WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is coming under mounting pressure from each Democratic and Republicans senators to publicly explain why he ordered three floating objects to be shot down last weekend by American fighter jets.
The orders to shoot down the three “unidentified aerial phenomena” over three days got here only one week after a large Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down Feb. 4, after floating across the USA for eight days.
The primary of the objects shot down this weekend was the scale of a small automobile and floating at 40,000 feet when it was shot down over the Arctic Ocean on Friday. The second was similar in size and altitude, but it surely was shot down over the Canadian Yukon on Saturday. The third floating object was barely smaller and floating at just 20,000 feet when it was taken out over Lake Huron on Sunday.
On Tuesday, the White House said it had recovered key surveillance technology from the Chinese balloon, but that it had yet to get well any of the debris left by the three smaller objects.
With none physical evidence, it was unimaginable to know for certain in the event that they were connected to the spy balloon, John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters Tuesday.
“A spread of entities — including countries, corporations, research and academic organizations — operate objects at these altitudes for purposes that will not be nefarious in any respect, including scientific research,” said Kirby. But no country or university has claimed any of the downed objects as its own.
“We do not see anything that points, without delay, to [the three smaller craft] being a part of [the Chinese government’s] spying program, or, in reality, to intelligence collection against the USA of any kind,” Kirby said on the White House.
Defense Department and intelligence officials gave senators more information Tuesday during a classified briefing on the balloons on Capitol Hill.
Attendees emerged from the briefing reassured, not alarmed, they told reporters after the briefing. Their chief grievance was that the general public has not been given the good thing about the identical information that they had.
“The president of the USA must get in front of the American public tonight and explain to them what we all know,” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said, adding that he was nervous the White House was using the balloons as “fear mongering.”
Senators were limited in what they may say, because their briefing was classified, said Marshall.
“However the president can get in front of America and tell them firsthand that we’re secure that everyone’s going to be okay,” he said.
“There was a number of information presented to us this morning that could possibly be told to the American people with none harm to sources or methods or our national security,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told reporters within the Capitol.
“The American people have to know more,” he said.
Within the meantime, the general public must be reassured by the undeniable fact that these three objects were shot down, said Homeland Security Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich.
“The undeniable fact that these these objects were detected and were acted upon should give people confidence that we’re seeing them and taking what they consider is suitable motion,” he said.
“But we still need to seek out out exactly what they were.”
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, of Arkansas, criticized what he said was a conflicting message coming out of the White House.
“On the one hand, the administration is saying, ‘we do not yet know what these last three objects are, and we don’t desire to characterize them until we get well them,'” said Cotton. “But alternatively, ‘it wasn’t a threat.’ Each of those things cannot be true.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that as more information becomes available, more might be shared with the general public.
“We all know that our defense and intelligence departments are analyzing every bit of this, and so they’re gaining more knowledge on a regular basis,” the Latest York Democrat said following a caucus lunch within the Capitol.
“There’s quite a bit of data on the market and there will be more to come back,” he said.
