Republican Pennsylvania senator Doug Mastriano added a picture of a “Star Wars” prop in an otherwise serious-sounding social media post voicing national security concerns over drone sightings in the country. After he was called out by X users and its community notes feature, the politician clarified that he used an “obvious ‘Star Wars’ prop as a meme.’”
“It is inconceivable that the federal government has no answers nor has taken any action to get to the bottom of the unidentified drones,” Mastriano wrote, along with a picture of a TIE fighter. “The fecklessness of this administration was on display last year when a Chinese surveillance balloon was allowed to fly over the entire continental United States before being shot down. Such should be viewed as a threat to our nation and citizens and action is long overdue. We have recourses and assets in our arsenal to get answers, but I suppose Ukraine is more important to the White House. January 20th can’t come soon enough.”
The post ended up being flagged by X with a community note, stating the object was of a the photo is of a “prop/replica spaceship from ‘Star Wars.’” By Tuesday, Mastriano cleared the air — not of drones — but of any confusion.
“I posted a statement about the drones and used an obvious Star Wars prop as a meme. The Philadelphia Inquirer just called asking if I knew it was a prop. Hilarious. Modern dad ‘journalism,’” Mastriano.
Per ABC, there have been more than 5,000 drone sighting tips reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over the last few weeks, which has led to 100 leads for federal investigators and state and local officials.
In a joint statement, the FBI Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Department of Defense, stated there are no national security risks.
“Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones,” the statement read.
