President Biden on Thursday broke his silence on the three unidentified aerial objects shot down by the U.S. military last week, saying he gave the order to take them out because they posed a risk to air traffic and sensitive government locations.

“I gave the order to take down these three objects due to hazards to civilian commercial air traffic and because we could not rule out the surveillance risk of sensitive facilities,” Mr. Biden said at the White House.

The president said the three objects don’t appear to have any connection to the alleged Chinese spy balloon that traversed the country earlier this month. He said investigators have yet to confirm what the objects were or where they came from.

He said the most likely explanation is that the objects were benign and may have been used for commercial or research use.

Fighter jets shot down three slow-moving objects flying above North America last weekend — one over Alaska’s coast, one over Canada’s Yukon territory, and one over Lake Huron. The bizarre incidents came roughly a week after the military shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina.

The president’s remarks on Thursday are the first time that he’s extensively commented on the incidents. He last publicly spoke about the situation last Friday, when he simply called the military’s takedown of an object over Alaska “a success.”

Mr. Biden has faced increasing pressure from Republicans and Democrats to address the nation on the suspected spy balloon and the three other unidentified objects.

Sen. Dick Durbin, Illinois Democrat, on Thursday morning urged the president to address the American people.

“I think he should. I think the American people need to hear more about the nature of these objects or whatever they were,” he told reporters.
 
Sen. Josh Hawley,  Missouri Republican, concurred.
 
 “We need to get the truth and we haven’t gotten it yet,” he said.

No entity has come forward to claim ownership of any of the objects.

An interagency investigation is underway to study the broader policy implications for detecting, analyzing and disposing of unidentified aerial objects, Mr. Biden said. 

• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.