We’re all familiar now with the Chinese spy balloon that was allowed to linger over Montana and cross the U.S. out to the Atlantic Ocean before the Biden administration finally shot it down, though what exactly the balloon was doing remains unspecified. But at least three more objects (two reported to be balloons also) have been shot down since, and the question remains: What are these objects? And why does America suddenly need to shoot down so many aerial objects?
Fox News reported on Feb. 12 that both the object shot down over Alaska and the object shot down by NORAD over Canada were balloons. The balloons “were carrying a payload, a senior U.S. official confirmed to Fox.” The U.S. and Canada said the origins of the balloon over Canada are unknown. Fox News added, “The object over Canada was the third aircraft that U.S. forces have shot down over North America in the past week. Biden first ordered a F-22 fighter to shoot down a Chinese spy craft [the infamous balloon] off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4. The other craft of unknown origin was shot down over frozen water between Alaska and Canada on Friday.”
That doesn’t sound encouraging, considering how openly hostile the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is to the U.S. Were the other balloons Chinese too? Or is there another nation sending spy balloons? Fox News reported only the first balloon was confirmed of Chinese origin.
Also on Sunday, “Another high-altitude object was shot down…this one over Lake Huron in Michigan, three U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News.” A U.S. military aircraft shot the object down at Biden’s order. An official said the object was shot down “out of an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of military leaders.”
”This [Biden administration] official said the object shot down was detected on radar over Montana on Saturday and was seen again on radar over Wisconsin and Michigan on Sunday.
The object was octagonal in structure, unmanned and traveling at about 20,000 feet, the official said. There is no indication of surveillance capabilities, but the administration cannot rule that out.”
A U.S. official said the Lake Huron object and the two other balloons were not comparable to the Chinese spy balloon, and rambled, “There is no sense they are anything but meteorological balloons or some sort of weather balloon, not spy balloons.”
There are, of course, many different possible reasons for what’s going on, and we may never know all the true details. Perhaps there were many Chinese (or non-Chinese but foreign) spy machines in the sky, and the Biden administration is just now shooting them down. Or perhaps China is now suddenly sending many more spy balloons etc. than usual after Biden‘s display of weakness. Or maybe there were always objects being shot down and they are simply making more news after the Chinese balloon debacle. ABC News reported that the Biden administration is claiming more caution and attention to airspace, “‘which may at least partly explain the increase in objects that we’ve detected over the past week,’” but what does that say about what happened before they paid so much attention?
I don’t know enough about military matters to speculate with great accuracy. Regardless of what the reasons are, though, I think the American people deserve some answers. After all, we are just as much in danger as politicians—probably more so—if China tries anything more military than a spy balloon. It would be helpful to have some clarifying reassurances, if the Biden administration has any—which, with their level of incompetence, is not likely.