February 16, 2023 Biden delivers remarks on downed unidentified aerial objects

By Elise Hammond, Maureen Chowdhury, Tori B. Powell, Aditi Sangal, Adrienne Vogt and Matt Meyer, CNN

Updated 5:00 p.m. ET, February 16, 2023
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4:03 p.m. ET, February 16, 2023

Biden outlines 4 measures in effort to further monitor objects in US airspace

President Joe Biden speaks about a high-altitude Chinese balloon and three other objects that were recently shot down by US fighter jets during brief remarks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building's South Court Auditorium on the White House in Washington, DC, on Thursday.
President Joe Biden speaks about a high-altitude Chinese balloon and three other objects that were recently shot down by US fighter jets during brief remarks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building's South Court Auditorium on the White House in Washington, DC, on Thursday. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

President Joe Biden said he has instructed his national security adviser to lead a government-wide effort to safely address objects in airspace.

Biden outlined four main measures:

  • The US will establish a better inventory of unmanned airborne objects above the country's airspace and make sure it is "accessible and up to date."
  • The US will implement measures to improve its capacity to detect unmanned objects. 
  • Officials will update rules and regulations for launching and maintaining unmanned objects above the US.
  • Secretary of State Antony Blinken will lead an effort to help "establish common global norms in this largely unregulated space." 

"These steps will lead to safer and more secure skies for our air travelers, our military, our scientists and for people on the ground as well," Biden said.

3:24 p.m. ET, February 16, 2023

"I make no apologies": Biden says he is not looking for conflict with China and will meet with Xi

President Joe Biden speaks about the US response to the high-altitude Chinese balloon and three other objects that were recently shot down on Thursday.
President Joe Biden speaks about the US response to the high-altitude Chinese balloon and three other objects that were recently shot down on Thursday. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

President Joe Biden plans to speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping in the future, following the United States' decision to shoot down a surveillance balloon and three other unidentified objects. Biden did not specify when a potential meeting between the two leaders would happen.

The president, speaking at the White House Thursday, said the US will continue to engage with China.

"We seek competition, not conflict with China. We're not looking for a new Cold War," Biden said. "But I make no apologies and we will compete."

Biden said the recent incidents underscore the importance of "maintaining open lines of communication between our diplomats and military professionals."

2:26 p.m. ET, February 16, 2023

Biden says there's no evidence of a "sudden increase in the number of objects in the sky"

President Joe Biden arrives to speak about the Chinese surveillance balloon and other unidentified objects on Thursday.
President Joe Biden arrives to speak about the Chinese surveillance balloon and other unidentified objects on Thursday. (Evan Vucci/AP)

President Joe Biden said there is no evidence of a "sudden increase in the number of objects in the sky."

"We're now just seeing more of them partially because the steps we've taken to increase our radars," he said.

The president said he's directed his administration "to come back to me with sharper rules for how we will deal with these unidentified objects moving forward, distinguishing between those that are likely to pose safety and security risks that necessitate action and those that do not."

3:02 p.m. ET, February 16, 2023

Biden: Nothing suggests last 3 objects were related to China, likely tied to private companies

President Joe Biden arrives to speak about the administration's response to recent aerial objects at the White House House in Washington, DC, on February 16.
President Joe Biden arrives to speak about the administration's response to recent aerial objects at the White House House in Washington, DC, on February 16. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

President Joe Biden said that while it is still unclear what the three unidentified objects were, "nothing right now suggests that they were related to China's spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from other — any other country."

"The intelligence community's current assessment is that these three ones were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research," Biden said during remarks from the White House Thursday.

Here's what else we know about the objects, according to US officials:

  • Over Lake Huron: CNN reported that the most recent object, shot down over Lake Huron on Sunday, was “octagonal” in shape with strings hanging off and no discernible payload, according to a senior administration official. It was traveling at 20,000 feet when it was shot down, the Pentagon said Sunday.
  • Over northern Canada: The object shot down over the Yukon territory in Canada on Saturday appeared to be a balloon with a metal payload hanging underneath, according to the officials. The object was also traveling at 40,000 feet, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand. She went on to describe the object as a “cylindrical object” smaller than the Chinese surveillance balloon that was downed off the coast of South Carolina one week earlier.
  • Off the coast of northern Alaska: The object shot down Friday was metallic, and it broke into several pieces when it hit the sea ice, according to multiple US officials. That suggests it may have had some sort of structure to it, but officials won't know for sure until the object is recovered.

Officials have taken pains to distinguish the three objects shot down over the weekend and the Chinese balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean. The three later objects were all smaller in size and flying at a much lower altitude.

CNN's Oren Liebermann, MJ Lee, Phil Mattingly, Natasha Bertrand and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

2:34 p.m. ET, February 16, 2023

US could not rule out surveillance risk of unidentified objects, Biden says

President Joe Biden arrives to speak about the administration's response to recent aerial objects at the White House House in Washington, DC, on February 16.
President Joe Biden arrives to speak about the administration's response to recent aerial objects at the White House House in Washington, DC, on February 16. (Evan Vucci/AP)

President Joe Biden said he ordered the military to take down three unidentified objects over the weekend because of their danger to commercial air traffic and because they could "not rule out the surveillance risk of sensitive facilities."

"We acted out of an abundance of caution" at an opportunity that allowed the US to take down the objects safely, the president said.

Biden said he spoke personally to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau since one of the objects was shot down over Canada. The US and Canadian militaries are working to recover the objects, the president said.

2:11 p.m. ET, February 16, 2023

NOW: Biden delivers remarks on downed objects

From CNN's Sam Fossum and Maegan Vazquez

President Joe Biden walks to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday.
President Joe Biden walks to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday. (Evan Vucci/AP)

President Joe Biden is speaking now from the White House on the United States’ response to the unidentified high-altitude objects over North American airspace in recent weeks, following the US military’s downing of a Chinese spy balloon.

Federal officials have said the initial Chinese surveillance balloon downed off the coast of South Carolina was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations and had a payload around the size of three buses. By comparison, the subsequent objects, which haven’t been attributed to a specific country or entity, are believed to be much smaller.

The US is now also increasingly confident that the three objects that were downed between Friday and Sunday were “benign” balloons.

It’s anticipated that new protocols on how the US will handle similar unidentified objects going forward will be released this week.

Administration officials from the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence community have briefed lawmakers on Capitol Hill on the initial Chinese spy balloon in recent days.

Republicans on Capitol Hill have criticized Biden for not approving the military to down the first balloon quickly enough, letting it sail eastward for days. They’ve also called on him to speak on the matter.

But administration officials argued that the US didn’t move earlier to shoot down the balloon in part over fears it could provoke an escalation of military tensions with China. They also told lawmakers the balloon was not first shot down when it entered Alaskan airspace because the waters there are cold and deep, making it less likely they could have recovered the balloon.

And officials had been wary of having the president speak publicly about the objects until more information was gathered about the three unidentified objects that were downed last weekend.

1:41 p.m. ET, February 16, 2023

No more unidentified objects have been detected in US airspace since Sunday, defense secretary says

From CNN's Natasha Bertrand

The Pentagon is not aware of any additional unidentified objects appearing in United States airspace since the last one was shot down on Sunday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. 

“I am not aware of any that have been reported operating in this space in the last 48 hours,” he said. “But in terms of whether or not the debris is important, it's absolutely important and we're going to do everything we can to recover debris if it's possible. That will help us learn a lot more about you know what these objects are.”

A sharper lens: One reason why additional “objects” have been detected by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in recent days could be because the command recently readjusted its filters to better spot slow-moving targets operating above a certain altitude, a source briefed on the matter told CNN.  

In general, NORAD has tended to prioritize the detection of fast-moving targets below a certain altitude — at which threatening planes or certain missiles, for example, might fly.

The more narrow filters were meant to allow NORAD and defense officials to better make sense of the mass of data that was being collected on any particular day, the source said. If they didn’t filter out slow-moving objects, early warning air defense systems would pick up lots of noise, such as weather balloons and birds. 

1:42 p.m. ET, February 16, 2023

Biden administration under pressure from lawmakers to publicly address unidentified objects

From CNN's Jeremy Diamond, Phil Mattingly and Maegan Vazquez

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks about the country's debt ceiling outside his office at the Capitol on February 6 in Washington, DC.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks about the country's debt ceiling outside his office at the Capitol on February 6 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Calls on Capitol Hill for President Joe Biden to publicly address the downing of a series of unidentified objects, as well as the Chinese spy balloon, have been mounting.

Officials from the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence community have briefed lawmakers on Capitol Hill on the initial Chinese spy balloon. Republicans on Capitol Hill have criticized Biden for not approving the military to down the first balloon quickly enough, letting it sail eastward for days.

But in the classified congressional briefings, administration officials argued that the US didn’t move earlier to shoot down the balloon in part over fears it could provoke an escalation of military tensions with China. The officials also told lawmakers the balloon was not first shot down when it entered Alaskan airspace because the waters there are cold and deep, making it less likely they could have recovered the balloon.

After being briefed last week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said it was wrong for the Biden administration to wait to shoot down the initial balloon

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn similarly told reporters on Wednesday that he believes the administration needs to be more transparent about the objects shot down in order to stop rampant speculation.

“It’s amazing what the human mind can imagine when confronted with the unknown, and I think people are conjuring up all sorts of imaginary and horrifying scenarios that a little transparency would dispel," he said.

Administration response: The White House has attempted to dispel the suggestion that Biden’s decisions to quickly take down three high-altitude objects between Friday and Sunday were the result of political pressure.

Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that the Pentagon is not aware of any additional unidentified objects appearing in US airspace since the last one was shot down on Sunday.

1:50 p.m. ET, February 16, 2023

Officials say two of the unidentified objects were carrying a payload

From CNN's Oren Liebermann, MJ Lee, Phil Mattingly, Natasha Bertrand and Kevin Liptak

United States officials are working to learn more about the three unidentified objects shot down over the weekend, giving new details in the last few days.

All three objects looked different, according to two US officials earlier this week. One official said they were approximately the same size. 

Multiple officials said the objects shot down in Alaska and over Canada were believed to have payloads, meaning that something was being carried by the object. Two officials said none of the three objects were believed to have propulsion, though the wreckage still needs to be examined to be sure. 

Here's what else we know about the objects:

  • Over Lake Huron: CNN reported that the most recent object, shot down over Lake Huron on Sunday, was “octagonal” in shape with strings hanging off and no discernible payload, according to a senior administration official. It was traveling at 20,000 feet when it was shot down, the Pentagon said Sunday.
  • Over northern Canada: The object shot down over the Yukon territory in Canada on Saturday appeared to be a balloon with a metal payload hanging underneath, according to the officials. The object was also traveling at 40,000 feet, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand. She went on to describe the object as a “cylindrical object” smaller than the Chinese surveillance balloon that was downed off the coast of South Carolina one week earlier.
  • Off the coast of northern Alaska: The object shot down Friday was metallic, and it broke into several pieces when it hit the sea ice, according to multiple US officials. That suggests it may have had some sort of structure to it, but officials won't know for sure until the object is recovered.

Officials have taken pains to distinguish the three objects shot down over the weekend and the Chinese balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean. The three later objects were all smaller in size and flying at a much lower altitude.