White House press secretary: “No indication of alien or extraterrestrial activity” behind aircraft objects shot down by military

All three major news networks carried Monday’s daily White House press briefing live, and for good reason: Administration officials were giving an update on three aerial objects shot down by the U.S. military in recent days.

At the outset, press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre, aware of intense speculation about what the objects were, told reporters, “There is no indication of extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns.”

A few journalists laughed. “I love ET movies, but I’m just leaving it there,” Jean-Pierre said.

John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, did not identify what the objects were, saying the wreckage had not yet been recovered because it was in an inaccessible area.

“We don’t know who owns them,” he said.

But he told reporters that President Joe Biden had ordered the objects to be shot down when it was determined that, flying between 20,000 and 40,000 feet, they posed a potential threat to civilian aircraft. Kirby also said that even if the objects don’t appear to be moving or sending communication signals, “surveillance can’t be ruled out.”

He also said the objects were different from the Chinese spy balloon, which was shot down after floating over the continental United States on February 4, because they were at a lower altitude.

Kirby said the Chinese have a “high-altitude balloon program” with “limited incremental capability” that could become more valuable to them in the future.

The other three objects “were basically driven by wind,” Kirby said.

“We are going to learn from these three incidents. We continue to study what happened,” he said.

Kirby said the administration is closely monitoring the unidentified aerial phenomenon and “we’re finally trying to understand them better.” He also said that NORAD has recently been scrutinizing the airspace more closely, which “could escalate.” [the number] Object detected.”

The US military shot down an object flying at about 40,000 feet over northern Alaska on Friday. Then, on Saturday, another object flying over Canada’s Yukon Territory was shot down after Biden consulted with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. On Sunday, another object, flying at about 20,000 feet, was shot down over Lake Huron. It was described as an octagon with strings attached to it.

Kirby also ruled out an extraterrestrial origin for the object.

“I don’t think the American people need to worry about aliens,” he said.