Biden faces increasing demands to disclose details about objects downed by the US military.
The third missile strike on an “octagonal” flying object over Lake Huron, Michigan occurred on Sunday, as part of a series of takedowns within an eight-day period.
The third missile strike on an “octagonal” flying object over Lake Huron, Michigan occurred on Sunday, as part of a series of takedowns within an eight-day period.
The Joe Biden administration faced growing pressure on Monday to release more information about a series of flying objects that were shot down by the US military over a period of eight days in North American airspace. The latest incident, a missile strike on Sunday on an octagonal flying object over Lake Huron in Michigan, was the third such event, following the downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the South Carolina coast on February 4th. This has led to questions from lawmakers from both parties.
Pentagon officials admitted that the sequence of events was unprecedented during peacetime. Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg suggested that the objects were part of a pattern of surveillance by China and Russia on the US and its allies. An American air force commander also mentioned that the US military had spotted Chinese spy balloons in the Middle East recently.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is the Vice Chairman of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, claimed that unidentified aircraft had been flying over restricted American airspace for years. He added that he created a permanent task force two years ago to address the issue.
Defense officials held a briefing with reporters on Sunday but were unable to provide more details about the object that was shot down over Michigan by an F-16 fighter jet on Biden’s orders. They also could not reveal the origin, composition or purpose of the objects that were shot down in Yukon, Canada, and Deadhorse, Alaska, which were believed to have a payload attached to or suspended from them.
The senior air force officer leading the briefing, General Glen VanHerck, said he couldn’t rule out the possibility of extraterrestrial activity, but added that the intelligence community and counterintelligence community would figure that out. He also mentioned that the Chinese balloon had put authorities on heightened alert but noted that the other objects were not balloons and didn’t pose any security threat.
Assistant Secretary of Defense Melissa Dalton echoed VanHerck’s statement, saying that the increased detection of objects was partly due to enhanced radar systems. Work to recover and identify the remnants of the objects was ongoing, and extra vigilance would continue, according to Pentagon officials.
Veteran national security correspondent David Martin from CBS suggested that officials couldn’t rule out the possibility that some of the unidentified flying objects were sky trash, which included balloons used for collecting scientific data.
Connecticut Congressman Jim Himes expressed frustration with the White House on NBC’s Meet the Press, saying he had concerns about the lack of information being released.
Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels that he suspected the incidents were part of an ongoing strategy of spying by NATO’s rivals. Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich, Commander of US Air Forces Central, confirmed Stoltenberg’s assessment, mentioning that Chinese spy balloons were recently spotted in the Middle East.
A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry accused the US of overreacting and repeated allegations that the US was using spy balloons to invade China’s airspace illegally. The White House denied the accusation.
The issue has also extended to the former presidential administration of Donald Trump, as several former officials have denied a Pentagon intelligence report that at least three objects were of extraterrestrial origin.