Top Intel Democrat: ‘Real concerns’ on Biden transparency over downed objects in Alaska, Canada

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee voiced ‘concerns’ on Sunday about a lack of transparency from the Biden administration about two unknown objects shot down over Alaska and Canada in the last two days.

It comes after American fighter jets shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the Coast of South Carolina last weekend.

Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) told NBC News’ Meet The Press that he has yet to be briefed on the incidents, though he attended last week’s House of Representatives-wide classified update on Beijing’s downed spy balloon. 

Himes also received an additional classified briefing on the balloon as part of the powerful ‘Gang of Eight.’

‘You know, since then, of course, there’s been the shoot-down over Alaska and the shoot-down over the Yukon. Congress has been out of session and so we have not been directly briefed on that,’ the congressman added.

Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut is the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and a member of the powerful ‘Gang of Eight’

‘And by the way, I have real concerns about why the administration is not being more forthcoming with everything that it knows.’

He conceded, however, that the latter two debris had fallen ‘in very remote areas’ of Alaska and Canada.  

‘So my guess is that there’s just not a lot of information out there yet to share,’ Himes said.

It’s not clear yet if all three incidents are related. 

A lot of unanswered questions still remain about the objects downed over Alaska and Canada, such as who sent them and for what purpose.

Himes warned Sunday that those unanswered questions could lead to dangerous public speculation.

‘I sort of see a pattern as I looked at social media this morning, you know, all of a sudden, massive speculation about…Chinese action, or Russian action,’ the Democratic congressman said.

‘In the absence of information, people’s anxiety leads them into potentially destructive areas. So I do hope that very soon the administration has a lot more information for all of us on what’s going on.’

The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023. Hines received a House-wide classified briefing on the incident as well as a separate Gang of Eight briefing

But he said the Biden administration has yet to brief lawmakers on the most recent objects shot down over Alaska and Canada, to his knowledge

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he ordered the North American Aerospace Defense Command operation that downed another unknown object in the Yukon wilderness on Saturday

The White House announced an unknown object was shot down over Alaska on Friday.

A day later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he ordered the NORAD operation that downed another object in the wilderness of the Yukon Territory.

On Sunday morning, a US report appeared to contradict details of Ottawa’s initial findings on the object.

A Defense official was quoted by Fox News describing the object as a ‘small metallic balloon with a tethered payload.’

Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said it was observed to be ‘cylindrical’ on Saturday and ‘appears to be smaller in size than the one that the United States shot down’ earlier this month off South Carolina.

While Republicans mostly praised President Joe Biden’s administration for acting swiftly to take down the object over Alaska, Democrat Himes cautioned against shifting US security posture to uniformly shooting down all unknown aerial phenomena. 

‘If that’s where we’re going to go, there will be an accident, you know?’ he said.

‘At some point, we’re going to shoot down something we don’t want to shoot down, whether it’s civil aviation or what have you.’

China’s spy balloon that unnerved millions of Americans across the country earlier this month is part of a larger global surveillance plot by Beijing ‘s authoritarian government, the Pentagon claimed