The building and area were put on lockdown Thursday afternoon because of the incident, with traffic closed off on a section of Pennsylvania Ave. President Obama is not currently present at the White House, however, as he at Camp David meeting with Persian Gulf leaders.
Local media reports cite some eyewitnesses saying the object was a drone, others that it looked like a model airplane.
This is the second drone-related incident at the White House so far this year. In January, a man who had been operating a friend's drone nearby after one too many drinks at a party accidentally lost control of the device and crashed it on the White House lawn at 3 am.
That man turned himself in when he saw news reports of the crash the next morning, and did not face criminal charges.
