The All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office: Reporting Unidentified Phenomena and Non-Aligned Particles

Officially, the reports being investigated are of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), as opposed to the earlier iteration of unidentified aerial phenomena, which only focused on objects are observations in the air. Now the effort is looking at reports from air, ground, sea or space, though Kirkpatrick said most of the cases are still aerial in nature.

“There is no – again, no — indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Monday’s daily press briefing.

Established in July, the office – officially known as the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office – has received “several hundreds” of reports of unidentified objects to examine, including some that go back years, said Sean Kirkpatrick, the director of the effort. Those cases are on top of the initial 144 examined in the June 2021 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

“The spy balloon from the PRC was of course different in that we knew precisely what was,” she said. “These most recent objects do not pose a kinetic military threat, but their path in proximity to sensitive DoD sites, and the altitude that they were flying could be a hazard to civilian aviation and thus raised concerns.”

When asked if the reports were indicative of a threat to the national security of the United States, she answered, “Yes.”

“In the absence of being able to resolve what something is, we assume that it may be hostile, so, we have to take that seriously,” said Moultrie, expanding on the considerations.

One of the big issues the Pentagon faced as it began to look more seriously at the issues of UAPs was the stigma around reporting. Kirkpatrick said the stigma associated with reporting sightings has been significantly reduced.

First Observation of a High-Mass, High-Energy Object by F-22 Fighters over the Alaskan Air Force Base and Two Airborne Combat Task Forces

The database of reports in the Naval Intelligence Service has grown to 400 since the June 2021, report was released, the deputy director said in May. The reports have kept coming in.

There wasn’t a single answer for all of this. Friday, Kirkpatrick asked rhetorically. One of my duties is to sort out all of the hundreds of cases so that they go to the right places.

Later on Saturday, the White House confirmed that Trudeau and US President Joe Biden authorized the shoot-down and the Pentagon said the object was first spotted over Alaska on Friday evening.

Less than a week after a Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina, another object flying over US airspace was taken down by American fighter jets.

A Pentagon spokesman made a statement. The object shot down on Saturday was first seen over Alaska. Two F-22 fighter jets monitored an object with the help of the Alaska Air National Guard, and took time to understand its nature.

It did, however, pose a risk to people and property on the ground if it were to be shot down, as officials said it was roughly 200 feet tall and the payload weighed more than a couple of thousand pounds.

There were two efforts to get closer to the object and evaluate it as it flew. The first engagement by fighter aircraft took place late Thursday night and the second Friday morning. Kirby told reporters that the engagements yielded a limited amount of information.

The order to shoot it down was put into place before the pilots had a chance to assess it.

Ultimately, the object was downed near the Canadian border and northeastern Alaska by a F-22 fighter jet out of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, equipped with an AIM-9X – the same aircraft and missile used to take down the surveillance balloon. The military waited to shoot down the object during the daytime to make spotting it easier for pilots. The mission was supported by aerial assets from the Alaska Air National Guard.

The Alaska National Guard, as well as units under the US Northern Command, are all involved in the effort to recover the object.

We have a best description for this object, so we are calling it an object. Kirby said they don’t know who owned it or if it was state owned or corporate-owned.

The object first came to the attention of the US government “last evening.” The Pentagon had enough information to inform Biden as soon as possible.

What the Russian Spy Balloon Learned about the Deadhorse Object that was Shot Down in South Carolina on Friday

Kirby said that the object didn’t appear to be self-maneuvering, and therefore was at the mercy of prevailing winds.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary flight restriction Friday in the area around Deadhorse, Alaska, as the military took action against the object.

The Chinese balloon went down off the coast of South Carolina after being shot down. Biden administration officials said it posed little intelligence gathering and military risk.

While the president has stood by how his administration handled the balloon, he has come under fire from Republicans for allowing it to fly over the country before he shot it down.

“The spy balloon from (China) was of course different in that we knew precisely what (it) was. These most recent objects do not pose a kinetic military threat, but their path in proximity to sensitive (defense) sites and the altitude that they were flying could be a hazard to civilian aviation and thus raised concerns,” Dalton added.

It was difficult for pilots to glean a lot of information due to the size of the aircraft, as well as the speed at which they were flying.

The unidentified object that was shot down in Canadian airspace had been tracked since Friday evening, according to a statement from Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder.

It’s unclear what the object looks like, or where it came from. On Friday he said it was going north east across Alaska. The balloon was not similar in size or shape to the Chinese one that was downed off the coast of South Carolina, but he did not give a physical characterization.

The risk to people and property on the ground was high if a balloon were to be shot down over the US, but officials said the threat to intelligence collection against the US was low.

Wreckage from the balloon was gathered from the ocean’s surface. The U.S. Northern Command stated that divers and remote-operated vehicles were used to retrieve more debris from the sea floor. The FBI is involved, taking custody of debris as it’s brought onshore.

The recovery teams are in the process of searching for and identifying debris on the ocean floor.

When asked Friday if lessons learned about China’s balloon assisted in detecting the object shot down over Alaska, Ryder said it was “a little bit of apples and oranges.”

While Canadian authorities conduct recovery operations, the FBI will be working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The Canadian Defense Minister spoke with her US counterpart Lloyd Austin and made it clear that the two countries would defend their sovereignty together.

The Pentagon says it has no further information on the object that shot down a high-altitude balloon in January 28 over Alaska and entered the Air Defense Identification Zone

The balloon was spotted after entering the US Air Defense Identification Zone over Alaska on January 28 before flying over Canada, a Department of Defense official told lawmakers last week. It then reentered continental US airspace three days later.

“Recovery activities are occurring on sea ice,” the statement said. We don’t have any more details about the object at this time.

US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau both approved the shoot down on Saturday, according to a statement from the White House.

Some pilots said that the object interfered with their sensors, but other pilots didn’t experience that, according to a source briefed on the intelligence.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs, Melissa Dalton told reporters on Sunday they were taken down out of an “abundance 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.”

The assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs said they acted out of an abundance of caution because they have not been able to determine what the objects are.

The instructions given to the team to take down the object were mentioned by Gen. Wayne Eyre, Canada’s chief of defense staff.

The Pentagon Press Secretary is here. We have no further info on the object at this time, including any description of its capabilities, purpose, or origin.

A high-altitude object was shot down by an F-16 above Lake Huron and the Pentagon needs to invest in public education, congress and the intelligence community

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.

NORAD command has put back its filters to better see targets above a certain altitude.

It can be attributed to increased scrutiny, including the use of enhanced radar techniques, according to the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense.

In the latest event, a high-altitude object was shot down on Sunday afternoon by an F-16 over Lake Huron, which lies between Michigan and Ontario. The Pentagon said the object was not assessed to be a military threat but was a flight hazard. But it did connect the craft to a radar signal picked up earlier over Montana, the home to US intercontinental missile silos and other sensitive sites.

“Just got a call from @DeptofDefense — our military has an extremely close eye on the object above Lake Huron,” Slotkin said in a tweet on Sunday. “We’ll know more about what this was in the coming days, but for now, be assured that all parties have been laser-focused on it from the moment it traversed our waters.”

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill want answers. Politicians on both sides of the aisle met the news of further objects being shot down with a range of responses Sunday.

This shows, that we really have to state that we are going to defend our airspace, which is an important point in our policy discussion. And then we need to invest,” the Ohio Republican said. This shows some of the issues we have. We need to fill those as soon as possible because we certainly now ascertain there is a threat.”

Turner’s Democratic counterpart on the Intelligence panel, Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he had “real concerns about why the administration is not being more forthcoming with everything that it knows,” before adding, “My guess is that there’s just not a lot of information out there to share.”

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.

I think the Democratic senator is looking into why it took so long for us to know about these balloons. That’s something I support. Congress should look at that. That is the question we have to answer, he said. The intelligence of the military are doing a great job. I feel a lot of confidence in what they’re doing. But why, as far back as the Trump administration, did no one know about this?”

A deepening national security mystery is threatening a political storm after US fighter jets scrambled three days in a row to shoot down a trio of unidentified aerial objects high over the North American continent.

With the US leading the West in an effective proxy war against Russia inUkraine, the intrigue is also unfolding against a tense global situation.

Jon Tester said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the two weeks or so that have passed is “nothing short of craziness.”

In fact, NORAD commander Gen. Glen VanHerck said recent objects shot down were likely the first “kinetic action” that NORAD or the US Northern Command had taken against an airborne object over US airspace.

Blame the Chinese Balloon for the Strange Events Over the Weekend: CNN’s “State of the Union” discusses alleged Russian interference in the US air space

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 like the Chinese balloon and Biden’s home and office the administration has had difficulty controlling a media narrative that harms its own political cause.

If they’re not related to China, are the latest strange objects flying over North America linked to some other hostile power or group, 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 lack of specificity is unlikely to quell speculation or partisan maneuvering in Washington. There are a lot of odd incidents happening at the beginning of a presidential election cycle, and with social media making conspiracy theories a big deal, there is more pressure on Biden to do something about it.

The blame game is heating up. On CNN’s “State of the Union,” GOP Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, linked the incursions of US air space to Republican claims that Biden is failing to protect the southern border and complained that senior officials were not briefing Congress enough. And he also adopted a novel critique of Biden given claims that the president didn’t act quickly enough before.

Turner told Jake Tapper that they appeared to be Trigger-happy, but that this is definitely better than the environment that they showed when the Chinese spy balloon came over some of our most sensitive sites.

“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.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/13/politics/unknown-objects-leaders-response/index.html

What have we learnt about the two U.S. shootdowns over Alaska and the Whitehorse? Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security and Special Assistant Secretary Kayyem

“They are getting lots of positives that they did not get before. Most of that is going to be airplanes, whatever it may be,” said Kayyem, a former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security.

It’s difficult to say if this larger program picking up a lot of stuff that has been forgiven, around in the skies, because it didn’t pose a threat, or if it’s part of something organized for something else.

There was more confusion on Sunday. Schumer said on ABC that the two objects that were shot down over Alaska and the Whitehorse were smaller than the original Chinese attacker, and that he had been briefed by Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser.

If there is no confirmation so far that the Chinese balloon and the latest objects are connected, there is a chance that Rep. Matt Rosendale made a direct link between the two.

He said that he did not feel safe knowing that the devices are smaller. “I am very concerned with the cumulative data that is being collected. I have some questions and the American people need answers.

The shootdowns came in steady succession over the weekend, after alarms were raised in early February over an object that the U.S. said was a surveillance balloon deployed by China.

Kirby said that the objects shot down in Canada and the US were determined to not pose a threat to the ground. They were uncrewed, and had limited abilities due to a lack of communication signals.

The U.S. has been on the alert to look for spy balloons and unauthorized objects since a Chinese balloon caused a national sensation and political outrage. That incident helped the US learn what to look for in similar objects. That process includes adjusting radar-filtering systems known as “gates,” VanHerck added.

“We have adjusted some of those gates to give us better fidelity on seeing smaller objects,” VanHerck said. You can also use filters by altitude. With some changes, we were able to get a better categorization of radar tracks. And that’s why I think you’re seeing these overall.”

He said that he hadn’t ruled out anything. “At this point, we continue to assess every threat or potential threats unknown that approaches North America with an attempt to identify it.”

A shot down 4shootdown as a safety risk for a jet airliner type of type, and possibly with a regional jet, as identified by VanHerck

“We call them objects for a reason,” VanHerck said. And while the initial incident involved a balloon, he added, “These are objects. I am 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 a propulsion system. Clearly, they’re able to stay aloft.

Location and altitude: The object was around 20,000 feet, soaring near the eastern portion of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It was shot down about fifteen miles east of the Upper Peninsula.

The structure was octagonal and had strings hanging off, but it lacked a discernable payload, a Biden administration official said.

The reason given is that it wasn’t a military threat to anything on the ground but a safety flight hazard.

Size and shape: Early indications showed “this object is potentially similar” to the one shot down off the South Carolina coast, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said, adding that it was “smaller in size and cylindrical.”

Size and shape: The balloon was estimated to be up to 200 feet tall. Of the payload, VanHerck said, “I would categorize that as a jet airliner type of size, maybe a regional jet,” with a weight of more than 2,000 pounds.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/13/1156498101/ufos-unidentified-objects-what-we-know-4-shootdowns

Food for the Crew of a High-Capacity U.S. Naval Landing Craft Air Cushion at the Point-to-Point Interaction

On Thursday morning, a U.S. Navy Landing Craft Air Cushion — basically a high-capacity hovercraft — parked on a beach to retrieve a range of supplies and food for the crew, from fresh produce to Chick-Fil-A and a birthday cake, local paper The news is reported by the Sun News.