Administration officials acknowledge that there was no indication that three low-altitude objects shot down in recent days were being used for surveillance purposes.
The White House on Monday defended the shootdowns of three unidentified objects in as many days, even as it acknowledged that officials had no indication the objects were intended for surveillance in the same manner as the high-altitude Chinese balloon that traversed American airspace earlier this month.
The three objects, including one shot down Sunday over Lake Huron, were traveling at such a low altitude as to pose a risk to civilian air traffic, said White House national security spokesman John Kirby. Though the Biden administration does not yet have evidence that they were equipped for spying purposes — or even belonged to China — officials have not ruled that out, he said.
“These were decisions based purely and simply on what was in the best interests of the American people,” Kirby said.
The weeks-long succession of objects, starting with a giant white orb first detected over U.S. skies in late January, has puzzled American officials and stirred curiosity around the world. Though the three most recent objects differed in size, maneuverability and other characteristics from the surveillance balloon shot down Feb. 4 off the Carolina coast, officials moved to eliminate each one from the sky — actions that Pentagon officials believe have no peacetime precedent.
“Because we have not been able to definitively assess what these most recent objects are, we acted out of an abundance of caution,” Kirby said.
One possibility that the U.
