The United States has shot down four objects that incurred into U.S. airspace in just under two weeks, a feat that officials consider to be unprecedented.
Since the downing of a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, the U.S. military has shot down three additional unidentified flying objects (UFOs) over Alaska, Lake Huron, and Canada’s Yukon.
Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which tracks North American airspace, said that he believes the incidents present the first time NORAD had ever taken action against an airborne object in North American airspace since it was founded in 1958.
“I believe this is the first time within United States or American airspace that NORAD or United States Northern Command has taken kinetic action against an airborne object,” VanHerck said during a Feb. 12 press call.
“With some adjustments, we’ve been able to get a better categorization of radar tracks now, and that’s why I think you’re seeing these.”
U.S. officials said that the three objects shot down since the Chinese spy balloon incident were not believed to pose a kinetic military threat to the United States, but may have threatened civilian air traffic as they lingered at an altitude between 20,000 and 40,000 feet.
In the final incident, one UFO escaped U.S. military verification near sensitive nuclear sites in Montana, only to be rediscovered over Lake Huron between Michigan and Canada.
The abrupt increase in military shootdowns of UFOs and the relatively tight-lipped response from the White House have led some lawmakers to raise concerns about what the Biden administration is not telling Congress or the American people.
“I have real concerns about why the administration is not being more forthcoming with everything that it knows,” said Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) during a Feb. 12 interview with NBC.
“I do hope the administration has a lot more information for all of us on what’s going on.”
However, the White House pushed back on such criticisms during a Feb. 13 press briefing.
“We have been, I think, as transparent as we can be,” said National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby.
“We’re doing what we can in the public sphere.”
The lack of understanding about the nature of the three unknown objects shot down this month has spurred speculation as to the origin and purpose of the objects, with commentators finding explanations in Chinese espionage efforts and extraterrestrial alien invasion.
Retired Lt. Col. Darin Gaub said that the UFOs could be from China but, regardless of their origin, believed the administration would need to respond to such threats with strength.
“China, if this is all them, they’re probing us. They’re testing us,” Gaub said during a Feb. 12 interview with Fox News. “We need to make sure that we respond in strength, and a type of strength that we may not be comfortable with or used to when dealing with China.
“We need to make sure they know we are not going to tolerate these types of incursions. And we need to take all steps necessary to make sure that we defend our homeland and our sovereignty on air, land, and sea.”
Concern over communist China’s vast espionage campaign against the United States has grown since the shootdown of the Chinese spy balloon, which U.S. leadership has admitted it knew nothing about until mere months ago.
“The bottom line is, until a few months ago, we didn’t know of these balloons,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) during a Feb. 12 interview with ABC. “Our intelligence and our military did not know.
“We got enormous intelligence information from surveilling the balloon as it went over the United States watching.”
Schumer said the United States believed the most recent objects were balloons carrying an unidentified payload but could not verify at this time if they were deployed by China. Nevertheless, he said, the discovery of China’s balloon program and the subsequent downing of the airship had likely humiliated the communist regime.
“I think the Chinese were humiliated,” Schumer said. “I think the Chinese were caught lying and it’s a real step back for them.
“They look really bad.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.