Biden Makes ‘No Apologies’ For Shooting Down Chinese Spy Balloon—And Says There Is No Evidence Of Increased UFO Activity

Topline

President Joe Biden defended his decision to shoot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that spent nearly a week flying over U.S. territory in his first public speech on the incident Thursday, and said the three other objects shot down over North America in recent weeks likely weren’t spy balloons, amid escalating tensions with the Chinese government and criticism from some lawmakers.

President Joe Biden speaks about the Chinese surveillance balloon and other unidentified objects … [+] shot down by the U.S. military, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Key Facts

Biden, without offering a timeline, expects to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping “to get to the bottom of this,” he said, before ending his approximately nine-minute speech saying “I make no apologies for taking down that balloon.”

Biden said his administration will “continue to engage with China as we have throughout the past two weeks” and reiterated the White House’s stance that “we seek competition, not conflict with China,” but stopped short of delivering a firm rebuke of the balloon’s deployment.

The president said there is no evidence to suggest the three other aerial objects shot down by the U.S. military above Canada on Friday, Alaska on Saturday and Lake Huron on Sunday were foreign surveillance devices, repeating intelligence officials’ belief that they were connected to private companies or recreational or research institutions.

There is no evidence of an increase in unidentified aerial activity, Biden said, attributing the three recent detections to the U.S. government’s decision to enhanced radar surveillance following the discovery of the Chinese spy balloon.

Prior to Thursday, Biden has made few comments about the balloon outside of brief mentions of U.S.-China relations during his State of the Union address last week, when he warned “if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country. And we did.”

Crucial Quote

“Make no mistake: If any object presents a threat to the safety and security of the American people, I will take it down,” Biden said.

Key Background

The administration first announced the suspected Chinese spy balloon had been spotted over Billings, Mont., not far from one of the U.S.’s three nuclear silo fields, on February 2, nearly a week after the U.S. government began tracking it. U.S. military forces shot down the balloon as it was suspended over the Atlantic Ocean on February 4. The Biden Administration faced criticism from lawmakers who said the White House did not act soon enough, but Biden and officials said they waited until the balloon was over open water to prevent possible commercial damage and hazards to civilians on the ground. Less than a week later, U.S. fighter jets downed three other aerial vessels over North America, but didn’t suggest the incidents were linked. The U.S. Navy has completed the bulk of its recovery work on the initial Chinese surveillance balloon, which was carrying electronics, sensors and photography equipment, officials have said.

What To Watch For

Biden said he has directed his national security team to develop stricter protocols on how to deal with unidentified aerial objects and will share the information with Congress once they are complete, however “they will remain classified” and unavailable to the public. The president also said the government will develop a new inventory of objects flying above civilian airspace and work with its international partners to “establish common global norms in this largely unregulated space.”

Chief Critic

A growing bipartisan coalition of lawmakers has called for more transparency from the Biden Administration about the unidentified aerial objects. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) requested a second Congressional briefing on the flying objects in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent Monday, warning “the lack of available information about the origins and purpose of the objects leaves room for conspiracy theories to grow.” Biden spoke on Thursday after The Washington Post reported this week that the U.S. government began tracking the Chinese spy balloon from the time it left Hainan Island late last month, as it flew north to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska before making its way from Canada to the continental U.S. A report by The New York Times on Wednesday also revealed that officials believe the device was initially supposed to travel over U.S. military bases in Guam and Hawaii.

Contra

White House National Security Adviser John Kirby defended the administration’s information-sharing strategy about the balloon on Monday, telling reporters “we have been, I think, as transparent as we can be.”

Surprising Fact

In an apparent miscommunication between Chinese and U.S. officials, the Chinese government took no action on the first balloon for days after the U.S. government confronted Beijing, until public backlash began to swell, The Times reported, citing unnamed senior U.S. officials. The Chinese government, which has maintained its narrative that the balloon was a civilian-operated device used for weather research purposes, then told the U.S. government that the balloon operators were attempting to speed up its trajectory to get it out of U.S. airspace.