Latest downed objects could well be `benign,' US says
The three still-unidentified aerial objects shot down by the U.S. in the past week likely had merely a “benign purpose,” the White House acknowledged Tuesday, drawing a distinction between them and the massive Chinese balloon that earlier traversed the U.S. with a suspected goal of surveillance.
“The intelligence community is considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose,” said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.
Officials also disclosed that a missile fired at one of the three objects, over Lake Huron on Sunday missed its intended target and landed in the water before a second one successfully hit.
The new details came as the Biden's administration's actions over the past two weeks faced fresh scrutiny in Congress.
First, U.S. fighter jets didn't shoot down what officials described as a Chinese spy balloon until after had crossed much of the United States, citing safety concerns. Then the military deployed F-22 fighters with heat-seeking missiles to quickly shoot down what likely were harmless objects.
Taken together, the actions raised political as well as security questions, about whether the Biden administration overreacted after facing Republican criticism for reacting too slowly to the big balloon.
Even as more information about the three objects emerges, questions remain about what they were, who sent them and how the U.S. might respond to unidentified airborne objects in the future. Still unaddressed are questions about the original balloon, including what spying capabilities it had and whether it was transmitting signals as it flew over sensitive military sites in the United States.
Little is known about the three objects shot down over three successive days, from Friday to Sunday, in part because it's been challenging to recover debris from remote locations in the Canadian Yukon, off northern Alaska and near the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on Lake Huron. So far, officials have no indication they were part of a bigger surveillance operation along with the balloon that was shot down off the South Carolina coast on Feb. 4.
“We don't see anything that points right now to being part of the PRC spy balloon program,” Kirby told reporters, referring to the People's Republic of China. It's also not likely the objects were “intelligence collection against the United States of any kind — that's the indication now.”
No country or private company has come forward to claim any of the objects, Kirby said. They do not appear to have been operated by the U.S. government.
Kirby had hinted Monday that the three objects were different in substantive ways from the balloon, including in their size. And his comments Tuesday marked a clear effort by the White House to draw a line between the balloon, which officials believe was part of a Chinese military program that has operated over five continents, and objects that the administration thinks could simply be part of some research or commercial effort.
In Washington, Pentagon officials met with senators for a classified briefing on the shootdowns. Lawmakers conveyed concerns from their constituents about a need to keep them informed and came away assured the objects were not extraterrestrial in nature but wanting many more details.
Still, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the successful recent interceptions were likely to have a “calming influence” and make future shootdowns less likely.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., told reporters after the briefing that he didn't think the objects posed a threat.
“They're trying to figure out — you know there's a bunch of junk up there. So you got to figure out what's the threat, what's not. You see something, you shouldn't always have to shoot it down,” Graham said.