“That’s a huge coup for the United States,” he told ABC’s This Week. Schumer predicted the entire object would be pieced back together in the coming days. By following the balloon across the country, the US had gained “enormous intelligence” on what the Chinese were doing, he said. Schumer defended that decision on Sunday against mounting criticism from Republicans who have castigated Joe Biden for failing to act immediately. The air force decided to wait until it was over the Atlantic before shooting it down out of concern for civilians on the ground, the Pentagon said. The balloon, flying at 60,000ft, was tracked by the US military for several days as it traversed the national airspace, having initially been spotted off the coast of Alaska on 28 January. The Pentagon has disputed this, saying early indications suggest the balloon was carrying powerful equipment that could intercept communications. Though the Chinese government has admitted owning the balloon, it has insisted it was used only for weather research. Searches by the US military were also continuing in difficult circumstances off the coasts of Alaska and South Carolina, with some debris from the first balloon to be destroyed - the largest of the four objects – having been retrieved and taken to military laboratories for analysis. The object, described as cylindrical, had been flying at 40,000ft over Canadian territory and was considered a risk to civilian air traffic. The vessel fell over a remote, rugged area of Yukon. The Canadian military were attempting to reach pieces of the object that was taken down within Canadian airspace on Saturday. He called it “wild” that the US government had no idea about the balloon spying program until just “a few months ago”.
Schumer said US military and intelligence agencies were “focused like a laser” on gathering information on the flying objects and then analysing what steps needed to be taken to protect American interests in future. Map showing locations of shot-down objects over North America I haven’t ruled out anything.”Ī defence official subsequently told Reuters that the military had not seen any evidence that the objects were extraterrestrial. VanHerck said the US had adjusted its radar so it could track slower objects, and that the three most recent objects were being called, “objects, not balloons, for a reason”.Īsked whether he had ruled out extraterrestrials, VanHerck said: “I’ll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. Gen Glen VanHerck, who is tasked with safeguarding US airspace, said the military had not been able to identify what the three most recent objects were, how they stayed aloft, or where they were coming from. That object was claimed by China, although Beijing has insisted it was involved in innocent weather research. Three unidentified flying objects have been downed in as many days, after a large balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on 4 February. The Pentagon said the object appeared to have travelled near US military sites and posed a threat to civilian aviation, as well as being a potential tool for surveillance.
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