President Joe Biden came under major heat as a Chinese spy balloon recently passed over the United States only to be shot down off the coast of South Carolina after it crossed the entire country.
After a number of other objects were shot down off the coast of Alaska, over the Great Lakes and in Western Canada, leaving many Americans alarmed as to what was going on, Joe Biden made a statement about the incidents from the White House.
Read and watch the whole Joe Biden speech on Rev.com
Joe Biden (00:12):
Good afternoon. Last week, in the immediate aftermath of the incursion by China’s high-altitude balloon, our military, through the North American Aerospace Defense Command, so-called NORAD, closely scrutinized our airspace, including enhancing our radar to pick up more slow-moving objects above our country and around the world.
(00:40)
In doing so, they tracked three unidentified objects: one in Alaska, Canada, and over Lake Huron in the Midwest.
(00:49)
They acted in accordance with established parameters for determining how to deal with unidentified aerial objects in US airspace.
(00:57)
At their recommendation, I gave the order to take down these three objects due to hazards to civilian commercial air traffic and because we could not rule out the surveillance risk of sensitive facilities.
(01:11)
We acted in consultation with the Canadian government. I spoke personally with Prime Minister Trudeau from Canada on Saturday.
(01:20)
And just as critically, we acted out of an abundance of caution and at an opportunity that allowed us to take down these objects safely.
(01:29)
Our military and the Canadian military are seeking to recover the debris so we can learn more about these three objects. Our intelligence community is still assessing all three incidences. They’re reporting to me daily and will continue their urgent efforts to do so, and I will communicate that to the Congress.
(01:47)
We don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were. But nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from any other country.
(02:00)
The intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation, or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research.
(02:13)
When I came into office, I instructed our intelligence community to take a broad look at the phenomenon of unidentified aerial objects.
(02:21)
We know that a range of entities, including countries, companies, and research organizations operate objects at altitudes for purposes that are not nefarious, including legitimate scientific research.
(02:34)
I want to be clear: We don’t have any evidence that there has been 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, to narrow our radars. And we have to keep adapting our approach to dealing with these challenges.
To read and watch the entire interview, click here to go to Rev.com
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