Secret Service Investigating Small Drone On White House Grounds

An anonymous reader sends word that the Secret Service is investigating a "device," described as a small drone, found on the grounds of the White House. "A small drone was found on the White House grounds overnight, two law enforcement sources told ABC News, but White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the situation 'does not pose any sort of ongoing threat.' The Secret Service is investigating the device, Earnest said. Police, fire and other emergency vehicles swarmed around the White House in the pre-dawn hours, with several clustered near the southeast entrance to the mansion. The White House was dark and the entire perimeter was on lockdown until around 5 a.m., when pass holders who work in the complex were allowed inside."

Comments

Quadcopter

[Dan East]

Probably one of those $15 nano quadcopters. You could get lot of bang for your buck flying something so trivial onto the White House lawn, if you were wanting to cause some commotion.

Re:Quadcopter

[Thyamine]

Exactly my thought. Until they show it's a 'serious' drone, this is most likely some college prank or some idiot that thought it would be funny to see what happens. _Maybe_ it's someone trying to see if they can detect/find something like that, but most likely it's just someone who is going to find out it's very expensive to make the Secret Service run around early in the morning.

Will this scale?

[WD]

What will folks do when drones get to be insect sized?

Re:What's the problem?

[JaredOfEuropa]

Perhaps a curious professional decided to sound out the White House defense perimeter, and ran afoul of the top secret drone death ray. If you're planning to fly a drone near or into a site as well guarded as the White House for some specific purpose, this is exactly what you'd do: try with an inexpensive and harmless drone first, masquerading as a hobbyist.