White House Says There's 'No Indication of Aliens' After ‘High-Altitude Objects’ Shot Down (UPDATE)

There is "no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council
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WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 13: (L-R) White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby take questions during the daily press briefing at the White House February 13, 2023 in Washington, DC. Kirby discussed the recent flying objects shot down by U.S. military jets over North America in the past 3 days. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council

UPDATED 2/16, 9:50 p.m. ET: President Joe Biden delivered a speech on Thursday, addressing the unidentified high-altitude objects that have been shot down while flying over North American airspace throughout the month.

“We don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were,” Biden said, as transcribed by CBS News. “But nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from…any other country.”

Since the United States shot down the Chinese spy balloon earlier this month, three additional objects have been spotted soaring through the sky. Biden attempted to ease any concerns about the sudden influx in such incidents, claiming it has to do with recent changes to the military’s radar.

“We don’t have any evidence that there has been a sudden increase in the number of objects in the sky,” he explained. “We’re now just seeing more of them partially because [of] 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.”

As for what exactly these aerial objects are, Biden didn’t have a definitive answer. “The intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three objects were mostly balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research,” he said.

See original story below.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday that there is “no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity” on the heels of the three unidentified high-altitude objects being shot down. Two of the objects were shot down by fighter jets in the U.S. states of Alaska and Michigan while the third was in Canadian airspace.

“I just want to make sure we address this from the White House. I know there have been questions and concerns about this, but there is no, again, no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns,” Jean-Pierre said during Monday’s briefing, per CBS News. “Wanted to make sure that the American people knew that, all of you knew that, and it is important for us to say that from here.” 

John Kirby, who is the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, also spoke during the briefing and said that they have yet to “definitively assess” what the objects were. 

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