Government should declassify drone intelligence

White House national security adviser John Kirby recently downplayed growing interest in the mysterious drones spotted across the East Coast.

Kirby dismissed concerns despite reports the drones have been making unauthorized flights over defense facilities, and even though the House Intelligence Committee thought the drones were important enough for a classified hearing.

The Biden administration’s insistence there’s nothing to worry about, combined with its refusal to declassify any evidence supporting that claim, is drawing frustration from a wide variety of lawmakers.

New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith called Kirby’s statements “misleading at best” and demanded more information. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin similarly lambasted the Federal Aviation Administration, the FBI, and other agencies for their reticence over the sightings.

The secrecy breeds mistrust at a time when trust in government is in a two-decade decline, particularly when it concerns a subject the government has admitted to lying about in the past.

It also feeds internet theories — some more out of left field than others — about what’s behind the lights in the night sky. The speculation from content creators on TikTok, X, and other platforms spreads most easily when the government doesn’t counter it with real information.

These are all self-inflicted wounds the government could heal by being more transparent.

Both the Biden administration and Congress should start today. The administration should tell the CIA, FBI, and Defense and Homeland Security departments to declassify any material they prepared for the recent House hearing on the drones. And Congress should follow suit and declassify the hearing transcript.

This joint effort would be a good first step to help the public and lawmakers understand if the drones are being piloted by someone benign, like an amateur or tech business, by some earth-based adversary, or by something else entirely.