It probably originated in some right wing conspiracy theory, which an intelligence guy was tasked to "prove" so he wrote some report confirming it. It then gets "leaked" to the newspapers, which never question what the CIACOPTROOPS tell them. From there it goes back to the idiots in charge who decide they must FIND AND DESTROY THESE DRONES. So we close airspace to destroy some party balloons.
I don't know if it happened exactly that way, of course, but the information pipelines being filled with sewage and then blessed by our greatest newspapers is the explanation for a lot of the last 25 years. We've just replaced Colin Powell and his vial of sand with Youtuber HitlerWasRight, twitter OPSEC expert CATTURD2, and Whiskey Pete Hegseth.
Related: whatever happened to the Great New Jersey Drone Invasion of the Winter of 2024?