The three aerial objects shot down by the White House following the take down of a Chinese spy balloon are not connected to China and are not believed to belong to any other country, President Joe Biden said to the nation on Thursday.
Biden said that the three objects could be private, recreational, or scientific in nature, “We don’t yet know what these three objects were, but nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from any other country,” the president said during Thursday afternoon’s press briefing.
Meanwhile, there’s speculation that one of the objects is a hobby balloon.
🚨#BREAKING: President Joe Biden walks off stage after a Reporter: says “Are you compromised by your family’s business relations in China?”
Biden: “Give me a break, man! You cut me off”. Then he walks off stage with out answering any questions pic.twitter.com/JnySGO3DQT
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) February 16, 2023
“These three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research,” Biden said.
“I gave the order to take down these three objects due to hazards to civilian commercial air traffic, and because we could not rule out the surveillance risk of sensitive facilities,” Biden said.
“[North American Aerospace Defense Command] acted in accordance with established parameters for determining how to deal with unidentified aerial objects in U.S. airspace and their recommendation.”
Biden said that the debris from the objects that were shot down over Canada’s Yukon, Lake Huron, and Alaska, are in the process of being recovered. Sen. John Kennedy told reporters on Tuesday that the remnants of the crafts are “lost.”
“The remnants are in very difficult terrain with low temperatures,” he said. “They haven’t been able to find them.”
Biden dismissed the idea that there has been an uptick in objects being reported in the sky: “We’re now just seeing more of them, partially because the steps we’ve taken to increase our radars, narrow our radars, and we have to keep adapting our approach to delay, to dealing with these challenges,” he told reporters.
“That’s why I’ve directed my team to come back to me with sharper rules for how we will deal with these unidentified objects moving forward, distinguishing, distinguishing between those that are likely to pose safety and security risks that necessitate action, and those that do not.
“But make no mistake, if any object presents a threat to the safety and security of American people, I will take it down.”
