Biden said Thursday that the U.S. is developing “sharper rules” to track, monitor and potentially shoot down unknown aerial objects.
President Joe Biden sought to calm Americans’ nerves but offered few answers when speaking Thursday about the three most recent unidentified objects blasted out of the sky by U.S. fighter jets, including a “four-wheeler” sized object taken down over Lake Huron on Sunday.
“We don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were, but nothing right now suggests they’re related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from any other country,” Biden said in remarks Thursday at the White House.
“The Intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions, studying weather or conducting other scientific research.”
Biden said he acted “out of an abundance of caution” when he gave the order to shoot down the three objects due to their potential “hazards” to civilian air traffic and because officials could not rule out the surveillance risk to “sensitive” facilities.
Biden said he’s asked his staff, led by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, to review and develop “sharper” rules for dealing with high-altitude unidentified objects in the fugure, distinguishing between those posing a safety or security risk and those that do not. Those guidelines would be shared with Congress but remain classified, he said.
“But make no mistake: If any object presents a threat to the safety, security of the American people, I will take it down,” Biden said.
More:Bewildered F-16 pilot describes object shot down over Lake Huron in leaked audio
The Lake Huron shootdown on Sunday afternoon marked the third incident over North American airspace over three days, with officials saying they haven’t been able to definitively assess what the three most recent objects are or even what propels them to remain airborne.
