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Topline
The White House said Tuesday there’s “no indication” the three flying objects shot down over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron this weekend were linked to the Chinese spying program responsible for the balloon that was taken down over the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month and said the possibility that the objects were “balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose” is a “leading explanation” among intelligence officials.
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA – FEBRUARY 10: In this U.S. Navy handout, Sailors assigned to Assault Craft Unit … [+]
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Key Facts
The White House has divulged few details about the purposes and origins of the objects, but said officials have not gathered any evidence to suggest that they were “definitively involved in external intelligence collection efforts,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said.
Kirby said that a primary theory among the intelligence community is that the three recent vessels were linked to commercial operations, though no entity or individual has come forward to claim them.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said military officials “didn’t rule anything out other than they don’t think they are balloons on the order of the Chinese balloon,” he told Axios, following a classified briefing on Tuesday, where Hawley said military brass described the three most recent objects as “unidentified aerial platforms.”
None of the three objects shot down over Alaska on Friday, Canada on Saturday and Lake Huron on Sunday have been recovered amid challenging winter weather conditions, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday.
Key Background
The Biden Administration on Monday debunked speculation that the three most recent objects shot down were the products of alien or extraterrestrial activity but has offered few details about their origins or purposes otherwise. The White House first announced on February 2 that a Chinese surveillance balloon had been identified above Alaska on January 28 and was hovering over Billings, Mont. It traveled east to the Atlantic Ocean and was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4. Less than a week later, the U.S. military shot down a second object above Alaska on Friday, a third object above Canada on Saturday and a fourth vessel above Lake Huron on Sunday. The White House said Monday that the Pentagon did not detect any communications signals coming from the three most recent objects, which were shot down, in part, because they were flying near civilian air space. The Chinese surveillance balloon was much larger in size and flying above air traffic boundaries, officials have said.
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Tangent
The U.S. Navy has recovered “significant debris from the site” where the Chinese surveillance balloon was taken down, including “all of the priority sensors and electronics pieces as well as large sections of the structure,” the U.S. military’s Northern Command said in a statement released Monday.
Surprising Fact
The first missile U.S. fighter jets fired at the object hovering over Lake Huron missed the target and landed “harmlessly” in the water, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told reporters on Tuesday at an international defense meeting in Brussels.
Further Reading
U.S. Recovers ‘Sensors And Electronics’ From China’s Balloon—Other Vessels Still A Mystery (Forbes)
Aliens Weren’t Behind Most Recent Flying Objects, White House Says—But Still Unclear Who Was (Forbes)
Objects Shot Down Over North America Part Of A ‘Pattern,’ Trudeau Says (Forbes)
U.S. Fighter Missed First Shot At Lake Huron Object, General Says (Forbes)
