My theory is related to your #1, but I’m guessing that the military is testing the detection capability of their systems. It would explain why the sightings have been all over the place. They are basically sending them out to fly in various different patterns from different approach vectors (“coming in from the ocean”) to ensure that the radar and likely more sophisticated drone-specific hardware can detect them. It would also account for why there have been such a variety of reports of different sizes and characteristics of the drones (the credible ones, not the people filming airplanes).

I think the success of drones in the Ukraine conflict has accelerated the concerns of the military and DHS, and they felt the need to accelerate the install/upgrade/test of their defenses.