White House rebuffs calls for Biden to speak publicly about downed flying objects
Katherine Doyle
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The White House rebuffed calls for President Joe Biden to speak publicly about the mysterious flying “objects” downed in U.S. and Canadian airspace.
Three unknown objects were shot down in the days after a Chinese balloon traversed the United States, events that have stirred questions about foreign surveillance programs and Biden’s handling of the incursions.
WHITE HOUSE SAYS NO INDICATION THREE OBJECTS SHOT DOWN WERE CHINESE SURVEILLANCE
Asked whether Biden would address the country over the issue, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre demurred.
“What we’re trying to do here is provide as much information as we can,” Jean-Pierre said. “I just don’t have anything to preview as to if the president’s going to be speaking on this in the upcoming days.”
The intelligence community has deemed the objects benign and speculated that they belong to either commercial or research entities. The White House said there is no indication that the three objects shot down in recent weeks are part of a Chinese balloon surveillance program.
The Biden administration confirmed in late January that a Chinese spy balloon was traversing the U.S. before it was shot down on Feb. 4. The military has since shot down three additional objects, incidents that officials have said are not tied to the balloon.
The decision to send fighter jets to shoot down the objects has come under scrutiny after Biden faced criticism for his handling of the Chinese spy balloon.
Jean-Pierre pushed back against the suggestion that Biden’s response was an overreaction and said the Pentagon advised the action.
“I don’t think the president should be embarrassed by the fact that he took action to make sure that our civilian airspace was safe,” Jean-Pierre said.
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She stressed, “The president takes this very seriously.”
Biden has asked his national security adviser to lead an interagency task force to address “unidentified aerial objects,” the White House said this week.
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