Reply to “Comments on ‘Hot Airspace Explosions’ by MICHAEL Turner, J/PATTERN, AND SUSY'”
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner said Sunday he prefers how the US shot down unidentified objects over North American airspace in recent days to allowing them to traverse the country.
The Biden White House heads into the new week facing a slew of questions about the objects shot down by US fighter jets in as the last few days: on Sunday, over Lake Huron; on Saturday, over northern Canada, and on Friday, over Alaska. The US military shot down a suspected Chinese balloon near the coast of South Carolina last week.
Turner told Jake Tapper that they appear to be triggered-happy but it’s better than the environment they showed during the Chinese spy balloon incident.
The policy discussion is more important than this, because it shows that we have to say we are going to defend our airspace. And then we need to invest,” added Turner. “This shows some of the problems and gaps that we have. We need to fill those as soon as possible because there is now a threat.
If they are not related to China, are the latest strange objects flying over North America related to a hostile power, corporate or private entity? Are they even connected to one another or are they simply the result of coincidences at a time of heightened awareness and tensions?
The Balloon-borne Spyball: Detecting a Large Fleet of High-Altitude Satellites, and How it Can Be Used to Research in the United States
This administration is particularly annoying. He said that the Biden administration needs to come and brief congress on a daily basis. “I do think that there needs to be more engagement between the administration and Congress.”
Senior Biden officials received pointed questions from lawmakers on Capitol Hill in public hearings and classified briefings about why the suspected spy balloon was not shot down sooner.
“It’s certainly a new, recent development that you have China being so aggressive in entering other countries’ airspace and doing so for clear intentions to spy with very sophisticated equipment. I mean, the very scale of this balloon and the technology that was deployed by China in spying on the United States is unprecedented,” Turner said Sunday.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemisphere Affairs was speaking to reporters on Sunday and said they were taking them down out of anabundance of caution.
Dalton said that high-altitude objects can be used by a range of companies, countries, and research organizations for “purposes that are not nefarious, including legitimate research.”
Schumer said that he was briefed by Jake Sullivan of the White House national security adviser, that the object shot down over Canada was likely another balloon.
Canada’s chief of defense staff, Gen. Wayne Eyre, also made mention of a “balloon” when describing instructions given to the team that worked to take down the object.
The objects shot down on Friday and Saturday were not close in style to the PRC balloon, noted the deputy Pentagon press secretary. When we can recover the debris, we will have more for you.”
The findings have allowed the US to develop a consistent technical method for the first time, which they have used to track the balloons in near-real time across the globe, the sources said.
And, as CNN’s Natasha Bertrand reported Sunday, NORAD command recently readjusted its filters to better spot slow-moving targets operating above a certain altitude.
It’s still unclear, but it appears to be quite large. Since news broke last week about the Chinese balloon that was floating over US airspace, new details have emerged about what’s now understood to be a global surveillance operation by China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army.
On Thursday, officials revealed that they believe the spy balloons the US has discovered are part of a large fleet that is conducting surveillance operations globally. The US has traced the balloons to 40 countries across five continents.
The Discovery of a Flying Object by a Combat Jet Over the Lake at the Direction of Joe Biden and a White House Assistant Secretary of Defense
The Pentagon said that an F-16 fighter jet shot down a glider in the lake at the direction of the President Joe Biden.
In order to protect our security and interests, the assistant secretaries of defense have acted out of an abundance of caution, since they have not yet been able to determine what the objects are.
The object was flying at 20,000 feet over Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a senior administration official told CNN on Sunday. It was “octagonal” with strings hanging off and no discernible payload, according to the official and another source briefed on the matter.
According to CNN, Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan got a call from the Department of Defense telling her that the military was looking at an object above the lake.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill want answers. The news of more objects being shot down with a range of responses was met by politicians on both sides of the aisle.
Connecticut congressman Jim Himes told NBC that he was concerned about why the administration was not being more forthcoming with what it knew.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, said Congress needs to investigate why it took so long for the US to catch on to the Chinese government’s use of spy balloons.
It’s possible that in a unique, fast-moving situation, the government may not know much more than it is saying. But the piecemeal emergence of details is adding to the confusion. On issues including the Chinese balloon and the discovery of classified vice presidential documents at Biden’s home and office, the administration has sometimes struggled to control a media narrative to its own political detriment.
This is happening against a tense world situation, with US leading the West in an effective proxy war against Russia in Ukrainian, and with difficult relations with China increasing even more hostile.
There has been a lot of craziness in the last two weeks or so, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana said on CBS on Sunday morning before an object was shot down over Lake Huron.
The events of the last few days are serious enough for serious national security questions that stretch far beyond the political fight in Washington, and can only be assessed once more information is understood.
The lack of specificity is unlikely to quell speculation or partisan maneuvering in Washington. At the start of a new presidential election cycle and in a polarized political age when social media magnifies conspiracy theories, this odd series of incidents is heaping fresh pressure on Biden following recriminations after his decision to wait until the Chinese balloon had crossed the country before shooting it down over water.
The blame game is heating up. Republican Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, linked the incursion of US air space to Republican claims that Biden is failing to protect the southern border and complained that senior officials were not briefed enough. He also critiqued Biden, saying that the president didn’t act quickly enough before.
“I think one thing that this shows is certainly the fallacy of the argument of the Biden administration saying that the height of the Chinese balloon caused them to have no concern because certainly, as we know, whatever goes up can come down.”
Biden, who didn’t address the new intrusions at a black-tie event with state governors on Saturday, has yet to speak to Americans in person about the trio of incidents over the weekend.
The Case of the China Balloon-Derived Object: Reply to Biden, Bennet and the Commission on the Investigative Report
They are getting a lot of positives that they didn’t get before. Most of that will be airplanes, according to Kayyem, a former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security.
We can’t answer whether or not it’s a bigger reason for picking up more stuff in the sky because it didn’t pose a threat, or if it’s part of something larger and more important than that.
In a CNN interview on Sunday, Republican Matt Rosendale of Montana appeared to make a connection between the Chinese balloon and other items, even if there was no confirmation that they were connected.
“It doesn’t give me much safe feelings knowing that these devices are smaller,” he said. “I am very concerned with the cumulative data that is being collected. I need some answers and the people of the United States need them.
One lawmaker who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee told CNN on Monday morning that they had not received any communication from the administration over the weekend about the objects and that they did not expect to get much information until the fallen debris was recovered and assessed.
But the lawmaker said they believe that Biden needs to address the public with what he does know so far about the downed objects – even if that isn’t much.
The lawmaker said that apostasy is fuel for conspiracy theorists and he hopes information is shared quickly. Something reliable is more important than something reassuring. Communication from the government is needed to trust the government.
Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat who is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that he is looking forward to hearing more from the administration about the situation.
The last time Biden spoke about the recently shot down objects was Friday when he said the operation to shoot down a high altitude object over Alaska was a success.
Biden’s aides believe delivering remarks about the objects without a complete picture of what they are could cause further concern, another person familiar with the matter said. Biden personally ordered each object to be shot down, and has been deeply engaged behind the scenes.
The president does not have a public schedule on Monday, so he is not expected to receive regular updates on what officials are learning about the objects.