious.”

this Sightings in recent weeks This has happened in New Jersey and some neighboring states, sometimes even around Air Force bases. The phenomenon has given rise to some conspiracy theories about foreign involvement.

Authorities didn’t give many clear answers, saying only that the sightings were not always drones and that they did not believe it posed a threat to national security or that a foreign power was operating.

Members of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee received closed-door briefings on Tuesday and joined Biden on Wednesday in trying to reassure the public.

Committee members who later spoke to reporters included Democrat Chrissy Houulahan.

“The Hill” quoted her as saying: “So far, they have found no indication that there are foreign influences, foreign actors, or even little green men doing things for the American people.”

“We are watching this closely, but so far, there is no sense of danger,” Biden said in comments to the media.

He stressed that the sightings were not evidence of any wrongdoing. “There are a lot of drones out there that are authorized for use,” he said. “I think it was initiated by someone, everybody — everybody wanted to be part of this deal.”

The sightings have led to the temporary closure of New York’s Stewart International Airport and Ohio’s Patterson Air Force Base in recent days.

Government agencies previously said they “did not detect anything unusual.” They agreed with Biden that many of the drones seen were flown legally by amateurs and law enforcement, adding that they had also seen “manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and stars being erroneously reported for drones”.

But public questions remain. Earlier this week, New Jersey man Noel Thomas described to the BBC his experience of spotting a mysterious object in the sky. He said it was about the size of a school bus, rectangular with flashing lights and “definitely something I’d never seen before.”

“We’re just looking for some reasonable, reasonable answers so that people can get on with their lives and not live in the hysteria that we have now,” a state police officer said.

State governments are calling for greater efforts to deal with small drones spotted in the skies as the mystery persists. Earlier this week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said officials were sending her a drone detection system.

President-elect Donald Trump was among those to express skepticism, saying the administration “knows what’s going on” but “for some reason they don’t want to comment.” However, he said he “couldn’t imagine this being the enemy”.

The Pentagon earlier denied a New Jersey lawmaker’s suggestion that the possible drones specifically came from an Iranian “mothership,” while an FBI official said there may have been a “mild overreaction” on the topic.