Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
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Sunday, for the third consecutive day and fourth time in about a week, the U.S. military shot an object of unknown or foreign origin out of the sky.
This time, according to the Pentagon, the object was located over the Great Lakes region and floated over Lake Michigan before being downed into Lake Huron.
“Today … at the direction of President [Joe] Biden, and based on the recommendations of Secretary [of Defense Lloyd] Austin and military leadership, an F-16 fired an AIM9x [shot down] an airborne object flying at approximately 20,000 feet altitude in U.S. airspace over Lake Huron in the State of Michigan,” a statement from the Pentagon read. “Its path and altitude raised concerns, including that it could be a hazard to civil aviation.”
The height at which this object flew was, to date, the lowest of the various floating or flying items the military has taken down.
However, in most other ways, this object was like its predecessors. At present, United States officials have publicly stated that they have been unable to ascertain what the object was, why it was flying in sovereign airspace, or who owns the object.
“We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities,” the Pentagon statement reads. “Our team will now work to recover the object in an effort to learn more.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), appearing on ABC’s “This Week” program, said he believed all three objects that have been shot down this weekend – one over Alaska on Friday, a second in Canadian airspace on Saturday, and the Sunday object – were all balloons.
However, Reuters reports that U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck, head of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Northern Command, says the military has not yet determined the nature of the three downed objects. Thus far, only the Chinese spy balloon – a massive object that floated coast-to-coast before being shot down over the Atlantic – has been identified and connected to an owner.
“We’re calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason,” VanHerck said.
But, Reuters also cited an official who, under the condition of anonymity, said the object on Sunday appeared roughly octagonal and had wires hanging from it.
The most recently downed object fell into Canadian waters, where military personnel from that nation are expected to undertake the recovery.
At the Congressional level, Democrats and Republicans are beginning to draw closer together in terms of messaging.
Specifically, people from both political parties are wondering how long unidentified objects have been entering U.S. airspace and why, if the Biden administration claims that the practice dates to the Trump administration, have the American people only now become aware?
“The last 72 hours revealed to the public what has happening for years, unidentified aircraft routinely operating over restricted U.S. airspace,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) tweeted. “This is why I pushed to take this seriously & created a permanent [Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon] task force two years ago.”
The last 72 hours revealed to the public what has happening for years,unidentified aircraft routinely operating over restricted U.S. airspace
This is why I pushed to take this seriously & created a permanent UAP task force two years agohttps://t.co/qYm8Cvpdo9
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 12, 2023
Schumer told “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos he was joining the growing push from legislators in both chambers and parties for more information.
“I think our military, our intelligence is doing a great job, present and future,” Schumer said. I feel a lot of confidence in what they are doing. But why as far back as the Trump administration did no one know about this?”
On Sunday’s Meet the Press, Rep. Jim Himes, a Democratic ranking member of the House Intel Committee, said that he has “real concerns” about the lack of information coming out of the White House as the “absence of information” is leading to massive speculation and increased anxiety for the American people.
Even Democrat Rep. Jim Himes — ranking member of the House Intel Committee — says he has "real concerns about why the administration is not being more forthcoming with everything that it knows" about the spy balloons and other objects traversing the country. pic.twitter.com/m6CZGU27o3
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 12, 2023
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), like Schumer and Himes, indicated that congressional leaders have received no special information.
“We have not been briefed on any of the air defense actions being taken in response to unidentified flying objects,” Greene tweeted Sunday. “Congress should be informed and so should the American people.”
She later posted, “There’s been space junk, weather balloons, spy balloons, and military advancements for years. All of sudden world super powers are shooting unidentified objects down. This looks like a testing of military prowess. Lack of evidence and briefings are extremely noticeable”
Some reporters have also begun to question of if these objects are the work of aliens.
VanHerck sprayed lighter fluid onto that flame when he stated that the military was not ruling out any possibilities.
REPORTER: "Have you ruled out aliens or extraterrestrials?"
GENERAL GLEN D. VANHERCK: "I haven't ruled out anything at this point." pic.twitter.com/VNwvfjGsb3
— Nicholas Veniamin (@nickveniamin) February 13, 2023
But, back in the realm of reality, the truth is that almost certainly some human or nation is behind the influx of slow- and low-flying objects in American and Canadian airspace.
The next step will be ascertaining who and why. Secondarily, and this will be the focus of Republicans in the coming week, the response of the Biden administration will no doubt come under close scrutiny.
Biden has and will continue to face questions about why he’s been so swift about downing objects this weekend after being so deliberate about the process when the Chinese spy balloon was tracing its way past high-value military targets.
To date, the standard response to such criticism from the White House has been to rely on the height at which the three as-yet-unidentified objects flew. In all three cases, officials have said, the lower-flying objects posed a threat to civilian air travel while the much larger and higher-flying spy balloon was above such paths of travel.