Theory: the point of the drone campaign is to pass anti-drone legislation.

Drone warfare is the new frontier on the modern battlefield. Drones are fairly unregulated in the US, but can relatively easily be retooled as weapons. The pentagon doesn’t like this. Prior to the current drone wave, there were several high profile drone incursions (e.g., Langley). The pentagon also didn’t like this.

They want to crackdown on drones, but it’s almost impossible to get congress to do anything without a massive public outcry. Enter the New Jersey drone panic.

Mayorkas gets on TV and says “oh no we can’t do anything. we need more authority and we need congress to give it to us.”

My pet theory.