The extent of foreign involvement in the search to retrieve the unidentified object shot down over the Yukon on Feb. 11 appears to be greater than let on, according to information provided by the RCMP on Feb. 14.
“The RCMP has deployed resources alongside CAF to retrieve the debris and will be investigating the incident with domestic and international partners, including the FBI,” spokesperson Cpl. Kim Chamberland told The Epoch Times.
The involvement of the RCMP, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), and the FBI was already known, but the mention of “international partners” suggests other organizations are involved.
The RCMP says it’s not aware of any specific threat to the public, but as a matter of precaution, the resources deployed include personnel with experience in dealing with explosives and biological and radiological hazards.
Canada has its own special operations force to deal with such threats, the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit (CJIRU), based in Trenton, Ontario.
The Epoch Times has contacted the Department of National Defence (DND) to find out if CJIRU has been deployed, but didn’t hear back immediately and likely won’t get an answer due to the classified nature of the unit’s work.
The involvement of specialized units from the U.S. military is possible as well, but respective media departments have not commented on this.
The U.S. Department of Defense has not answered whether it’s involved, and DND said to contact Public Safety Canada on the issue. Public Safety Canada said to contact the RCMP.
The RCMP has not commented on U.S. military involvement and its latest statement says it will not be providing further information on the search efforts at this time due to the investigation being in its early stages, “coupled with the sensitive nature of the operation and for security reasons.”
Chamberland said the search area spans 3,000 square kilometres, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Feb. 13 it’s roughly from the towns of Dawson City to Mayo, which are 230 kilometres apart by way of Highway 2.
She added that due to the rugged terrain and snowpack, there’s a chance the wreckage won’t be successfully recovered.
Authorities are attempting to retrieve the debris of the unidentified flying or floating object downed by a U.S. fighter jet on Feb. 11.
Other shootdowns of unidentified objects include one in Alaska on Feb. 10 and one over Lake Huron on Feb. 12.
Those three events came after the United States took down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4 after it crossed the continent.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command has not qualified the three unidentified objects as balloons, but said it’s unable to define how they stay aloft.
The Biden administration in the United States said on Feb. 14 that the objects are possibly commercial in nature and not tied to spying efforts.
“The intelligence community’s considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose,” said John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council.