February 13, 2023 Latest on the unidentified objects shot down over North America

President Joe Biden has tapped National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to lead “an interagency team to study the broader policy implications for detection, analysis, and disposition of unidentified aerial objects that pose either safety or security risks,” national security spokesperson John Kirby said Monday.

The group — which includes Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines — is tasked with engaging “their relevant counterparts to share information and to try to gain their perspectives as well,” while the administration will brief members of Congress and local officials in the meantime, Kirby said.

Kirby, who is the White House national security coordinator for strategic communications, also said none of the three most recent objects shot down posed a threat to people on the ground, were not sending communications signals, showed no signs of “maneuvering or had any propulsion capabilities,” and were not manned.

All three missions to shoot them down were completed “successfully and safely” and recovery efforts are underway, though the administration acknowledged all three objects were shot down “in pretty remote terrain — ice and wilderness,” which have complicated reconnaissance efforts.

United States officials are revealing new details about the objects that were shot down in the last few days.

The US military shot down a high-altitude object over Lake Huron on Sunday afternoon, the Pentagon said. Another unidentified object was shot down over northern Canada on Saturday, and on Friday, an unidentified object was shot down in Alaska airspace.

All three objects looked different, according to two US officials. 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 had payloads, meaning that something is being carried by the object. Two officials said none of the three objects were believed to have had propulsion, though the wreckage still needs to be examined to be sure. 

Here's what we now know about the objects:

The preliminary descriptions of the objects' appearances underscore the difficulty for administration officials in identifying their purpose or origin. Officials have been at a loss to say what the objects could be, and the preliminary descriptions have not lent any more clarity.

Officials have taken pains to distinguish the three objects shot down over the last three days 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.

The White House said Monday that recent "enhanced radar capabilities" may partially explain why more objects have been detected in the US airspace.

John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, explained during a White House press briefing that since the Chinese balloon program's "recent incursion into our airspace the United States and Canada — through (North American Aerospace Command) NORAD — have been more closely scrutinizing that airspace, including enhancing our radar capabilities."

The White House official said that it's difficult for radar to pick up small objects, including one the size of the Chinese balloon on radar and that there are also non-military objects that are used in US airspace for scientific purposes.

On the objects that were shot down over the weekend Kirby added, "Because we have not been able to definitively assess what these most recent objects are, we acted out of an abundance of caution to protect the security, our security, our interests, and flight safety."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre kicked off Monday’s press briefing by clarifying that the US is not concerned about alien or extraterrestrial life as it pertains to the takedown of multiple airborne objects in recent days.  

She added, “I wanted to make sure that the American people knew that all of you knew that. And it was important for us to say that from here because we've been hearing a lot about it,” prompting laughter from reporters in the briefing room. 

She joked that she “loved ET, the movie,” before handing the podium to National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby. 

The US is still working to determine the nature and purpose of flying objects that have recently been downed.

National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over United States airspace last week provided "limited" intelligence to China.

He said the craft was part of the People's Republic of China high-altitude balloon program for intelligence gathering.

"But in the future, if the PRC continues to advance this technology, it certainly could become more valuable to them," he added.

Kirby said the Chinese balloon program was operating during the Trump administration, but the objects were not detected then. Moving forward, the US is working to better understand and track these intelligence assets.

Kirby said efforts are underway to recover debris from the trio of smaller, lower high-altitude objects shot down off the coast of Alaska, over Canada, and over Lake Huron over the weekend, which, in contrast with last weekend’s Chinese surveillance balloon, were flying low enough to pose a threat to civilian air traffic.

“We are laser focused on confirming their nature and purpose, including through intensive efforts to collect debris in the remote locations where they have fallen,” Kirby said.

“In each instance, we have followed the same basic course — we assessed whether they posed any kinetic threat to people on the ground-- they did not. We assessed whether they were sending any communication signals — we detected none. We looked to see whether they were maneuvering or had any propulsion capabilities —we saw no signs of that. And we made sure to determine whether or not they were manned or not.”

All three missions were completed “successfully and safely,” and recovery efforts are underway, though the administration acknowledged all three objects were shot down “in pretty remote terrain—ice and wilderness,” which have complicated reconnaissance efforts.

CNN's DJ Judd contributed reporting to this post.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is holding a press briefing alongside John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications.

Kirby's appearance during the briefing comes a day after the Pentagon said a US F-16 fighter jet shot down another airborne object over Lake Huron at the direction of President Joe Biden, marking the third time in a week that US fighter jets have taken down objects in North American airspace.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have urged the Biden administration to provide more details about the objects. All senators will get a classified briefing Wednesday on China, according to a Senate aide.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday that intelligence agencies are “getting new evidence every hour” on the suspected Chinese spy balloon as they examine pieces of it that were collected.

In an interview on "The View" on Monday morning, he added that senators will learn a lot more information at their all-Senate briefing on Wednesday.

Schumer said the US military and intelligence agencies are “focused like a laser" on figuring out what happened and coming up with a plan to deal with this particular balloon and any other assets in the future.

Schumer reiterated he’s supportive of a bipartisan Senate investigation into “why we didn’t know” about the balloons sooner. 

A high-altitude object was shot down near Lake Huron on Sunday afternoon, marking the fourth time in just over a week that the US military has taken down objects in North American airspace. Here's a timeline of all the objects that we know about:

Last weekend: A suspected Chinese surveillance balloon was taken down by F-22s off the coast of South Carolina.

Friday: An unidentified object was shot down in Alaska airspace by a US F-22.

Saturday: Another unidentified object was shot down by US fighter jets over northern Canada on Saturday.

Sunday: The US military shot down another high altitude object over Lake Huron on Sunday afternoon, the Pentagon said.

Here's a look at where the objects were shot down:

The US intelligence community’s method to track China’s fleet of surveillance balloons was only discovered within the last year, six people familiar with the matter told CNN.

The findings have allowed the US to develop a consistent technical method for the first time, which they have used to track the balloons in near-real time across the globe, the sources said.

The revelation that the intelligence community only within the last year developed a reliable way to track China’s balloon fleet – which officials now say has flown dozens of missions worldwide – helps explain why Trump administration officials have stridently claimed to have had no knowledge of the three alleged flights over US territory during the former president’s time in office.

In other words, it’s possible that it’s not so much the objects that are new, but our ability to track them.

And, as CNN’s Natasha Bertrand reported Sunday, NORAD command recently readjusted its filters to better spot slow-moving targets operating above a certain altitude.

China has accused the US of “illegally” flying high-altitude balloons into its airspace more than 10 times since January 2022. The White House responded to those claims by saying the allegation is false.

“Any claim that the US government operates surveillance balloons over the PRC is false. It is China that has a high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection, that it has used to violate the sovereignty of the US and over 40 countries across 5 continents,” a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, Adrienne Watson, wrote on Twitter.