There are many theories, but very few answers after the US shot down three unidentified aerial objects in as many days over the weekend.
Now the White House, criticized for a lack of transparency about the raids, must grapple with frustrated lawmakers and a bewildered public amid the Biden administration’s failure to launch a coherent communication strategy about the shootings.
“In uncertain times, leaders need to be as transparent as possible with the public,” said Larry Hogan, a former Republican governor of Maryland, tweeted Monday. “After shooting down three airborne objects, President Biden needs to communicate directly with the nation about what we know and what we don’t.”
With warplanes shooting down unknown objects over US soil, the White House has revealed little about exactly what is happening and whether the country is under threat. Are the objects harmless weather balloons or spy craft sent by foreign powers bent on harming Americans? President Joe Biden has not said. In the absence of hard facts, uninformed speculation is filling the information vacuum, even if the objects are visiting aliens.
In a moment, a US Air Force General he refused to even rule out that far-fetched possibility, though White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre clarified the matter Monday.
“There is, again, no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent shootdowns,” he said.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby appeared at the White House briefing on Monday to discuss the issue. He said the three most recent objects did not pose a threat to people on the ground, did not send communication signals and had no maneuvering or propulsion capabilities.
However, the objects flew at altitudes that could “pose a threat to civilian commercial air traffic,” prompting the president to give the order to shoot them down, he said.
“Efforts are actively underway right now at all sites to find what’s left of these objects so that we can better understand and communicate to the American people what they are,” Kirby told reporters, emphasizing the challenge of recovering the objects from the ground. rural. in Alaska and Canada and the bottom of Lake Huron.
Kirby also announced a new interagency team dedicated to studying the objects and related future policy, but did not offer details about the objects themselves as confusion and frustration persist over communication about the US military launching multiple missiles. in US and Canadian airspace over the weekend. .
With a US military pilot shooting down a fourth object on Sunday afternoon, the White House does not seem set on its message about what was shot down, who in the government should report it, why there appear to be more unidentified objects, who they might belong to, what threat they pose, or whether decision-making about the demolition of such items has changed.
Kirby pointed out Monday what two US defense officials previously told NBC News: The military is using a broader range of radar data to monitor North American airspace since the spy balloon was detected. Chinese, and they are taking a deeper look at a larger number of objects. that might have leaked in the past.
Monday’s press conference came after a weekend filled with news about additional objects being shot down in North American airspace and few details.
After an unidentified object was shot down off the coast of northeast Alaska on Friday, Biden gave a one-word response to a question from the press: “Success.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made public the downing on Saturday over the Yukon, although it was an American F-22 that destroyed the object.
Jean-Pierre said Sunday morning that the public should understand that the administration intends to “detect and we’re always going to defend our airspace,” but he gave little information about the new standards or processes for doing so, nor did he identify what that is. the objects were.
The lack of information became even more apparent when the fourth object was shot down over Lake Huron hours before the Super Bowl was set to begin on Sunday. Despite the inquiries, White House communications remained largely silent, a stance that has allowed conspiracy theories to fester.
Homeland security officials have declined to identify the three most recent objects as balloons, their owners or their function, whether it was weather monitoring or surveillance by foreign actors. Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on ABC’s “This weekOn Sunday, however, intelligence officials believe the second and third items were also balloons.
Many of the questions directed at the White House have been redirected to the Pentagon, as the Biden administration takes a cautious approach when it comes to inconvenient or untimely developments that distract from its broader message that the nation is steadily progressing under an experienced president. The White House used the same playbook when it came to the classified documents found in Biden’s home and private office. Only when faced with press reports that documents were found did the White House acknowledge that Biden had withheld classified material that should have been turned over to federal archivists.
