US shootdowns shrouded in mystery, fueling speculation about aliens

The recent downing of three unidentified aerial objects in three days by US fighter jets has led to speculation about their origin and nature, as there are few confirmed details from the White House.

On Monday, the press secretary had to announce seriously that there was no evidence of extraterrestrial activity or aliens.

US President Joe Biden held no public events on Monday and has offered little reassurance or explanation of what to make of it all, following the discovery of a Chinese spy balloon crossing the country and the unprecedented peacetime shootdowns that have followed.

US officials said they still know little about the three objects downed Friday off the coast of Alaska, Saturday over Canada and Sunday over Lake Huron. But those shootdowns have been part of a more assertive response to aerial phenomena following the balloon episode blamed on an ongoing Beijing espionage program.

Also Read: China says over 10 US balloons flew in its airspace without approval

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did have at least one definitive statement to try to tamp down unrestrained theories: “I know there’s been questions and concerns about this, but there is no again, no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity.”

The US government insists the three objects did not pose a threat to American security and that even the massive spy balloon provided “limited additive capabilities” to Chinas other surveillance programs. Still, they were shot out of the sky “out of an abundance of caution,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

Biden’s unparalleled decision to shoot down four objects over North America in eight days when combined with US officials’ efforts to publicly downplay the foreign threat has furthered the dissonant messages being sent about sensitive efforts to protect the homeland.

US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, acknowledge the confusion, saying the administration wants to keep the American public from becoming unnecessarily worried while also trying to maintain a tough posture toward China.

Also Read: US shoots down fourth airborne object

Kirby said that while the US has no specific reasons to suspect the aerial objects were spying, “we couldn’t rule that out.” He added that the most recent objects, flying between 20,000 and 40,000 feet, could have posed a remote risk to civilian planes.

That legal justification for the downings that the objects might imperil civilian flight is viewed by some officials as such a remote possibility that it raises questions about whether it was a mere pretext for acting tough.

Biden “wants to appear tough on China, and this is a good example of where actions speak louder than words,” said Brian Ott, co-author of “The Twitter Presidency: Donald J Trump and the Politics of White Rage.”

“If we find ourselves next year in a presidential debate between the two of them, Trump will try to cast Biden as weak on national security, and Biden will be able turn to Trump and say, how many of these Chinese balloons and unidentified objects did you shoot out of the sky?”

Also Read: Chinese spy balloons targeted several countries, including India: Report

Ott, a professor of communications at Missouri State University, said Biden’s relative silence on the takedown of the Chinese balloon and other objects could be guided, at least in part, by his 2024 re-election considerations. Republicans, from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to right-wing firebrand Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, criticised Biden in the days after the Chinese balloon was spotted in US airspace for being slow to act.

When pressed on whether the decision to shoot the objects down came in response to such criticism, Kirby insisted: “These were decisions based purely and simply on what was in the best interests of the American people.”

With little information to go on, senators in both parties demanded answers as they returned to Washington on Monday.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that senators would receive a classified briefing Tuesday morning and that Congress would work in coming weeks to get the “full story of what happened.” Illinois Sen Dick Durbin, the No 2 Democrat behind Schumer, said Biden “owes the country some answers.”

Also Read: Explained: What is a ‘spy balloon’ and how it is used?

Republican Mitch McConnell said Biden “needs to communicate and level with the American people.” He questioned what the administration knew about China’s surveillance efforts before the first balloon crossed the country.

After the balloon was shot down, the White House revealed that such balloons had traversed US territory at least three times during Trump’s administration unbeknownst to the former president or his aides and that others have flown over dozens of nations across five continents. Kirby emphasised Monday that they were only detected by the Biden administration.

Jim Ludes, a former national defence analyst who now leads the Pell Center for International Affairs and Public Policy at Salve Regina University, said political parrying is inevitable.

“It will be politicised”

“It doesn’t matter what the administration says. People are going to play politics with it and try to score points,” he said. “Either they acted too slowly, or too hastily.”

There’s good reason for the Biden administration to be cautious, Ludes added, noting that the blow-up over the aerial devices comes amid heightened tensions between China and Taiwan. Any wrong statement from Biden could destabilize an already fraught situation.

(With agency inputs)