Drones

If this was a foreign surveilance thing considering the areas observed I think the US military would have removed from the airspace by now.  Look at the press the chinese balloons got.  And it isn't a secret thing anymore so if that was the purpose they would be out of the skies by now.  US military knows what they are, I would bet they are in some sort of evaluation of hardware for the next tax increase windfall.  Local politicians jumping in are just seeking free camera time or being part of the information distraction.  

Gotta love the internet and cell cameras, no secrets out there any more.

Part 107 Certified drone pilot here. Without looking at the sectional charts I don't know if they were in restricted airspace. 
From the way you describe it, these are huge. So not hobbyiest drones. My largest drone was a 6-motor beast that still only measured about 28" tip to tip. That's a big beast, but at a mile out, it's a fly in the sky visually. 
The FAA has no balls to enforce anything, so instead of upholding laws, the decided to start selling off US airspace to companies like walmart, target, amazon, etc and pushed hobbiests out of the sky. At least the lemmings that comply lol.  Despite the FAA not having balls, I would STRONGLY urge you not to take a drone out of the sky (in most circumstances). If you think about it logically, it's a remote controlled aircraft weighing a few pounds. If it's shot from 400' up it's no longer a remote CONTROLLED aircraft, it's a falling aircraft that cannot be controlled. It could land on a person, on a highway causing an accident, and just an unsafe situation to cause. 

My guess is that this is a commercial operation doing some training/calibration.  

Then of course, there is this (my highlight):

Bay Area man arrested for allegedly flying drone over, photographing Vandenberg Space Force Base

...According to court documents, on Nov. 30, drone detection systems at Vandenberg detected a drone flying about a mile above ground level over the base for nearly an hour. The system was able to determine the drone was being operated from a nearby park and base security personnel went to investigate. They found Zhou and another person accompanying him at the park. Zhou was hiding a drone in his jacket - the same one that flew over the base....

With the, sometimes crazy crap, that is being done with drones in Ukraine, the military is well aware of the threat.

I know I mentioned before we were seeing an increase in large drones over my place and they haven't gone away. I have still not gotten any confirmation on who or what is flying them as no one seems to know anything about them.... this was from July. 

J.A. Ackley said:

2. Foreign surveillance with a chance of having some sort of payload (also don't shoot them down) ... 

Any chance this is not too far from the path of the ChiCom weather balloon flyover?

aircooled said:

Then of course, there is this (my highlight):

They found Zhou and another person accompanying him at the park. Zhou was hiding a drone in his jacket - the same one that flew over the base....

 

Zhou is an Irish name, isn't it?

J.A. Ackley said:

Wow. Thank you for sharing your accounts. The appearance of drones seems to be growing from their first sightings in New Jersey. Feds don't seem to be concerned in what I've been reading. Local officials are concerned. Weird. 

If the Feds "aren't concerned" its because they are doing it or condone who is doing it.

Drone stuff is only going to get weirder and more common. Hopefully some thoughtful regulations come about soon to protect the average citizen's privacy, safety, and ability to participate in the hobby.

maschinenbau said:

Drone stuff is only going to get weirder and more common. Hopefully some thoughtful regulations come about soon to protect the average citizen's privacy, safety, and ability to participate in the hobby.

I can tell you "regulations" aren't going to get the job done.  It's going to come down to "enforcement"--which isn't going to be easy unless the govt declares drones an invasive species and puts a bounty on every dead drone carried to a game warden's office.