Drunken Government Employee Crashed the Drone Into the White House
By Emily Zanotti on 1.27.15 | 3:50PM
So our mystery Drink-and-Droner has been revealed.
According to the New York Times, the guy who, yesterday morning, caused a huge ruckus by crash-landing a drone on White House lawn and testing the limits of the Secret Service's abilites at 3am, has been revealed to be an officer with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. Apparently, he was enjoying some adult beverages on his apartment balcony and playing with a drone that "belonged to a friend" when it miiiiiiight have flown over the White House. He later admitted the dalliance to authorities - after his friends told him about the news story - though it does not appear he asked for his drone back.
It was 42 degrees, lightly raining and pitch black near the White House when an inebriated, off-duty employee for a government intelligence agency decided it was a good time to test-fly his friend’s quadcopter drone that sells for hundreds of dollars and is popular among hobbyists.
But officials say the plan was foiled, perhaps by the wind or a tree, when the employee — who is not being named by the Secret Service — lost control of the drone. He texted his friends, worried that the drone had gone down on the White House grounds.
Investigators said the man had been drinking at an apartment nearby. It was not until the next morning, when he woke to his friends telling him that his drone was all over the news, that he contacted his employer, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and then called the Secret Service to confess.
Oddly enough, the NGIA is tasked with analyzing gathered intelligence for the Department of Defense, which drones, of course, do gather. Clearly, he was looking to skip the middle man.
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Source URL:
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