“Can’t deny it”: US not sure it downed flying objects were spying

Washington:

The White House said Monday that the United States does not know whether the unidentified objects shot down by US warplanes in recent days are spies.
“We don’t know for sure whether they had a surveillance aspect, but we can’t rule it out,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told a press conference.

The White House also said there was no sign of foreign activity related to the unidentified objects, after a top US official refused to dismiss it.

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, “There is no sign of aliens … With these recent takedowns, (I) wanted to make sure the American people knew that.”

The day before, General Glenn VanHerk – head of the US Northern Command – was asked during a briefing whether aliens or extraterrestrials had been ruled out.

VanHerk said, “I haven’t ruled out anything. At this point, we continue to assess every unknown threat or potential threat that comes along with attempting to identify North America.”

A US warplane shot down an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon on 4 February and shot down three unidentified objects in the following days.

It is not clear whether three unidentified objects shot down over Alaska on Friday, over Canada on Saturday and over Lake Huron on Sunday have any connection to a large white balloon shot down over the Atlantic.

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