Obama: Drone that landed at the White House can be bought at Radio Shack

President Obama said of the small unmanned aerial vehicle that meandered onto the White House grounds Monday, "The drone that landed in the White House you buy in Radio Shack."

In an interview with CNN, the president said Tuesday that "we don't really have any kind of regulatory structure" for commercial or recreational use of drones.

"You know that there are companies like Amazon that are talking about using small drones to deliver packages....There are incredibly useful functions that these drones can play in terms of farmers who are managing crops and conservationists who want to take stock of wildlife," Mr. Obama said.

The Federal Aviation Administration is getting ready to issue guidelines for commercial use of drones as soon as this month. Until then, its ban on commercial use of drones remains in place, although the agency is granting waivers on a case-by-case basis.

The Secret Service described the use of the drone involved in the incident at the White House early Monday as "recreational," and it said that the drone operator was cooperating and had called the Secret Service at about 9:30 a.m. Monday to claim responsibility.

On Tuesday, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency confirmed that the drone operator was one of its employees.

"The employee was off duty and is not involved in work related to drones or unmanned aerial vehicles in any capacity at NGA," the agency said in a statement. "Even though the employee was using a personal item while off duty, the agency takes the incident very seriously and remains committed to promoting public trust and transparency."

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the device was not a threat to anyone in the building.

President and Mrs. Obama were not at the White House at the time. They were in India Monday, and then departed for Saudi Arabia Tuesday to pay their respects to King Salman after the death of King Abdullah.