It is important that they only look for the nuclear material at night though.
The really long-range detectors supposedly do not work very well in sunlight as it masks the faint radiation signatures to which they are tuned.
At least, that is what people claiming to be knowledgeable about such instruments are saying. It might be true. It might not be true. I don't have one of these detectors to check it out.
It is all a hall of mirrors where it is almost impossible to sort out the truth from all of the mis-directions. What is clear is that multiple agendas are in play and all of the players are lying about what they are doing. "It's for your own good", they say.
My guess is that broken pieces of an old Soviet nuclear weapon, once kept in the Ukraine, have been smuggled into New York or New Jersey to be used as a dirty bomb. And we have "Top Men" looking for them right now. But you can choose whatever story you like.
I do like the "Alien Introduction" theory for its' entertainment value and tenuous match with the more outlandish drone observations. I rate it as unlikely to be true but amusing even so. I am always up for a well-told story.
I am happy that I am not on the East coast right now. I will be really upset if the Al-Qaeda attack target turns out to be one of the cities nearby my current location instead. Because "(e), None of the above" is always a valid selection on those multiple-choice tests.