Biden just ordered the military to shoot down a flying object over Alaska
President Joe Biden ordered the US military to shoot down an object flying over Alaska, the White House said Friday, less than a week after fighter jets shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon over the Atlantic.
“Out of caution and at the recommendation of the Pentagon, President Biden ordered the military to knock the object down, and they did it,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
The object was over US territorial waters, flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet, and “posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight,” Kirby said.
The object was significantly smaller than the spy balloon that was shot down last week — about the size of a small car, the White House said. The US doesn’t know if the object was government or private property, but the Pentagon hopes it can recover the object because it fell on frozen water.
There’s no indication the object has self-propellation or maneuverability like the balloon that was shot down last week, Kirby said.
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