Biden administration Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was seen as a total joke or worse by millions of Americans.
He was called out for numerous failures and keeping Americans in the dark during disasters and panics spreading across the country.
But now Sean Duffy has just made the one announcement his predecessor couldn’t bear to reveal.
Trump’s Transportation Secretary comes clean about government drone program
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is pulling back the curtain on a government drone program that had New Jersey residents terrified for months.
In a shocking admission, Duffy revealed that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is conducting “drone-detection testing” in Cape May, New Jersey, through April 25.
“The FAA is doing this to ensure we can properly detect drones in our airspace and make sure they don’t interfere with aircraft navigation systems,” Duffy explained in an April 15 video posted to social media. “This is about protecting our national security and American safety.”
Do you remember the drone fiasco in New Jersey last year? Do you remember when President Biden’s administration refused to tell the American people who was flying the drones? It scared the crap out of people. It was wrong.
President Trump and I believe in radical transparency.… pic.twitter.com/KJlutVh5uH
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) April 15, 2025
More than 100 “commercial, off-the-shelf drones,” both large and small, are being flown as part of this government program.
These tests aren’t limited to New Jersey either. The FAA has announced similar drone tests will be conducted later this year in at least three other states – New Mexico, North Dakota, and Mississippi.
Biden administration kept Americans in the dark
What makes Duffy’s announcement so remarkable is the stark contrast to how the Biden administration handled similar drone activities.
In December 2024, thousands of Americans reported seeing mysterious drones flying over their homes and neighborhoods. These reports sparked widespread concern and conspiracy theories as citizens demanded answers.
When pressed for information, Biden’s White House national security adviser John Kirby offered a dismissive response, claiming there was “no evidence that the reported drone sightings pose a national-security threat or a public-safety threat.”
Despite more than 5,000 reports of mystery drone sightings across several states, the Biden administration refused to provide any meaningful explanation.
New Jersey residents were left to wonder what was happening in the skies above their homes and families.
“The public was deeply worried about the lack of clear information—communities, kids, families, seeing drones flying over their homes,” Duffy acknowledged, speaking from personal experience as a former New Jersey resident.
Trump demands transparency for the American people
When President Donald Trump took office in January, the drone mystery was one of many unresolved issues left behind by the Biden administration.
Trump immediately instructed his staff to release more information about the drone program.
On January 28, just nine days into Trump’s second term, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt informed reporters that the FAA had authorized “large numbers” of drones to fly over New Jersey for research and various other reasons.
Secretary Duffy has taken this transparency mandate even further, implementing what he calls a “radical transparency” approach to ensure Americans are fully informed about government activities in their communities.
“You deserve a government that’s always going to be transparent about what we say and what we do,” Duffy stated in his announcement.
He pledged to “continue to provide you, the American people, with this kind of candid, behind-the-scenes updates” – a refreshing change from the previous administration’s secretive approach.
FAA warns about unauthorized drone use
While the government’s drones are part of an authorized testing program, the FAA continues to receive more than 100 drone-sighting reports near airports each month.
“Operating drones around airplanes, helicopters, and airports is dangerous and illegal,” the FAA warned.
The agency clarified that its test drones are being flown over water near the Cape May Ferry Terminal during daytime hours on weekdays only, and urged the public not to fly recreational drones near this area during the test period.
Officials said similar research has been conducted at airports during the past few years, but the FAA has now expanded these investigations to off-airport locations, including some in Alaska.
For years, Americans have wondered what their government was hiding behind closed doors.
The Trump administration is showing that transparency doesn’t have to be complicated – it just requires leaders willing to tell the truth.
