Widespread attention over alleged drone sightings across the country is largely due to misidentification, and the objects in the sky are often not nefarious, according to Pentagon officials and aviation experts, even as U.S. military bases sound alarms about detecting them in their airspace.

Those experts told Military.com on Monday that many of the alleged drone sightings in New Jersey and other states -- often being shared widely on social media -- are either not unmanned aircraft at all or are simply commercial or hobbyist craft.

The sightings in New Jersey and elsewhere, which so far remained unconfirmed, have triggered widespread concern and demands from lawmakers as well as state and local officials for an explanation. But Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon's top spokesman, told reporters Monday that roughly a million drones are registered in the U.S. and some 8,000 fly every day, most of which are not cause for concern.

"It's not that unusual to see drones in the sky, nor is it an indication of malicious activity or any public safety threat, and so the same applies to drones flown near U.S. military installations; some fly near or over our bases from time to time," Ryder said. "That in itself is not unusual, and the vast majority pose no physical threat to our forces or impact our operations."

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Jamey Jacob, the executive director of the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute for Research and Education and an Oklahoma State University professor, told Military.com in an interview Monday that, while there are legitimate worries about drones over U.S. bases, many of the reported sightings by the public are misinformed.

"I generally believe, based on what I've seen, that there's a lot of misidentification going on, particularly on the Eastern Seaboard scenarios where people don't have the ability to determine the sense of scale for something in the air, particularly at night, where all you see are the lights," Jacob said. "I think this is kind of the first instance of this really flaring up to such a large degree, and largely driven by social media and the inability to determine what's real and what's not."

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s military intelligence agency claimed Monday that around 30 North Korean troops were killed or wounded in fighting against the Ukrainian army over the weekend in Russia’s Kursk border region.

This is the first reported casualties since the Pentagon and Ukraine announced North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to help it in the almost 3-year war.

The casualties occurred around three villages in Kursk, where Russia has for four months been trying to quash a Ukrainian incursion, the agency, known by its acronym GUR, said in a public post on the Telegram messaging app.

One person is dead and a suspect is in custody following a shooting at an Army base in east Georgia Saturday morning.

The victim, whose identity has not been released, was shot “in on-post housing” at Fort Eisenhower, just outside Augusta, in what the base described as an “active shooter” situation.
An alert issued on social media at around 8:50 a.m. instructed those at Fort Eisenhower to “execute lockdown procedures” immediately and to “take appropriate action” if in danger.

An “all clear” alert was issued roughly an hour later, with the post reopening at 9:45 a.m.

“The dangerous event has passed,” officials said in a statement. “All personnel can resume normal operations.”

Around the same time, local law enforcement issued an alert over radio asking for officers to be on the lookout for a white Toyota Camry with a tag from of Tennessee, reported CBS affiliate WRDW.

The message said the car was believed to be connected to the murder, and was “last seen near mile marker 145 on I-20 heading towards South Carolina.”

Fort Eisenhower later confirmed a suspect was in custody, but did not provide additional details.