4 min agoWhite House: Biden wasn’t motivated by political pressures when he ordered downing of high-altitude objectsFrom CNN’s Maegan Vazquez
The White House on Monday denied that President Joe Biden’s recent swift actions to take down high-altitude objects hovering over the American and North American airspace were the result of political pressure, following earlier critiques that he waited too long to make the call to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon.
“These were decisions based purely and simply on what was in the best interest of the American people,” John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, said during the White House press briefing Monday. He was responding to a question on whether there’s been a change to the threshold for the use of American fighter jets to take down flying objects.The US, Kirby argued, is “using established protocols to engage… aircraft in the air that can be legitimately brought down.”
While other options were considered to take down the objects, including gunfire, the use of air-to-air missiles was determined to be “the safest, most effective” way.
Kirby, however, did not rule out changes to the threshold for escalation in the future, saying that is something officials are still evaluating as they learn more about the objects.
37 min agoNational security adviser will lead new “interagency team” to study unidentified aerial objectsFrom CNN’s DJ Judd
In this September 2022 photo, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan talks to reporters during the daily news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)President Joe Biden has tapped National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to lead “an interagency team to study the broader policy implications for detection, analysis, and disposition of unidentified aerial objects that pose either safety or security risks,” national security spokesperson John Kirby said Monday.
The group — which includes Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines — is tasked with engaging “their relevant counterparts to share information and to try to gain their perspectives as well,” while the administration will brief members of Congress and local officials in the meantime, Kirby said.
Kirby, who is the White House national security coordinator for strategic communications, also said none of the three most recent objects shot down posed a threat to people on the ground, were not sending communications signals, showed no signs of “maneuvering or had any propulsion capabilities,” and were not manned.
All three missions to shoot them down were completed “successfully and safely” and recovery efforts are underway, though the administration acknowledged all three objects were shot down “in pretty remote terrain — ice and wilderness,” which have complicated reconnaissance efforts.
37 min agoUS officials provide new details on downed objects, including that 2 of them may have some sort of payloadFrom CNN’s Oren Liebermann, MJ Lee, Phil Mattingly, Natasha Bertrand and Kevin Liptak
United States officials are revealing new details about the objects that were shot down in the last few days.
The US military shot down a high-altitude object over Lake Huron on Sunday afternoon, the Pentagon said. Another unidentified object was shot down over northern Canada on Saturday, and on Friday, an unidentified object was shot down in Alaska airspace.
All three objects looked different, according to two US officials. One official said they were approximately the same size. Two officials said none of the three objects were believed to have had propulsion, though the wreckage still needs to be examined to be sure.
“I’m not able to categorize how they stay aloft. It could be a gaseous type of balloon inside a structure or it could be some type of propulsion system. But clearly, they’re able to stay aloft,” NORAD Commander Gen. Glen VanHerck said Sunday.Multiple officials said the objects shot down in Alaska and over Canada were believed to have had payloads, meaning that something is being carried by the object.
Here’s what we now know about the objects:
Off the coast of northern Alaska: It was described as a metallic object that broke into several pieces when it impacted the sea ice, according to multiple US officials. That suggests it may have had some sort of structure to it, but officials won’t know for sure until the object is recovered. Over Lake Huron: CNN reported on Sunday that the most recent object shot down over Lake Huron was “octagonal” in shape with strings hanging off and no discernible payload, according to a senior administration official. It was traveling at 20,000 feet when it was shot down, the Pentagon said Sunday.Over northern Canada: The object shot down over the Yukon territory in Canada appeared to be a balloon with a metal payload hanging underneath, according to the officials. The object was also traveling at 40,000 feet, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said on Saturday. She went on to describe the object as a “cylindrical object” smaller than the Chinese surveillance balloon that was downed off the coast of South Carolina one week earlier.The preliminary descriptions of the objects’ appearances underscore the difficulty for administration officials in identifying their purpose or origin. Officials have been at a loss to say what the objects could be, and the preliminary descriptions have not lent any more clarity.
Officials have taken pains to distinguish the three objects shot down over the last three days and the Chinese balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean. The three later objects were all smaller in size and flying at a much lower altitude.
1 hr 4 min agoWhite House: Enhanced radar capabilities may partially explain increase of detected objects in US airspace National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby. (Pool)The White House said Monday that recent “enhanced radar capabilities” may partially explain why more objects have been detected in the US airspace.
John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, explained during a White House press briefing that since the Chinese balloon program’s “recent incursion into our airspace the United States and Canada — through (North American Aerospace Command) NORAD — have been more closely scrutinizing that airspace, including enhancing our radar capabilities.”
The White House official said that it’s difficult for radar to pick up small objects, including one the size of the Chinese balloon on radar and that there are also non-military objects that are used in US airspace for scientific purposes.
On the objects that were shot down over the weekend Kirby added, “Because we have not been able to definitively assess what these most recent objects are, we acted out of an abundance of caution to protect the security, our security, our interests, and flight safety.”
1 hr 12 min agoWhite House makes clear there’s no indication downed objects are “of aliens or extraterrestrial activity”From CNN’s Betsy Klein
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. (Pool)White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre kicked off Monday’s press briefing by clarifying that the US is not concerned about alien or extraterrestrial life as it pertains to the takedown of multiple airborne objects in recent days.
“I just wanted to make sure we address this from the White House: I know there have been questions and concerns about this but there is no again no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns,” Jean-Pierre said.She added, “I wanted to make sure that the American people knew that all of you knew that. And it was important for us to say that from here because we’ve been hearing a lot about it,” prompting laughter from reporters in the briefing room.
She joked that she “loved ET, the movie,” before handing the podium to National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby.
The US is still working to determine the nature and purpose of flying objects that have recently been downed.
1 min agoChinese spy balloon was part of larger intelligence-gathering program, White House saysA jet flies by a suspected Chinese spy balloon as it floats off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina on February 4, 2023. (Randall Hill/Reuters)National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over United States airspace last week provided “limited” intelligence to China.
He said the craft was part of the People’s Republic of China high-altitude balloon program for intelligence gathering.
“We assessed that at this time, these balloons have provided limited additive capabilities to the PRC’s other intelligence platforms used over the United States,” he said at a White House press briefing Monday.”But in the future, if the PRC continues to advance this technology, it certainly could become more valuable to them,” he added.
Kirby said the Chinese balloon program was operating during the Trump administration, but the objects were not detected then. Moving forward, the US is working to better understand and track these intelligence assets.
Kirby said efforts are underway to recover debris from the trio of smaller, lower high-altitude objects shot down off the coast of Alaska, over Canada, and over Lake Huron over the weekend, which, in contrast with last weekend’s Chinese surveillance balloon, were flying low enough to pose a threat to civilian air traffic.
“We are laser focused on confirming their nature and purpose, including through intensive efforts to collect debris in the remote locations where they have fallen,” Kirby said.
“In each instance, we have followed the same basic course — we assessed whether they posed any kinetic threat to people on the ground– they did not. We assessed whether they were sending any communication signals — we detected none. We looked to see whether they were maneuvering or had any propulsion capabilities —we saw no signs of that. And we made sure to determine whether or not they were manned or not.”
All three missions were completed “successfully and safely,” and recovery efforts are underway, though the administration acknowledged all three objects were shot down “in pretty remote terrain—ice and wilderness,” which have complicated reconnaissance efforts.
CNN’s DJ Judd contributed reporting to this post.
1 hr 24 min agoNOW: White House holds press briefing From CNN staff
National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby. (Pool)White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is holding a press briefing alongside John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications.
Kirby’s appearance during the briefing comes a day after the Pentagon said a US F-16 fighter jet shot down another airborne object over Lake Huron at the direction of President Joe Biden, marking the third time in a week that US fighter jets have taken down objects in North American airspace.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have urged the Biden administration to provide more details about the objects. All senators will get a classified briefing Wednesday on China, according to a Senate aide.
2 hr 16 min agoSen. Schumer says intelligence agencies are “getting new evidence every hour” on suspected spy balloonFrom CNN’s Ali Zaslav
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday that intelligence agencies are “getting new evidence every hour” on the suspected Chinese spy balloon as they examine pieces of it that were collected.
In an interview on “The View” on Monday morning, he added that senators will learn a lot more information at their all-Senate briefing on Wednesday.
Schumer said the US military and intelligence agencies are “focused like a laser” on figuring out what happened and coming up with a plan to deal with this particular balloon and any other assets in the future.
Schumer reiterated he’s supportive of a bipartisan Senate investigation into “why we didn’t know” about the balloons sooner.
2 hr 10 min agoA timeline of when the unidentified objects were shot down in North American airspaceFrom CNN’s staff
A high-altitude object was shot down near Lake Huron on Sunday afternoon, marking the fourth time in just over a week that the US military has taken down objects in North American airspace. Here’s a timeline of all the objects that we know about:
Last weekend: A suspected Chinese surveillance balloon was taken down by F-22s off the coast of South Carolina.
Friday: An unidentified object was shot down in Alaska airspace by a US F-22.
Saturday: Another unidentified object was shot down by US fighter jets over northern Canada on Saturday.
Sunday: The US military shot down another high altitude object over Lake Huron on Sunday afternoon, the Pentagon said.
Here’s a look at where the objects were shot down: