WASHINGTON: The White House says leading explanation among US intelligence officials is that three objects shot down over North America last weekend were balloons being flown for benign purposes.
While the White House administration hasn’t been able to say with certainty what they were doing or where they were from or even what type of craft they were, the furthest it has gone in describing the as-yet-unidentified crafts is that they were likely harmless.
John Kirby, the strategic communication coordinator at the NSC noting that the conditions ripe for conspiracies, sought to tamp down outlandish theories.
He said, ‘the intelligence community’s considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons with some benign purpose”.
Kirby said he was comfortable ruling out the possibility the objects belonged to the US government, and said there was currently no indication they were connected to China’s spy balloon program, which has commanded attention after the US shot down a Chinese spy Balloon earlier this month.
A possibility Definitively Ruled Out
One statement from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was as definitive as anything else. She said, the US military had not shot down any UFOs from outer space.
“There is no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent take-downs. 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.”
Another official said, “Everyone wants answers that no one has at the moment.”
While consideration of comprehensive analysis of recovery of the fallen debris and what those objects might be remain high. The officials acknowledged, it is a process that could take some time.
Administration officials continue to say their goal is to provide as much information as they can about the objects. But they have noted the circumstances are less than ideal for effective communication.
Biden himself has expressed a desire to be as transparent as possible with both Congress and the American public. But acknowledged that without a full picture of what the objects were, his ability to communicate on them is limited.
